Design by Erin Roe
Fix: Digitally blurring the area
A busy beach filled with people created a cluttered backdrop for this portrait taken just before a new member of the family was born. Erin Roe used Adobe Photoshop CS to blur the background area, making the subjects pop.
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- Use the Marquee tool to select the background. Erin chose only the top portion of the shot to make the blur feel more natural.
- From the Select menu, choose Feather to soften the selection line. Go to the Filters menu and choose the Lens Blur filter to give the shot a realistic softened background.
- Select the middle portion of the background and repeat the steps using less blur to create a gradual softening so the background and foreground blend naturally.
Tip: Less computer-savvy scrapbookers can try a variation of this technique. Have your photo developer print two copies of the photo -- one in color and the other in black-and-white. Ask the processor to lighten or darken the black-and-white copy so the details are hard to pick out. Then use a pair of micro-tip scissors to cut around the subject in the color copy, and layer the two to create a composite image.
Sources Patterned paper: Flair Designs. Fonts: Century Gothic (journaling), Patriot (title) by Autumn Leaves. Stickers: Flair Designs ("family" strip), American Crafts (numbers). Embroidered scroll: Autumn Leaves.
