by JuliannaKunstler.com
Feathering Blurs edges by building a transition boundary between the selection and its surrounding pixels. This blurring can cause some loss of detail at the edge of the selection.
You can define feathering for the Marquee tools, the Lasso tool, the Polygonal Lasso tool, or the Magnetic Lasso tool as you use the tool, or you can add feathering to an existing selection.
Note: Feathering effects become apparent only after you move, cut, copy, or fill the selection.
You can download this image or use your own.
Choose Rectangular Marquee Tool
Feathering setting is in the Options palette
We are going to cut out a selection with soft edges.
Set feathering to the amount of pixels (on both sides of the selection outline) to be used as a soft transparent edge. I set mine to 5 - that means that the total of 10 pixels (5 on each side of the selection)
Draw a selection
To get rid of the background (and to keep the area you selected):
Select > Inverse
Delete
This is what it looks like when done.
Let's try using the Elliptical Marquee tool.
Set the feathering
Draw the selection
Select > Inverse
Delete
Use the Crop tool to get rid of the unwanted area: draw the rectangle around your object. Hit Enter.
Done!
