@novab No I did not. :-( Just a short stroll at lunchtime before I went back to work. Also in sunshine I rarely sit on the benches. I'm always on the move, carrying a camera as you can imagen.
@aikimomm Hi Phoebe, I shot it black & white with high contrast, but the blur I added in postprocessing. (Ps). Feel free to ask, if you would like to know the exact steps.
@mona65 I do have Photoshop, though don't really know how to use it, and would indeed like to know the steps for blurring the edges. I've noticed several people's postings the last few days have done that, and it can be very effective. Thanks!
@aikimomm Hi Phoebe. I would love to help. I hope I can express myself reasonably clear with my limited English. I think you can achieve this effect in different programs. In Corel Photo Paint it works relatively similar. The trick is that you are working with two or multiple layers. So prepare the image as far as it is ready to insert the blur (in my workflow it is the last thing I did, before adding the watermark). Now you can duplicate this layer. In my case I find the layer view on the right edge of the screen, but you can also use filter menu. Click with your right mouse button on the small copy of your image and choose “duplicate layer”. Now click and activate on the upper of the small images, so the change is happening here on this second, upper layer.
Under the filter menu you find blur filters and there I have chosen the Gaussian blur filter. With the lever you can adjust, how blurry you want to go and press ok. Now the whole image appears blurry. Now you pick the eraser tool (tools are on the left side of the screen). Make it with the levers quite big, but use of low density, so no edges will be visible. Be sure to be still on the upper (second layer) you blurred, and erase all the parts you do not want to have blurred. In my case, the foreground, the trunk and large branches. Some areas I went over several times, others only ones.
There is also a different approach, by selecting with the selecting tool, the parts you would like (or not like) to get blurry. And of course it is possible to use multiple layers with different amounts of blurs. And this kind of workflow works with different filters.
And of course, if you do not like it, you can just go back or delete the layer with the changings.
Creativity and Ps knows no boundaries. ;-) Hope this helps and I’m looking forward to see your pics.
@mona65 Many thanks for the detailed process, Mona! I'm going to copy it and save it somewhere so I can refer to it when I get a chance to play with it. I'm intimidated by anything that has to do with "layers" because I don't understand it. But someday....... Thanks again! And thanks for the follow. BTW, I think your command of English is remarkable!
Under the filter menu you find blur filters and there I have chosen the Gaussian blur filter. With the lever you can adjust, how blurry you want to go and press ok. Now the whole image appears blurry. Now you pick the eraser tool (tools are on the left side of the screen). Make it with the levers quite big, but use of low density, so no edges will be visible. Be sure to be still on the upper (second layer) you blurred, and erase all the parts you do not want to have blurred. In my case, the foreground, the trunk and large branches. Some areas I went over several times, others only ones.
There is also a different approach, by selecting with the selecting tool, the parts you would like (or not like) to get blurry. And of course it is possible to use multiple layers with different amounts of blurs. And this kind of workflow works with different filters.
And of course, if you do not like it, you can just go back or delete the layer with the changings.
Creativity and Ps knows no boundaries. ;-) Hope this helps and I’m looking forward to see your pics.