Use the Blur effects to soften a selection or an image. Blur images for photo retouching or to remove noise in the image. The Blur effects smooth transitions and decrease contrast by averaging the pixels near edges and areas of significant color transitions. To increase the effect of any of the Blur effects, apply them multiple times to the same image.
Important: These effects work on greyscale and 16 million color (24-bit) images only. To increase the color depth of an image, see Increasing the Color Depth of an Image.
Select from the following Blur effects:
Average Removes noise that occurs throughout an image by adjusting the intensity of each pixel to the average intensity of its surrounding pixels. Also removes color dithering that results from increasing the color depth of an image from paletted to 24 bit.
Blur and Blur More Remove noise by applying smooth transitions and decreasing the contrast in your image. The Blur More effect applies the Blur effect with more intensity. Use either effect to reduce graininess in your image.
Gaussian Blurs an image by an adjustable amount. Blends a specific number of pixels incrementally, following a bell-shaped curve. The blurring is dense in the center and feathers at the edges.
Motion Blur Blurs in a particular direction (from 0 to 359 degrees) and at a particular strength (from 1 to 100). Use this effect to simulate taking a picture of a moving object using a fixed exposure time.
To apply a Blur effect:
On the Layer palette, click the layer containing the area you want to blur.
To limit the blur to a specific area, make a selection in the image.
Choose Adjust > Blur, then choose a effect.
For the Blur and Blur More effects, the effect is applied to the image or selection.
For the Average, Gaussian, and Motion effects, a dialog opens. Choose from the options, then click OK. The effect is applied to the image or selection.