Box Blur
I'm really not sure what Adobe intended Photoshop users to do with this filter. It works like the Gaussian Blur filter, and it does pretty much the same thing, only less smoothly. An image blurred using Box Blur has more pronounced detail than the same picture blurred using a Gaussian blur with the same radius setting. The esteemed technical editor of this book, Doug Nelson, likes to use Box Blur for removing dots from scanned newspaper images. If you've got another favorite use for this...
Using the Smudge Tool
The Smudge tool looks like, and works like, a finger. It's in the same toolbox compartment with the Blur and Sharpen tools. The Smudge tool picks up color from wherever you start to drag it and moves it in the direction in which you drag. Honestly, nothing could be much simpler. You do, however, have to use the Tool Options bar's Strength field to set the pressure of your smudging finger. At 100 , the finger simply wipes away the paint. At 50 , it smears it. At 25 , the smear is less...
Pointillism and Mosaic
Comparing the work of Georges Seurat to that of some of the sloppier French impressionists can be quite a revelation. Seurat's dabs of paint, all neatly clustered, form elegant scenes from a distance and form equally elegant abstract patterns up close. It would be nice if Photoshop's Pointillism filters did the job as neatly and scientifically as M. Seurat did. They don't. This is, however, one case where the smallest setting doesn't work as well as some of the larger ones. I first tried the...