Step 1 - Open & Duplicate
Open up your photo in photoshop and duplicate the background layer by selecting it in the layers palette and pressing 'cmd + j'.
Step 2 - Gaussian Blur
Add a gaussian blur to your photo with a radius of about 5 to 10 pixels. To do so, click Filter->Blur->Gaussian Blur.
Step 3 - Layer Mask
Add a layer mask to the blurred layer (Layer->Layer Mask->Reveal All). Then grab the Elliptical Marquee Tool and draw out a circle of the area that you'd like to highlight. For a perfect circle, hold down shift as you drag out your selection. Double check that you have the layer mask selected and fill your selection with black by selecting Edit->Fill then choosing black.
Step 4 - White Stroke
Don't deselect the circle selection just yet, you will need it for the stroke and shadow. If you have deselected your circle, the best way to redo the selection is to 'cmd + click' on the mask, then select the inverse ('shift + cmd + I'). Add a new layer to the top of the layers palette (Layer->New->Layer). Now click, Edit->Stroke. Choose a width of 4px, and a color of white, then click ok.
Step 5 - Shadow
Add another layer, and place it just below the white stroke layer you created. Add another stroke, this time make it 6px, and black.
Step 6 - Blur The Shadow
Add a gaussian blur to the black stroke to soften the shadow. You can go through and add the gaussian blur through the filters, or just hit 'cmd + f' to repeat the last filter (which in our case was the gaussian blur). I hit 'cmd + f' twice to make the shadow quite subtle.
Step 7 - Finishing Touches
In this last step, I added a sketchy arrow and some text. I also added a very subtle drop shadow to both. Here is the final result.
Parting Thoughts
As you can see, this is a very simple way that you can add some interest to blog images, and focus the readers attention. Don't hesitate to drop me a comment and let me know what you think of the effect, or make mention some other techniques that you use, or that you have seen in action.
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