I need to blur out a face

[bobbin]

I'm a complete newbie doing this. I have a photo and need to blur/distort out a face. When I use one of the blurs or distorts it does the whole photo. If I use the elliptical thingie it just makes the ellipse, but I don't know how to apply the blur to that spot.

I'm also having a lot of trouble navigating your help section and your forum. I went to the tutorials, but don't actually see any.

I'm a bit helpless and would really appreciate your expertise, but keep it simple and exact for me.

thanks

[Ego Eram Reputo]

You're using the wrong tool, Bobbin. But that's OK - it's an often made mistake!

To make an elliptical selection use the Ellipse Selection Tool and not the Ellipse Tool .

The tutorials section of the forum (http://forums.getpai...ublishing-only/) is broken up into subsections. The name of the subsection indicates what type of tutorials you'll find there.

For example, the Beginners Tutorials can be entered by clicking on that name (after you have clicked on the above link). You'll be taken to this section: http://forums.getpai...nner-tutorials/ which contains a number of very helpful tutorials designed for beginners. Click on any tutorial title to open the thread.

Oh - and welcome to the forum!

[bobbin]

thanks for your reply

I was using that particular ellipse tool, but I don't know how to apply the blur or distort to only that part of the photo.

I went to that tutorials sections but nothing that looks promising shows up when I search either blur or distort.

It's rather like ms word help. They assume you can do some of the basics when that's actually what you need help with.

Sorry to be a pain, but it's late and I wanted to do it tonight! LOL I'll leave it for now and check back in the morning.

[minners71]

Make the selection using the ELLIPSE SELECT tool then run the blur, only the area inside the active selection will be blurred.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Exactly! This is how to confine an editing operation to one region - make it a selection. Think of a selection as a subgroup of the active layer.

[bobbin]

ok, this is not working. LOL I have no idea what "Think of a selection as a subgroup of the active layer" means. I don't know what a layer is.

Here's what I'm doing. I make the ellipse over the face. Then I click on effects/distort/pixelate. Then I get a little window that says pixelate cell size. I click ok and nothing happens.

Is there something more to 'running the blur' or in this case the pixelate?

Thanks again....I know...I'm useless!

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Pixellate is not strictly a blur. Here's how you should be blurring:

1. Activate the correct layer by clicking on the name in the Layers Window.

2. Select the Ellipse Selection tool

3. Create an ellipse over the area you wish to blur.

4. Go to Effects | Blurs and click on Gaussian Blur (or one of the other blurs - I recommend this one for its ease of use and predictability of the result)

5. Adjust the Radius to a level that you like for your blur.

6. Click OK.

[bobbin]

I don't know how to do #1. However I did the rest and it worked. However, that's what I did last night but with a different effect and it didn't work. Weird.

thank you!!!! I appreciate your time.

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Verbose mode ON: You have a window located by default in the lower right hand corner of the Paint.NET workspace. This window is entitled Layers. This window shows the layer structure of your image, which might have one layer, or it might have many layers. Think of layers as clear plastic sheets - each can have a part of your image on it - so editing just that specific part is easier if you confine the edit to a single layer. To swap the editing focus between layers, you just need to click on the layer name in the Layers window. The active layer is highlighted to show you which layer is currently recieving the editing focus.

For more on layers and layering: http://www.getpaint.net/doc/latest/WorkingWithLayers.html