Re: How was this made ? (blur effect)

lisztnet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 wrote:
>
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11462409@[EMAIL
PROTECTED]
> 
> Did she simply add blur to some parts of the flower, with a mask...or
> was it some filter, special  photoshop magic...the blur on the right
> part is very extended, but the edges are not so much suffering from
> the smoothness...! imho

Not sure exactly what tools were used, but you can produce pretty much 
the same effect using the following procedure:

1. Duplicate the picture in another layer (above the original).
2. Blur the duplicate picture (e.g. using the Gaussian blur filter).
3. Make the duplicate picture semi-transparent (e.g. by setting the 
layer opacity to 50%).
4. (Optionally) Create a layer mask for the duplicate picture to limit 
the soft focus effect to only part of the picture.