Using "Delete & Fill Selection" to Blur a Background - (See note below regarding Gradient tool.)

* * * IMPORTANT NOTE * * * Starting with Photoshop version 25.5, Adobe introduced a new gradient tool. While this new gradient tool is generally a great improvement, it does cause some problems when creating gradients within Quick Mask. In order to get the gradient tool to work in the Quick Mask mode as used in this video, you must select "Classic gradient" from the dropdown menu at the top left of the screen. If you have any problems, please leave a comment and I will do my best to walk you through the process. Unfortunately, there was a problem in Photoshop version 24.1 which caused the "Delete and Fill Selection" option to disappear from the dropdown context menu. This has been fixed in Photoshop 24.1.1 which is being rolled out gradually as of 1/19/2023. Before watching this video, be sure to update your Photoshop to version 24.1.1 or later. (If you have version 24.01, then the "Delete and Fill Selection" option should still be in your dropdown menu, as shown in this video. But, this option disappeared in version 24.1 and was brought back in 24.1.1. Wow, did you follow all that?) This video explains how to use Photoshop's "Delete and Fill Selection" tool to remove the subject from a photo so that the background can be blurred without having the subject bleed into the background. The end result is a more realistic-looking blur. I used a photo of an American Avocet in this tutorial. I think bird photographers will appreciate this methodology for blurring the background. If you'd like to follow along in this video with the same file that I am using, you can download the file here: https://1drv.ms/u/s!AinHHfJPLIiHgqN0ZpbU-5RJn_q_ZA?e=VwZjAK * * * Timestamps * * * 00:00 - Intro 01:02 - Select Subject explanation and setup 02:19 - Select the subject and add it to a new layer 03:15 - Try "Content Aware Fill" first for comparison 04:48 - Now use "Delete & Fill Selection" for a better result 05:28 - Blur the background using a gradient fill and lens blur 08:49 - Repeat the blur process for the foreground area 09:52 - Check out the final results #photoshop #photoshoptutorial #photoshoptutorials #birdphotography #photography #Photoshop2023