How to Create a Soft Edge Border in Photoshop

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Without Soft Edge Border

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With Soft Edge Border

This tutorial is to help you learn how to give a photo a soft edge.  This technique is mainly used for collages, but it can also be used for displays, reports, or just to make a picture more pleasing to the eye.  Once you have your photo open in photoshop:

1. Select either the Rectangular Marquee Tool or the Elliptical Marquee Tool.  For this example I used the Elliptical Marquee Tool.

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2. Make a good sized selection around what you want in the final product.  Allow a little extra room as well to create enough space for the soft edge so you won’t lose some of what you would like to keep.

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3. Then choose Feather under the Select Menu.  (Select>Feather). For this photo I entered 45 pixels, you may wish to choose a different amount.

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4. Then Copy that selection (Edit>Copy)

5. Make a new document (File>New)

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6. Paste the selection into the new document (Edit>Paste).

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