Problems with Feathering in CS4

[hirschab]

OK so I'm relatively new to PS, and I have a problem with trying to feather. Basically, I have a nearly completed photoshop, but I need to feather the edges of one of the layers to make it blend in with the background. It's a person, a vampire, and I cut out the background of the original pic he was in and put a new background behind him, so the edges are a bit rough.
Anyways, when I select the layer that he is in, and then hit "select pixels", so the layer is highlighted around him, I then right click and hit "feather". To exaggerate what is happening, I selected 80 pixels as the radius I wanted to feather. As you can see, what happened is that the lasso around him feathered, but he did not. I do not actually want 80 pixel radius of course, but no pixel radius is currently working, I cannot feather at all.
Does anyone have any explanation for this? I've searched high and low for the answer and it would be much appreciated.

[artd]

Hi hirschab,

Okay, here's the deal.... a selection will not edit your image, you're the one who must do that. A selection (feathered or not) is just an area that will effect what 'you' do, after the selection is made. For example, if you make a feathered selection and then paint it, your paint job will be feathered. However, putting a new feathered selection over something you've already painted will not cause your paint job to suddenly become feathered. It will just sit there waiting for you to do something.

For example, what you could do with the vampire is select the area around him and feather your selection. Now do something: use the eraser tool (at a reduced opacity) to erase around those feathered edges. Or, you could also try to simply delete the selected area. Personally, I think it's just as easy to go around the edges of your image with the "Blur" tool

Hope this is helpful.

[hirschab]

Thanks for the detailed response!
Using the blur tool is what I ended up doing, actually, and it worked just as good, but it was still bugging me because I feel like I have feathered before successfully.
For example, when I go to SELECT and then to Refine Edge, after selecting the layer I wish to feather, I can feather the edges at will, and it shows the effect in preview.
However once I click OK the effect completely vanishes. Very frustrating.
I suppose it doesn't matter much now that I know the blur trick, however I still find it confusing that the feather effect I wish to see appears in the preview and then disappears once I confirm that that is the effect I want.

[artd]

Yeah, I know, it does the same thing for me. I guess what we're seeing is a preview of what the feathering would do IF we were to apply something to it? Anyway, to prove to yourself that the preview is misleading, create an empty layer above your image and make a selection of some kind on that empty layer. Then, play around with Refine Edge as you watch the preview and you'll see the same feathering effect. Yet, you know it can't really feather anything, since you're on an empty layer It sure can't feather the layers below, they aren't even selected.