Blurring images

Corel PaintShop Pro provides several commands that let you apply a blurring effect to your images. You can apply the following corrections to a selection, a layer, or an entire image:

• You can remove noise that occurs throughout an image by adjusting the intensity of each pixel to the average intensity of its surrounding pixels. You can also remove color dithering that results from increasing the color depth of a paletted image to 24-bit.

• You can remove noise by applying smooth transitions and decreasing the contrast in your image.

• You can adjust the strength of the blurring effect by blending a specific number of pixels incrementally, following a bell-shaped curve. The blurring is dense in the centre and feathers at the edges.

• You can use a fixed exposure time to simulate taking a picture of a moving object.

• You can simulate a photo taken while spinning a camera in circles, or while zooming in quickly at a very slow shutter speed.

Why would I blur an image on purpose?

You can use blurring commands to soften a selection or an image, to retouch a photo, or to remove noise in an image. The Blur commands smooth transitions and decrease contrast by averaging the pixels near the edges and near areas of significant color transitions. You can apply any of the Blur commands multiple times to the same image to increase the blurring effect.

To apply blurring based on nearby pixel intensity

Edit tab

1 Choose Adjust  Blur  Average.

The Average dialog box appears.

2 Type or set a value in the Filter aperture control.

Values range from 3 to 31 in odd-numbered increments. The higher the value, the greater the blur.

3 Click OK.

To apply minimal blurring

Edit tab

• Choose Adjust  Blur  Blur.

To double the effect, choose the command again.

To apply moderate blurring

Edit tab

• Choose Adjust  Blur  Blur More.

To double the effect, choose the command again.

To apply Gaussian blurring

Edit tab

1 Choose Adjust  Blur  Gaussian Blur.

The Gaussian Blur dialog box appears.

2 Type or set a value in the Radius control to specify the distance (radius) within which dissimilar pixels are blurred.

Values range from 0.00 to 100.00.

3 Click OK.

To apply motion blurring

Edit tab

1 Choose Adjust  Blur  Motion Blur.

The Motion Blur dialog box appears.

2 In the Angle group box, drag the angle dial, or type or set a value in the control, to set an angle from which the blurring is applied.

3 Type or set a value in the Strength control.

Values range from 1 to 100%. Lower values lessen the effect; higher values intensify the effect.

4 Click OK.

To apply radial blurring

Edit tab

1 Choose Adjust  Blur  Radial Blur.

The Radial Blur dialog box appears.

2 In the Blur Type group box, choose one of the following options:

• Spin — blurs pixels circularly around the image center

• Zoom — blurs pixels away from the center

• Twirl — blurs pixels in a spiraling manner. You can set the degree of the twirl by typing or setting a value in the Twirl degrees control.

3 In the Blur group box, type or set a value in the Strength control.

Lower values lessen the effect; higher values intensify the effect.

If you need to squeeze the radius to fit the image, mark the Elliptical check box. This option produces elliptical blurring on rectangular images and has no effect on square images. Circular blurring is produced when the check box is unmarked.

4 In the Center group box, type or set a value in the following controls to affect the center of the image:

• Horizontal offset % — lets you set the horizontal center point of the blur

• Vertical offset % — lets you set the vertical center point of the blur

• Protect center % — lets you determine how much to diminish blurring at the image center. Higher values increase the radius of the unblurred center area.

5 Click OK.