Photo Albums - how to feather pictures

Hi,
Anyone have any good ideas how to feather pictures so that you dont see the edges?
I tried doing it using a mask and feathering the selection tool however the picture becomes very faded and unclear.
Would love to hear.

Selection tool. Set feathering and the cut/copy

I always do gradient feather or basic feather in indesign, but you’re right- some times you do see a slight border around it