Background noise!

Hi everybody,

So-- I shoot a lot of concerts, and something that really bothers me is background noise. I go crazy with getting the background as clean as I can.

Okay, so this might be a little hard to follow. So, when I get a photo I'm happy with, I upload it into PS (CS) - I will work with the levels, coloring, etc. Then, I resize the photo, usually from 6mb to 1 mb or less and then will open the resized image and blurr my background manually with the paintbrush tool.

So, when I try to blur the background noise when the image is large, it doesn't blur as much, in fact, it barely blurs at all. (I have my hardness set to maximum keep in mind)

So, I guess my question is, is there any way for me to make the blur as hard as it is when the image is small so that I only have to edit my image once? Because that would make my life 10x's more easier.

--I'll attach one of my band photos. (292K)


Thanks for any suggestions...

(By the way, I've tried some plug-ins but, they don't seem to be doing it as well as me resizing the image and blurring!)

-Katie.

I'll give you an example of how I do it. First, the original, to show original background, etc.

1686 x 1156

EMBED PREVENTED, IMAGE TOO LARGE: http://imageshack.us/a​/img843/3930/g57c4523.​jpg Click here to see our image rules.

you guys spend way more time on each photo than I do.

Pffft, y'know, if I found a photo too noisy I would dump it