Artificial Depth of Field

[Radtech1]

All,

I took a photo at a Cajun/Zydeco festival at long beach a couple weeks back. I decided that f22 was NOT what I should have used. (Full Auto - so sue me!) I took the image to PSE 2.0 and cut it into 10 layers. The Two Red Guys, a couple foreground layers, and 7 background layers. I blurred each layer away from the subjects progressively more, and the 4 furthest layers were blurred and lightened. I am somewhat satisfied with the results, but it took HOURS to do - at some points, I had to "select" on a pixel by pixel basis.

Does anyone have an easier way to introduce a somewhat convincing artificial DoF? And please, comments and critiques in general.

Also, Last image (Long Beach Over Mars) is entirely unretouched! Which just goes to prove that sometimes the photograph takes you, all you have to do is be there.

Radtech

http://users.adelphia.net/~radtech1/photos/2RedGuys.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~radtech1/photos/2RedGuyscDOF.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~radtech1/photos/LongBeachOverMars.jpg

[TimNYC24]

Sorry rad, but the url's you posted are invalid :(

[Radtech1]

Corrected URLS

http://users.adelphia.net/~radtech1/Photos/2RedGuys.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~radtech1/Photos/2RedGuyscDOF.jpg
http://users.adelphia.net/~radtech1/Photos/LongBeachOverMars.jpg

[slejhamer]

I don't think the red guy pic is appropriate for the shallow DOF approach. Also, in my not-always-humble opinion, I don't think it looks very natural A little more subtlety might work, but I actually don't mind the original pic. If you want to isolate the red guy and then swap the background for something more artistic, then fire away!

Oh, I like the night shot on mars very much!

[SoCal69]

I'm not getting anything from either set of links. :(

[Radtech1]

Thanks for looking. After I got the address problem fixed, my webspace server went down. Adelphia says 6 to 8 hours. Please check back.

Radtech

[boyhowdy]

I haven't seen the shots yet either but there are some proggies out there like Imaging Factory DOF which I think you can try for 30 days. It is a plugin for Photoshop and possibly photoshop elements. It can do a sort of DOF by blurring the background but you can create a layer (not as many as you had to do!) and then choose how much to blur and fog it.

Patrick

[Radtech1]

Adelphia tells me that the webspace server is up and running. Links should work now. Thanks!

Radtech

[TimNYC24]

Rad, welcome to the forum :)
Your second photo with the shallow DOF I like. As Slej points out, some times it works and sometimes not, but for me, I like your useage here as it focuses the red guys and band members.
Your night shot is spectacular.
Any exif data on both?

[eland]

Hi Rad and welcome

I must admire your effort and patience in blurring the background.

There is a much easier way in most PS versions.
Elements should have it as LE does.

On the tool bar on the left is a Blur Brush. It shares an icon
with the Sharpen Brush. Blur icon looks like a drop of water. Sharpen is a triangle. Hit R.

The brush appears. You can change its size and pressure and select edge feather.

Run this brush over the background areas and you can selectively
blur areas.
Done and not overdone it will give you quite an effective out of focus DOF blur.
One can increase the blur for more distant objects.
Shouldn't take more than 20 minutes.

Do this on a layer or duplicate so as not to wreck the original.

Regards
eland

[barnold999]

Well you are in critiques corner... I like shallow DOF but remember... the background dosent just BLUR it has different levels... the area closer to him is a little blured, while further away is more blured, work with that, other people have given techniques on that...

what I usually do, though, is select a middle ground element, feather the selection, the blur it some... then deselect, select the background, and feather it, and blur it more... seems like this would be more effective with layer masks, but some reason I never work with layer masks, oh well.

-Brent

[henkbos]

Good try with the DOF. Unfortunately the DOF of a lens can't be reproduced by the blurring in PS/PSE. Wish it could ;-(

[Leighow]

Look these are both lovely pictures.

RED GUYS
********
I think that the real lesson is composition, and thinking/framing in real time. I am trying to say that the red guys might even be better -- and you really have to see the shot to make the call! -- if the camera was a bit more to the left, leving the guy on the right clear of the two in short sleves. So the real question here is did you take a dozen shots! Also, there is too much forground green -- I would just crop down a bit.

I like what you have tried to do -- it looks a bit bright. Could be good old New Orleans !


NIGHT SHOT
**********
Lovely shot, but I would crop top & bottom, to let use see more detail . It really is a panorama shot -- and in the end, maybe a pan wold have worked too.

HOWIE

[Guillermo Freige]

Rad:
For some reason my brain don't buy the faked shallow DoF. It remembers me the feeling I have when I see a 3D picture. It's like the effect is too exagerated to be true. The red guy pops in front of the picture like a 3d pic. But no doubt the picture is an eye catcher! :)

Guillermo

[Guillermo Freige]

Hi. drisley just posted in the G3 forum a PS plugin tha makes a false shallow DoF. It's called LensCare. To see the whole post, go to the "Fake DoF" post in the G3 forum.

[marie]

looked at your pictures radtech
they are coming in on the computer in panarama form before they settle down nicely then

:)

I would think the atmosphere around those red fellows would be nothing without all those lovely people around, their being part of the whole scene
that is the complete picture.
( the music must have been terrific )
just a little crop off the top of the treetops
and also cropping some of the grass in the foreground
should help the overall appearance ?

in the other beautiful picture of long island
I would crop some off the top darkness
and also crop to very near to where the reflection of the lights in the water ends
( at the bottom of the picture )


:)
an on
marie