Using the focus tools

The focus tools consist of the blur tool and the sharpen tool. The blur tool softens hard edges or areas in an image to reduce detail. The sharpen tool focuses soft edges to increase clarity or focus. For information on other ways to adjust sharpness, see Sharpening images and Improving performance with filters.

To use the blur or sharpen tool:

1 Select the blur tool () or sharpen tool ().

2 Choose a brush size from the pop-up palette in the options bar. To learn more about using pop-up palettes, see Using pop-up palettes.

If a brush is too large to fit in the palette, it appears as a smaller brush with a number indicating the actual diameter in pixels.

3 Specify a blending mode and pressure. (See  Setting options for painting and editing tools.)

4 Select Use All Layers to blur or sharpen using data from all visible layers. If this is deselected, the tool uses data from only the active layer.

5 If you are using a pressure-sensitive drawing tablet, specify the effects of stylus pressure. (See  Specifying the effect of stylus pressure.)

6 Click and drag over the part of the image you want to blur or sharpen.

Transforming and Retouching > Retouching an image > Using the focus tools