While using pictures in designing we often don't require certain parts of a picture to be seen, or else, just need a particular part of a picture. For this we can use the Feather effect of Macromedia Fireworks. Basically feather removes the otherwise jagged finish to an edited image by giving it a fading in pixel radius. This cool effect makes your pictures stand out and look really professional. Follow these easy steps:

In your Fireworks PNG file, ready the original image you would like to edit. Our example is shown below:
Select the area that you would like to feather using one or more of the Bitmap Tools (the 4 shown below and the yellow magic wand below the marquee tool). The Lasso tool and the magic wand (selects one colored section it is clicked on) are very useful for fine tuning your outline.
Keep the shift button pressed if you want to do multiple selections within the image.
Important: Once you have drawn/selected the feather area, check if the selection is what you want deleted. If not, that is, the selected area is what you would like to keep, then right click the area, from the list select Modify Marquee >> Select Inverse (Ctrl+Shift+I).
Now you are ready to apply the feather. Right click on the selection once again, and from the pop-up list select Modify Marquee >> Feather. Give the feather radius in pixels (less for sharper feather and more for increased fading). Take a look at the screen-shot below to see this step:
Now click delete to remove the unwanted (selected) area and your remaining required picture will be feathered nicely.
Tip: For a sharper finish give a feather radius 5 and click delete twice.
Tip: For extra fade (useful in collages) try a feather radius 30.

That's it, you now know how to do Feathering using Fireworks! You can experiment with various pictures and learn how to merge and create attractive collages.

We would love to hear your comments and any suggestions on future tutorials we can add to this section. Thanks!

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