Matte effect in illustrator

Question

I'm new to graphic design.

Does anyone know how to create a the matte shape like this from the picture below! enter image description here

2015/01/21

hsawires · Accepted Answer · 1/21/2015 4:53:00 PM

It is possible using Illustrator and using the photoshop effect built in illustrator.. please follow the following steps.

place you image in your artboard.
copy [CTRL+C] the placed image and past it exactly on the old on by pressing [CTRL+F] - now you have two images over each other.
draw a circle over the desire spot.
by the black arrow select the circle and the image that you have just pasted over the old one. and make a clipping mask by going to object>clipping mask>make or press [CTRL+7]
now we are ready to make the effect to the circle which appear exactly on the old image spot. be careful not to move it. go to effect>blur>Gaussian blur and set a desire value preferable to be between 3 to 7
after doing the effect group the circle with the old placed image by selecting them both and press [CRTL+G]

enter image description here

if you want to make the matte effect you can add another circle with a white color having 50% opacity and put over or under the mask circle.

enter image description here

that's it.