9.9. Softening with the Blur Tool

The Blur tool can be used for both repair and more artistic endeavors. You can use the Blur tool to soften a small flaw or part of a rough edge. You can add a little blur to an element to make it appear as though it were moving when photographed. You can also blur portions of your image to emphasize the focal point, as shown in Figure 9-17, where we blurred everything except the girl's face. The Blur tool works by decreasing the contrast among adjacent pixels in the blurred area.

Figure 9.17. The Blur tool can be used to emphasize a focal point.