Step Five: Use a Layer to Add a Soft Focus

Layer 3 will be used to add a soft focus to the entire image. To do this, select this layer in Layer Manager, and then apply a Gaussian Blur to it by selecting Photo: Blur - Gaussian Blur. You can either use one of the presets for this effect or click Options to customize it. Experiment with presets or settings until you get the effect that you want.

Layer 3 with Gaussian Blur applied and Transparency set to 50

Step Six: Refine an Effect by Using the Object Eraser

By now, the overall look of your image has changed significantly. It may be close to what you want, but perhaps you want to do some fine tuning. In this example, we find that some parts of the face have lost some detail, which is caused by the Gaussian Blur effect applied to Layer 3. In order to correct this, we will use the Object Eraser to actually remove parts of the layer. In effect, this allows you to remove the blurring effect from certain parts of the image.

To do this, select Layer 3 in the Layer Manager, and then click Object Eraser on the Tool Panel. In the Attribute Toolbar, set the brush size to 50 and Soft edge to 90, which will make the edited layer blend more smoothly with the image beneath it. When erasing, you don't need to be very exact because of the high value for Soft edge.

NOTE: You can use Object Eraser in any object layer to reduce or remove a previously applied effect from certain parts of the layer.

Object Eraser (left) applied to parts of Layer 3 to preserve facial detail