Some Help?

[Xian Pu]

Can someone explain something to me? Feathering. What is it? What purpose does it serve? I've, for the life of me tried and tried to figure it out. Some help, any help would be appreciated.

[MistressPookyChan]

Feathering is like a blur, but more whispy. Think of the edges of a feather (where it got it's name). They kind of fade out, right?

[Xian Pu]

So how and what do you use it for? I mean, what's the purpose besides giving things a whispy edge?

[MistressPookyChan]

that's it... just give a whispy edge. adds movement

[nightwalk8r]

It can also be used to add a dreamy/glowy fx kinda....or if you just cut something out and didnt do too good of a job, feathering will make it less noticible (sp?).

[acamori]

the best way i can think to describe what feathering acctually does is that it fades an edge to transparent. kinda like what a gradient in a layer mask does, only feathering does it to the edge of a selected region. i haven't really messed with it but there are plenty of uses.

[Xian Pu]

Can someone post some pics of what an image looks like with a feather added to it?

[Zingo]

How To Tip:

Soften the edge of a selection using the Feather command.

When you combine two images, touch up an area, or apply a filter, you often want a soft transition. The Feather command softens or blurs the edge of a selection, making changes you apply blend in more naturally with its surroundings. Feathering is centered on the selection edge and blurs both in and out from the boundary. You control the width of the feathering by setting its radius value in pixels.
1. If anything is currently selected, choose Select > Deselect.
2. In the Layers palette, select the desired layer or layer set.
3. Using a selection tool, select an area in the image.
4. Choose Select > Feather.
5. Type a value for Feather Radius, and click OK. For a very subtle softening, you can type a value less than one pixel (for example, .5). The larger the value, the larger the feathered or blurred transition.

Note: Although the selection marquee still appears as a dotted line, its edge has softened to include pixels on both sides of its boundary.
6. Apply a filter, or move, cut, copy, paint, or fill the selection. Photoshop feathers the edge.

Tip iconYou can also soften the edges of a selection by switching to the Quick Mask mode and using a soft-edged brush to adjust the edges.

Theres a help file in Photoshop. Here you can see a picture


I just made a circle. And fill it with black, then I used feather. After that i just deleted the circle and i got this. Don't deselect it You'll if I didn't use feather it would've deleted the whole circle. Try it yourself it Photoshop