Helllp, blurring everything in the photo except the subject.

[PeterG]

Hi, I have photos of a stand of saguaros, what I am trying to do is pick out a single saguaro and blur the rest. I am using a MAC G5 with SPE 4.0, and I have no idea of what to do.
thanks for any help, Peter

[msbrad]

Hi Peter,
Welcome to the forum.
Remember do not work on the original
give this a try. ctrl +j your background, on the new background,
go to filter> blur> gausian blur. Make as blurry as you would like it.
Back onto the blurry layer, erase the blur away and the clear part you wish to keep will show through,
or;
select the clear object you wish to keep, then select > inverse,
and blur that part.
m

[AngelicKim]

Hello Peter and welcome. Do let us know how Michelle's suggestion worked for you.

[PeterG]

The first method is to time consuming, I have over 50 photos to alter.
How do I select the clear part so I can invert the image?
What I am looking for is something quicker, thank you.

[Byron Gale]

Peter,

You select something by using one of the selection tools... without seeing your image, it is not possible to know which would be the most likely to work best, but I'd suggest using the Magnetic Lasso as a start. If you don't get good results, then you might have to use the regular Lasso and define the edges by hand.

If the object you want to select has good color separation from the surrounding image, you might also succeed using the Magic Wand tool.

I sympathize with you wanting something "quicker", but the reality is that some effort is required, and the characteristics of the specific image have a large part to play in whether you will be able to make a selection easily, or not.

HTH,

Byron

[Wendy]

Hi Peter ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

Do wish that there was an easy way to do this but making selections does take a little time ..

Wendy

[Rusty]

Peter, here is a variation that may or may not be faster

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1q6aS7DfY1udauiORs2koVd6rI9cGI0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1q6aS7DfY1udauiORs2koVd6rI9cGI0)

Duplicate your background. Blur the top layer to the level desired. Make a new layer between the two (new blank layer). Group the top layer with the blank layer. All of your blur will disappear.

Now, on the blank layer, paint. Wherever you paint the blur shows thru. The advantage of this is that it is not destructive as is the erasure. If you screw up, you can erase your paint strokes, which doesn't affect the image.

Remember, just as you have to be careful making selections, you have to be careful with painting as well. Thus, this is not a super-fast magic bullet.

Rusty

[PeterG]

Many thanks to everyone who has responded, at this point in my learning I can use all the help I can get, Peter