Image won't feather

[Tommie Green]

I'm trying to edge the feathers of an image, but it's not working.

The image mode is RGB.

I select by right clicking the layer and selecting 'Select Pixels'.

I go to Select > Modify > Feather

I feather my heart away but the image will not blur, fade, or move at all.

However, the marching ants change shape as if the feathering should happen to the image but it doesn't. 

Same thing happenes when I selec then go to 'Select and Mask'

I don't understand what's going on with this image or feature please help. Thanks.

[Bojan Živković]

I don't see a mask in your first screenshot. To automatically create a transparency mask, drag the layer onto the layer mask icon. Then, use the Select & Mask workspace.

[Tommie Green]

Hello, thanks for responding. 

I do not understand why I have to use a mask to feather the edges of this image. Does anyone mind explaining the purpose of layers? Despite that, I have been using layers, I just did not incorporate them in my subject because I was hopinh it was possible to feather the edges without creating a mask. 

However, in my subject I did mention that the 'Same thing happens when I select go to 'Select and Mask'. If you refer to my second image, I create the mask and feather it but still nothing happens to the image. I know it's something small I'm missing but I've been up for 3 days trying to figure it out, I can't. 

[Bojan Živković]

I downloaded your image, and after adding the mask, I was able to use the Feather tool in the Select & Mask workspace. Everything worked as expected.

You might want to try resetting your preferences, as your Photoshop could be malfunctioning for some reason.

[Tommie Green]

Thank you so much for your time and knowledge. I have created a mask but when I feather all I get is this:

I'm also confused about select and mask properties panel vs modify>feather, are they the same thing?

And also what should my feather radius be?

The result that you acheived is not what I'm going for. Here is what I'm trying to do (:49 second mark) just a light touch off the edcges so that they aren't sharp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF_4jHM9mDE

Didn't there used to be a feather tool? Guess I'll reset my preferences...

[Bojan Živković]

Watch the video again. I did what was shown in the video and noticed that when she dragged the feather slider to the right, I did the same but left it there. We are discussing the same effect.