Photoshop Tip: Image Pop Blur / Overlay Effect

Touch image for a before and after "Mouse Over" effect. This is one of those tricks most of you already know, but for those who don't, you're gonna love it. This is a simple trick that will make those light or over saturated images pop.  Let's get started. Open an image you feel needs some help. Now, duplicate your picture either by dragging it to the "Create New Layer" icon next to the trash can at the bottom of your Layers Panel or hitting "Ctrl + J" on the keyboard. Next we're gonna apply "Gaussian Blur" (Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur) now set the "Radius" slider to 4.0.  Blurry isn't it?  Now go to the "Layers Palette" and change the "Blending Mode" from "Normal" to "Overlay."  What a difference! I sometimes adjust the "Opacity" level, and as seen here I set it at 80%. If you look at the before and after, you can see that this method makes the light tones lighter and the dark tones darker while softening it. Sometimes applying a higher percentage of "Gaussian Blur" along with a higher "Overlay" percentage gives a dreamier effect. That's it, hope it was fun.