When you want a soft edge around an image, feathering gives a nice finish and blends well with a background.



Picking the feathered edge gives a little more movement and interest to it while still blending with the background.

1. Open an image you want a soft edge around, press Ctrl + D to duplicate your image and close the original image.
   
   
2. Right-click the layer of your image and choose Add Alpha Channel. Duplicate the layer and turn the eye off on the bottom layer by clicking the eye icon to the left of the Layer icon image.
   
   
3. Use the Ellipse Select Tool to select the area you want. Be sure to leave enough background around the focal point of the image to have enough room for the feathering.
   
   
4. It's a good idea to save your selection as a path. Select > To Path. That way if something goes wrong, you don't have to start all over. Just duplicate the bottom layer and turn on the eye of the top layer. Then Select > From Path.
   
   
   
   
   
5. With the visible layer selected, invert the selection: Select > Invert or Ctrl + I.
   
   
6. Select > Feather 25 pixels. Press the Delete key.
   
   
7. Invert the selection again (Ctrl + I).
   
   
8. Select > Shrink 6 pixels.
   
   
9. Invert the selection then Filters > Noise > Pick.
   
   I used these settings in Pick:
   Check the Randomize square.
   Randomization (%): 70
   Repeat: 5
   
   
10. Press the Delete key.
    
    
11. Select > None (Ctrl + Shift + A).
    
    
12. Image > Autocrop Image.
    
    
13. Delete the bottom layer.
    
    
14. Saving it as a png image will preserve the transparency.

Feel free to experiment with any of the settings for Feathering or Picking.

You may also use the Rectangle Select Tool and if you want, add rounded corners. You can also use the Paths Tool to select around your subject.



Download a pdf document of the tutorial.

Very nice tutorial O.

Thanks Rod. I'm thinking I should have chosen a picture with darker surroundings. That light blue doesn't show the picking very well. This one, I increased the Repeat to 12.



Here is the same picture of the boat with a dark bg. The picking shows better.

I think the effect looks very nice in both pics. It is so soft looking. I really love the boat one.

Very nice tute "O"

Great tutorial, and its a nice effect never thought of doing the plicking part.

Thank you Molly and Jamie.

It's kind of nice to put a background behind something that doesn't have one. Make a new layer and fill it with what you want for a background, move it below the main image, then use the tutorial on the background. Use gradients, patterns, solid colors, etc., to fill the background.

Good Job O! I never even noticed "pick" in the noise menu. Now I have a whole new toy to play with. Good Idea for the background fill too. Lots of possibilities like various filter applications in conjunction with this like in one of the other threads.

Thank you Drac. Yes, one tutorial or tip can lead to many other things.

You're welcome O. In another thread, I received lots of help on how to make an old photo look better. Now I can really showcase these using this method. I cut out the foreground and overlayed it on the old grainy background to make it really pop, then made a plain black frame with feather and pic. Thanks again!

Nice! I like the graininess around the edges of the black.

Very pretty, Molly!