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Problem doing a selective gaussian blur in CS6


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Sassie

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My Photoshop knowlege is limited and I only need to use it for a few things. In CS4 I was able to select a small area of an image with the selection tool. I would then go into 'Refine Edge' and feather the selection. Then I would go into filters and apply a gaussian blur to the selection. That's all I wanted/want to do.

But in CS6 it is not a simple process anymore and I've spent hours over weeks trying to figure this out, and I've googled it, etc.

Some of the things that are happening are that the selection I make either disappears when I've been into Refine Edge to choose my settings. Or I get a message saying 'no pixels are selected'. Or when I come out of Refine Edge the selection has descreased, changed shape and doesn't incorporate the exact area I wished to apply the blur to.

Please can someone help. What I find most helpful is a step-by-step instruction - eg: 1. Do this 2. Do that. 3. Then...

Thanks so much in anticipation!
Sassie
 
I don't understand your problem. I am using CS5 and it works fine. I don't think 6 is much different. Maybe try resetting your preferences and trying again. It might take reloading the program unless someone has a better idea.

I guess if you can't get a solution, you could try a workaround. Make your selection and copy it to a new layer; add the blur to that. You shouldn't have to go to these "extremes" though.
 
Ditto what Clare said: CS6 or even CC is almost the same as CS4 in this regard. Probably the best way to get to the bottom of this is if you could post some screen shots showing the sequence of events that leads up to this problem.

That being said, your statement about the "no pixels selected" warning suggests that your initial setting for feathering of your selection tool is much too large. Set the feathering to zero on your selection tool to zero before you start, and see if that helps.

Tom
 
Hi Sassie and welcome to the forum.

As has been said, the process you described using CS4 is exactly the same in CS6.

I don't know about your selection disappearing. Can't explain that one at the moment.

If you get a message "no pixels are selected", then your doing something else. You can make a selection with any of the tools capable of making a selection on a completely blank new layer/document and still use refine edge to alter the selection. You will not get the message.

If the selection has decreased after you use refine edge, that's normal........ignore it.

If the selection is no longer where you originally placed it, other than it's being resized after refine edge, then you accidentally moved it somehow.

Here's a tutorial.
1. Start Photoshop.
2. Click FILE > NEW (make sure transparent is selected under background contents) then hit OK.
3. Hit D on your keyboard to reset your fore and background color to default, which is black and white.
3. Choose any of the selection tools. How about The Elliptical Marquee Tool.
4. Create an ellipse of any size or location.
5. Hit Refine edge... located in your tool options bar located at the top.
6. Using the slider, set the feather to about 50 px. Click OK.
7. Hit alt/option + delete to fill with foreground color.
8. Hit command/control + D to deselect.

Screen Shot 2014-03-25 at 5.52.49 PM.png

If this did not work for you, reset your preferences.
 
Hi, thanks for the replies. I'm embarrased to say that I don't know how to post screeenshots!

To break it down, here's what happens at the moment. I draw a selection with the mouse and when I let go the size/shape of the marching ants selection changes to a smaller selection which is elliptical or rounded. Then when I click onto the Refine Edge menu the marching ants selection simply vanishes. Never had that problem in CS4. In CS4 I would make a selection and the marching ants would remain when I clicked the Refine Edge menu tab, and would remain whilst I chose the feathering settings so that I could see what the effect would be.

I will try the tutorial you posted after work tonight. (UK time!)

Thanks so much,
Sassie
 
By the way, changing preferences was mentioned. I've looked in preferences and there is nothing obvious relating to what I want to do. Can you suggest what preferences I need to set. Thanks.
 
Hi Sassie,

To create a screenshot with a MAC press shift + command + 4. Click and hold, drag out the area you want capture, done.

To create a screenshot on a PC: http://www.wikihow.com/Take-a-Screenshot-in-Microsoft-Windows

In future posts..........please list the Tool you are using!
If your holding down the shift key to constrain a selection to a square or a circle, you must hold the shift key press until you release the mouse click or the tablet stylus/pen.

There's no need to bother preferences.
 
Okay, so one of two things tends to happen. Sometimes I select the area I want to apply the feathered gaussian blur to and I get less than 50% pixel message. 3rd image.

Sometimes I will select the area I want but when I let go of the selection tool, the area selected reduces in size. In the second image I selected a much larger area around the stem of the flower. However, when I go on to click on the Refine Edge menu, my selection completely disappears. 1st Image. And if I carry on and choose the feathering amount and/or play around with the other sliders in case I need to do something there, nothing happens.

To me, what I want to be able to do should be simple and this is driving me insane!

Thanks for tutorial on screenshots - took about an hour of perseverance before I actually got this far!
 
Have you tried using the quick selection tool. It is paired with the magic wand, keyboard shortcut "w," depending on which you have selected as the tool.

Regarding resetting preferences, it is not something you will find under preferences. It is what you do upon startup of the program. Take another look at the link I posted for you and Steve outlines the steps.

Anyway, I still don't know why your selection is disappearing. That is just whacked. That is why I suggested resetting pref's or re-installing the software. Otherwise, I am stumped. If you use the quick select tool, try setting it to auto-enhance to select the edges more accurately. I feel like we're going around in circles . . .

Also, you can go directly to select>modify>feather rather than refine edge if all you wish to do is add a feather.
 
Set all of your selection tools feather windows to 0! This has been mentioned already in Tom's post #3!

Screen Shot 2014-03-26 at 2.33.25 PM copy.png
 
I thought you had already done this, so I was not considering it as a possibility.
This also explains why your selections were changing sizes! :)

But if I set mine to 200px, I have the exact same problems you had!

Screen Shot 2014-03-26 at 2.39.28 PM.png
 
The screenshots are always revealing. No worries AC!

Another thing I noticed is that she does not use thumbnails in her layers panel...........it took me a few to figure that one out!
 
Okay, so I've endeavoured to purge my preferences but my computer is seriously weird. When I try to start CS6 with cntr/alt/del (Windows PC) I get the properties box come up.
 
Okay, I'm lost here with your explanations. I see you're talking about the feather box being set to 0%. So I upped it to 150%. Depending on how much I include in the selection area, I can still get the pixel message come up. Other times the marching ants remain but change size/shape and it still isn't the exact area I choose. Also, what if I just want to blur the tiniest portion of the image - say an inch or so? Can I apply a blur to such a small area?
 
Think I'm getting there at last! I've discovered if I use a small percentage in the feather box, ie: 5%, it allows me to make a smaller selection. Then I can go into Select/Modify/Feather and that seems to work. Need to play around with this new-to-me method to get a good result but at least I can do what I want to do.

Guys, you probably think I'm a real dunce (I am!) but thanks so much for your patience and perseverence and time you've given to my issue - I really do appreciate it! :)
 
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