Photoshop_User_July_2017

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>^ JULY 2017

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Step Six: Now that you have the edges selected, you can

apply a slight blur of your choosing. I used Blur Gallery>Path

Blur to get some movement, but you could easily use Motion,

Gaussian, or other blurs (you could even delete the selection

if you like). When you apply the blur to a masked layer, the

blur applies to the mask as well. In this case, you’re actually

blurring the entire layer, but you can only see the amount

of the selection that’s revealed by the blurred edges of the

mask. If you turn off the mask (Shift-click its thumbnail in

the Layers panel to turn the mask on and off), you’ll see

that everything on the layer has been blurred, except your

subject and the main chunks of the displaced bits.

Step Seven: This process will remove the smallest details,

so if you want to keep those, be sure to deselect those areas

with your favorite method (holding Option [PC: Alt] and

using either the Lasso or Marquee tools to exclude some

regions, or switch to Quick Mask mode [Q] and paint those

areas out with the Brush tool [B] set to white).

Creating your mask before duplicating means you’ve

saved the original subject layer mask, and that gives you the

chance to isolate the displacement results. Way back in the

December 2014 column, I showed you a few tricks for modi-

fying selections. In this case,

you can subtract the main

subject from the displaced

copy like this (everything

happens in the Layers panel):

Step One: Command-click

(PC: Ctrl-click) on the dis-

placed layer mask to load it

as a selection.

Step Two: Hold Com-

mand-Option (PC: Ctrl-Alt)

and click on the original

subject’s mask to subtract it

from the selection and iso-

late the displaced pieces.

Step Three: Click on the

displaced layer’s thumbnail.

Step Four: Optional: Press

Command-J (PC: Ctrl-J) to

duplicate the selection to a

new layer.

Step Five: After Step Three, you can immediately launch

the Blur Gallery and apply your blurs or other effects to the

selected area. But if you created a new layer in Step Four,

you can blur the displaced bits on a layer by themselves. You

can also filter and blend them, apply Liquify effects, or any-

thing else you like. You can then grab a few pieces indi-

vidually and duplicate/transform them to fill in or shape the

dispersion effect.

SMART OBJECTS

As you’ve seen, working on a duplicate layer is one method,

but smart objects are another a great solution. Smart objects

give you the added benefit of letting you adjust the D-map

and add other filters.

Tip: There are two ways to approach using masks with

smart objects: you can apply them before or after conversion

from a regular layer to a smart object layer. I tend to prefer

applying the mask first, just because I generally create my

mask on the original Background layer, then duplicate it so

the mask is already there. The advantage to creating or add-

ing the mask after conversion is that you have access to the

Mask Properties panel, including feathering and refining.

Step Five: path blur