When you try this, think of each layer as a separate slide. One will be blurred just as you would throw your camera out of focus for the blurred slide, and one will be sharp. The Option key on the Mac is the same as the ALT key on the PC, and the Command key on the Mac is the same as the Control key on the PC

1. Open image you wish to manipulate.
2. Select all, the whole image (Command/Control A)
3. Copy (Command/Control C).
4. Make a new document (File>New)
5. Go to "Window", scroll down to last item, which is the name of your open image. Now the size in the "new" image dialogue box will be the same as your open image. Click OK. New page will open up.
6. Paste in picture (Command/Control V).
7. Save picture with new name. (File>Save As). Close original.
8. This will be a psd or Photoshop document because it is in layers. When you pasted in your image, it was automatically placed on a separate layer. If you try to save in other formats you may lose info, so leave in psd format while you work on the doc.
   

1. Go to layers palette. Hit arrow on upper right and scroll down to duplicate layer. Click OK. Notice copy layer is now highlighted. That is the layer you will manipulate.
2. Go to Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur. Blur till you think it looks good. Click "preview" on and off to see what you are doing. Click OK.
3. Go to layer modes (Box - upper left in layers dialogue box - which says "normal". Click and hold on arrow to see various blending modes. Go to "Overlay".
4. Play with opacity on both layers (upper right in layers dialogue box). Don't forget you have to highlight the layer in the dialogue box that you wish to manipulate.
5. For an added graphic look, click on layer one and make another duplicate layer. Make sure sequence of layers is as follows: Layer 1 copy 2....layer 1 copy........layer 1.....backround. If not in
   that sequence, click and drag layers to correct position. Highlight layer 1 copy 2 and go to Filter>Stylize>Find Edges. Go to layer blending modes (upper left in layer dialogue box) and select Overlay. Again, play with opacity until you get what you like.

Some images will look terrific, but some may not, just as some slides lend themselves to slide montaging and some don't. Don't be afraid to try something. If you don't like it, hit Command/Control Z and it's undone. Any layer can be made darker or lighter, more saturated or less saturated. Try other blending modes to see what they will do. Try other filters on a layer and control how much of that filter is used by changing the opacity of the layer. When you have what you like, flatten the image and save. If you think you want to keep working on the layers save as psd file. Or save both.