Simulate a shallow depth of field
Claire Gillo shares how to get the most from the Iris Blur tool in Photoshop
The Iris Blur filter in Photoshop is a great tool for anyone who wants to add some blur and softening around their subject. It basically allows you to simulate a shallow depth-of-field effect in your image, making it look as if you had been shooting using a wide aperture setting when you took the photo. Iris Blur is particularly useful in portrait images to help make the subject stand out, but can also work well with still-life when you want to emphasise an object.
The Iris Blur tool is instinctive to use and requires minimal Photoshop skills. When you are making any adjustments to your image in Photoshop using the Iris Blur filter, first duplicate the Background Layer. That way if you go wrong or want to use a Layer Mask to blend the effect with the original image, that will be easy to achieve.
Always edit your images in a nondestructive manner so you can make further edits down the line. Non-destructive editing is a method of editing in Photoshop that allows you to make changes to an image without overwriting the original image data. You can do this in numerous ways depending on the desired outcome of an image.