Guest mcfrog Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 I am creating a series of LOs for my best friend who lost her baby at 20 hours old and the very few photos she has have tubes etc in the shot. I would really love to soften these away to almost nothing around the edges if possible and keep the emphasis on her beautiful daughter. Can anyone give me some VERY simple steps to produce this myself in Photoshop 7 as I really want to create something special. Thanks, K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betsy Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Oh, so sad. So sorry to hear of your friend's loss. I think what you're planning sounds so sweet! What a good friend! very thoughtful. In PS 7, I would open the photo file, crop and size it the way I want, then make a new layer on top (Layer>New layer). Fill with white (Or black, I'd just be consistant one way or the other throughout) using the bucket in the tool bar. Now, draw an oval over the bulk of the photo, and change the feathering to a high number, like 100 or 150. Hit delete, removing the feathered oval of color and exposing the phot beneath. The highest you can feather is 250. The smallest is 0, which would make the oval cut perfectly out of the color layer. You probably want to be in the 100+ range. The smaller your oval, the more solid color. The larger your oval, a smaller amount of the color will remain. The higher the amount of feathering, the more gradual the fade to solid color. You can do this directly on the photo as well, just make a duplicate of the photo layer first (To unlock it) and then throw away the locked layer. This will let you fade the photo to the background, for an Anne Aspne-effect collage look. HTH! Let me know if I lost ya! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mcfrog Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Oh just tried it and your instructions worked beautifully, thanks so much!! K (Have tears in my eyes at the moment!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mcfrog Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Can't seem to get rid of the marquee outline at the moment - any clues? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betsy Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Hmmm, you mean the marching ants? Or an actual box? Ctrl+D is deselect, that'll usually get rid of stuff. OH! Wait! When I said "Draw an oval" I meant with the circle marquee tool, you got that right? Not another layer with a filled circle... Hmmmm, the oval's still there... I'm stumped! Anyone have any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mcfrog Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 OK, it was the marching ants and they wouldn't go but I playd around a bit and suddenly they vanished, so all' well. I did understand the 'draw and oval' bit meant with the marquee tool, thanks so much. I finished it and love it - just hope my friend does too. Its too personal to post or I would add it to the gallery. I'm sure you'll understand. Thanks again, k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest gauchogirl Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Yep, 250 px is the max, but while it's still selected, you can do feather again and it will reapply your settings to the already feathered selection, thus softening it again. I almost always do this multiple times to get the look I want. t Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betsy Posted March 20, 2005 Share Posted March 20, 2005 Tonya, as always, is just a font of useful knowledge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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