Photoshop Effects: Strolling Through The Inverted Forest

Step 5: Merge All Three Layers Onto A New Layer Above The Inverted Layer

With the inverted layer still selected in the Layers palette, press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+E (Win) / Shift+Command+Option+E (Mac) to merge all three layers onto a new layer above the inverted layer, which Photoshop has named "Layer 2":

Step 6: Apply The Gaussian Blur Filter To The Merged Layer

I'm going to add some blurring to this merged layer using Photoshop's Gaussian Blur filter, which I'll access by going up to the Filter menu at the top of the screen, choosing Blur and then choosing Gaussian Blur. This brings up the Gaussian Blur dialog box:

I'm using a low resolution version of the image for this tutorial so for me, a Radius value of about 4 pixels gives me a decent amount of blurring. You'll most likely be using a higher resolution image, in which case try a setting of somewhere around 6-8 pixels. The idea is to blur the image while still being able to make out the general details, similar to what I have here:

Click OK when you're done to exit out of the Gaussian Blur filter.

Step 7: Change The Blend Mode Of The Merged Layer To "Overlay"

Finally, still with the merged layer selected, go back up to the blend mode options in the top left of the Layers palette and change the blend mode from "Normal" to Overlay:

Once you've changed the blend mode, you're done! You can lower the opacity of the merged layer if you think the effect is too strong, but I'm going to leave mine at the full 100%.

Here once again is my original image:

And here, after changing the blend mode for the merged layer to Overlay, is my finished "Strolling Through The Inverted Forest" result:

And there we have it!