Photoshop: How to soften edges around a layer?

Joined: 06 Sep 2005 Posts: 36 Location: Houston, TX

I have a collection of not so great Christmas pictures of kids who didn’t want to have their picture taken at the time. I have one great picture with two of the three and then another good shot of the third. I made the third person into a layer and copied her into the firth picture. It looks pretty good but the edges are pretty ridged.

My thought was that if I could apply a gradate transparency about 10 pixels wide around the edge of the layer it would blend better with the background but I have found no such feature in Photoshop Elements.

Could someone let me know how I might do this or suggest other options?

Joined: 02 Jan 2007 Posts: 190

Without seeing the photos in question, its kinda hard to describe how to do this best. If the photos are the same resolution, then its fairly straight forward. a problem may occur if the second shot, the one with the single child, was taken further back/ "zoomed out." Then you have a resolution problem when its blown up to match the other two kids (sizewise) in the comped image. This could be why you're getting the rough edges.

If the shots ARE the same relative resolution, then I would simply make the second image another layer and hide it with a layer mask. Then all you do is paint the portion of the second image back in that you want. (with a white brush)

Best method is to just do the face over the existing body of the first photo if it matches up nicely. But again, without seeing the 2 photos, its really hard to say whether this would work or not. send me the files and I can try for you if you want.