Tutorial Objective

The Ellipse Tool and controls allow you to blend a focal effect across a smooth circular or oval shape. This tutorial will show you how to add, adjust, move and otherwise control the ellipse.

Open an Image

Open up a photo by going to the File > Open Photo menu command.

Select the Soft Focus Effect

Under the Select Effect menu choose the Soft Focus effect (A).

As soon as the effect is loaded up the entire image will become soft and out-of-focus (see screenshot below). Change the active tool to be the Create Focal Ellipse tool (A) as shown below. Position the cursor with the plus sign (B) over the center of the subject and click the mouse once. This will generate a new ellipse control onscreen.

Adjust the Ellipse Control

When the ellipse is first created onscreen it will come in the same shape as the photo. You can adjust the shape and position of the ellipse as needed. In the example below we've shaped the ellipse into a perfect circle and positioned it over the center of the subject (A).

Move the Ellipse

To make changes to the ellipse shape, size or position you have to use the Transform Focal Ellipse (A) tool. Click on this tool to make it active. When you put the cursor over the ellipse center or on other key positions the cursor will change to a four-sided arrow (B) indicating that if you click and drag the cursor can be moved to a new location.

Resize Ellipse Larger or Smaller

When you move the cursor adjacent to the outside ring the cursor changes to a small oval circle with an arrow (A) indicating that if you click and drag the ellipse will scale in the direction you move the cursor growing larger or smaller based on the movement you make.

Reshape Ellipse

When you hold the cursor over the outside ring of the ellipse it will turn into a double sided arrow (A) indicating that you can reshape the ellipse by clicking and dragging the mouse. Use this control to change a circular ellipse into an oval and vice-versa.

Adjust Blending Ring

The inner ring of the ellipse controls how much of a blended, feathered result is applied on the inside of the ellipse. When you move your cursor over the inner ring it will turn into a double sided arrow (A) indicating you can move the ring towards the center or outside of the ellipse. Moving it towards the center of the ellipse adds more blending while moving it towards the outer ring reduces the blending distance and amount.

Rotate Ellipse

To rotate the ellipse move the cursor over either the vertical or the horizontal center paths. The cursor changes to a curved double sided arrow (A) indicating that you can click and drag to rotate the ellipse.

Adding Additional Ellipse Controls

You can add as many ellipse controls to the image as you need to achieve the desired results. To add another ellipse click on the Create Focal Ellipse (A) tool and click in the desired location.

When you add a new ellipse the size, rotational angle and blending are all copied from the last ellipse you created (essentially the new ellipse you create clones the properties of the last ellipse you adjusted). In the example below you can see the new ellipse (A) has been added and is now selected. The original ellipse (B) is not active and is blue in color to indicate it is not active.

You can now click on the Transform Focal Ellipse (A) tool and edit the shape, size and position of the new ellipse (B).

Hide Ellipse Controls

While working with the ellipse controls you may periodically want to hide them so you can get a cleaner preview of the effect results. To do this simply make sure that both the Create Focal Ellipse and Transform Focal Ellipse tools are inactive (A) and (B).

Touching Up with Other Tools

The ellipse removes larger areas of the image across a smooth blended circle or shape but sometimes you may need to touch-up small areas the ellipse did not cover. In the example below we use the Brush-On (A) tool to add back to a small area the ellipse has removed (B).

The results of using the Brush-On tool are shown below (A). As you can see the combination of the Ellipse control and other tools gives you a nice way to blend in focal effects with the ability to add refinements as needed.

Deleting an Ellipse

To remove an Ellipse from your image all you have to do is press the Delete key and the selected ellipse will be deleted.

Summary

The ellipse tools allows you to place circular and oval shaped controls on your photo and smoothly blend the focal effects onto the photo. You can move, scale, rotate and adjust the blending of the ellipse using cursor controls that change based on where you hold them over on the ellipse. You can add multiple ellipse controls and adjust them independently of each other. You can hide the ellipse controls onscreen by making both ellipse tools inactive. To delete an ellipse press the delete key.