How to Make the Special Effects of a Blurry Background and Changing Hair Color on Your Photos
Photo editing software gives you the tools to change the world around you by altering the look of your photos. Adding special effects like a blurry background and colorful hair can make your photo look like it came right out of a comic book or cartoon. The process for altering a photo is universal across photo editing programs; however, each program may have its own terms for certain tools or effects. For best results, read the manual that came with your photo editing software so you are familiar with the relevant tools before tackling this project.
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Instructions
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Open the photo you want to alter in the photo editing software of your choice. Save a copy of the photograph as your working copy so you do not overwrite the original picture.
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Click on the selection tool and choose a freehand selection. Carefully trace around the subject of your picture so that it is selected and the background of the picture is not. Invert the selections from the selection tool menu so the background is now the selected area and the subject of your picture can not be altered.
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Click on the blur tool from the photo tool menu. Select which type of blur you would like to use. The normal blur tool adds a slight blur to your background. Other blur tools add a stronger or weaker blur effect. Motion blur creates a blur effect, which travels in one direction, while Gaussian blur adds a filtered blur effect.
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Click on the selection tool again and isolate the hair of your subject by tracing it with the selection tool. Use the zoom feature to make it easier to select each strand of hair.
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Colorize the hair by selecting the coloring tool from the image adjustment menu. Click on the color you want to color the hair and select the amount of saturation. You can also color the hair using the colorization brush under the photo editing tools or apply layers of paint using the fill tool or paintbrush. Play with the different tools to learn what coloring effect you like the best.
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Save your image in your preferred file format when you are finished and share it with the world by uploading it to an online album.
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Tips & Warnings
Hold down the shift key on your keyboard while using the freehand selection tool to add to your current selection. This makes it easier to select the hair or isolate the background by selecting different pieces of the picture at one time. To take away a part of your selection, hold down the Ctrl key while using the freehand tool.
