Feathered Image

[tacksie]

Hi everyone....I am really new to photoshop so please be patient. I have been using Coreldraw for designing my dvd covers with reasonable success but now I am stuck. My problem is that I want to create from a rectangular image an oval or eclipse shape with a feathered edge. I want the feather to start from the inside of the image so it is not crisp/sharp around the edge. I cannot achieve this using Corel without a mountain of exercises, can it be done easily in photoshop & if so could you please give me some clear idiot proof instructions.

Regards, David
Manchester, England

[Mark (theKeeper)]

mmm... i'm not 100% sure i understand your need. Would it be possible for you to post an example, or perhaps explain this in a different way so as to clarify the visual effect?

I'm guessing that all you'll need is to apply a Radial gradient, but i'd like to be sure i'm thinking of the right effect.

Are you saying that you'd like to create a circle, that fades in from the inside to the outside? So that the inner area is soft and the outer edge is hard/clean...?

[tacksie]

Hi mark....I will tell you what I am doing then you will have a better idea. I make movies of weddings, christenings etc. I create my own DVD covers to suit each movie using a couple of still images from the actual video. I would like to create a heart shape with the couples faces inside ( very sloppy I know ) and then lay it on the front cover with the usual text etc. Now for it to look right the edges of the heart need to be feathered / blurred call it what you like so it blends into the cover colour nicely and looks professional. What do you think ?

[SBytes]

You can try this:

1. Select the circular marqee selection tool and make the required selection around where you'd like your image to start fading.
2. Select -> Feather.
3. Select -> Inverse.
4. Press Delete or fill with a color (Shift-Backspace).