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I have been seeing these blurred backgrounds all over the place, so I would like to know the exact steps how to reproduce something like this http://dribbble.com/shots/918102-Some-icons?list=popular&offset=341. What I can imagine, is that they first blurred an image/gradient with a gaussian blur. But there has to be something more to it, right ?

enter image description here

+) How do I correctly use a gradient instead of a picture?

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You are asking for exact steps on vague things. Which doesn't make it easy to answer. One thing you missed is the vignette. Maybe you could post what you have tried so far or what step you have troble with? – KMSTR Jan 30 at 10:10
Well the overall problem is, I do not know at all how to achieve this kind of effect. I assumed that there is a fixed guide how to approximately achieve this effect. – Martin E. Jan 30 at 10:24
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There really isn't. It's either an image or gradient, or multiple semi-transparent gradients, blurred out and a elyptical vignette to finish it off. Everything else is just tweaking those settings. – KMSTR Jan 30 at 12:16
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It looks like a picture with a Gaussian blur added to it. – OghmaOsiris Jan 30 at 15:04
Like the others show, it's really just strongly blurred image. Create a gradient, then use a (gaussian, most likely) blur. That's it. – poepje Jan 30 at 18:30

1 Answer

up vote 6 down vote accepted

I created a similar effect with the Gaussian Blur tool in Photoshop set to a 60 px radius.

enter image description here enter image description here

Of course, you can do this with any photo where you like the color shifts, your sample reminded me of a beach, so I found a beach photo on Wikimedia.

Another way you can do it is by creating the shapes you want and then applying a Gaussian blur to them:

enter image description here enter image description here

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+1 for a good example of using one filter with either a photo/picture or color blocking. – Kevin Bomberry Jan 31 at 21:22

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