Can I apply a gradient effect like a blur to a selection in Lightroom?

[Ken Nielsen]

Maybe all I need to do is to 'paint' in various intensities for a mask but I'm not aware of a blur effect in Lightroom like you can do in Photoshop. It would be great to 'paint' selected areas that could be then affected with a gradient effects like blur.. Is this possible and how should it be done?

[KR Seals · Accepted solution]

Once you create a mask like a background mask, you can use the Effects, texture, clarity and de-haze as negative vaues. 

[Ken Nielsen]

Okay, then there is no blur effect in Lightroom. It sounds like I'll have to do what I want in Photoshop, which is fine, there are lots of wonderful YouTube videos on how to apply a bokeh effect in Photoshop. Maybe someday there will be added controls and effects in Lightroom. Lightroom does have its unique selection ability but applying additional effects seems like a great next step for added abilities. Thank you KR.

[richardplondon · Accepted solution]

There is a quite effective Lens Blur feature, which gives a gradiented effect (different kinds of simulated bokeh can be selected) and which can use any depth mask present in the image or otherwise smart-generate its own, plus this depth mask can be manually tweaked by painting in areas of focus / areas of blur.

and then the lens blur can be manipulated as to where its plane of simulated focus should sit within this virtual depth range

Alternatively you can locally mask (with varied density across the image), a local adjustment whuch applies a blurring effect. This may include for example Clarity and Texture (as negative values) found in the Effect subsection of the local adjustments panel, or reducing the Sharpness parameter found in the Detail subsection of the same panel.  

[Ken Nielsen]

This gets me started with an area in Lightroom I need to learn about. Thanks for this great help and introduction.