add gradient to background mask for blur

rbohn61  wrote I have a  mask made to apply a blur  to areas around subject-two people in foreground. I would like to add a gradient from top to bottom to somewhat simulate depth of field. Area at bottom of image would have no blur but increase toward top of image. Can this be done in Elements 15? If so, any assistance would be appreciated. Thanks

Try this:

1. Open picture file
2. Duplicate background layer
3. Apply Gaussian blur to background copy layer. This will blur everything
4. Apply mask to background copy layer
5. Set foreground color chip to black & background color chip to white
6. Activate the brush tool.
7. Left click on the mask, then paint with a black brush on the area that you wish to remain in focus. If you go too far, correct with a white brush. Depending on the picture, you can fine-tune the masking by painting with a brush set at reduced opacity.

If you are determined to utilize a gradient, you would have to open the gradient editor and set the color stops & opacity stops in order to create a custom black/white gradient. This would then be applied to the mask. This is more complicated and I have found the steps delineated above work well for me.