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Focus Tools

Now focus your attention on the Focus tools. These tools, Blur and Sharpen, are great for touching up an image, fixing tiny flaws, and bringing items into sharper contrast. They can't save a really bad photo, but they can do wonders for one that's just a little bit off. Sharpen can increase the contrast to create the illusion of sharper focus, whereas Blur is most useful to rid the background of unwanted clutter and to deemphasize parts of the picture that you don't want viewers to notice. The Focus tools can be seen in Figure 9.4.

Figure 9.4. The Focus tools, with Smudge thrown in for good measure.

The Blur Tool

The Blur tool, simply ...