"Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do, when they come for you?".    Well, if you have done something a little bit disgraceful and want to blur out your face from the offending images without destroying the pictures themselves, you'll want to learn this simple censorship effect.  The results are quick, easy, and resemble something from a reality cop show.
 

Step 1: Open up a stock image in Photoshop of any size and/or format. Don't forget that you need a reason to censor the image, or it'll just look daft.   Examples of inappropriate censorship include scenes where everyone is looking away from the camera with faces obscured, etc. Note:  This image was just found via a quick Google Image search for 'arrest'.  We have no idea of the circumstances of the arrest in the picture, nor the poor soul involved... ;)

Step 2: Ensure the background (or image) layer is selected in the layers palette.  Then, using the Elliptical Marquee Tool, form a selection around the area that you want pixellated.   Don't concentrate too much on precision if you are aiming for a 'cop show' effect, as the filters they use usually involve a large area anyway to reduce the amount of fine adjustment needed during production processing.   Now select Edit > Copy and then Edit > Paste from the main menu to copy the selection and paste it into a new layer.

Step 3: Ensure that you have no selection active (run Select > Deselect if needed), and select the new top/copied layer in the layers palette.   Now just run Filters > Pixellate > Mosaic enter a cell size suitable for your image.  This setting is entirely dependant on the overall dimensions of your image - our example to the left used a cell size of 8px. Click ok... and there you have it - a quick and effective censorship method!

Footnote:  It is, of course, possible to censor the background layer directly without copying the selection into its own layer, but the results usually have a harsh edge.  By putting the censored selection in a separate layer, the final result is much smoother and more closely resembles the filters used in proper reality cop shows.

- Tutorial written by Man1c M0g

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