I did a really bad job of blurring the background on editing a shot for DOF.

Need help. This shot was taken back when I had zero knowledge(2007) with a 350D and a kit lens and has ZERO DOF(background blur.. I have tried to blur the background and it looks terrible !! as you can see
Its not an amazing Shot but the girl has something about her !!
Is anyone willing to advise on how to do it better or do a better job themselves?
Here is the blurred background
http://cdn.purpleport.​com/i/p/365/36573-495706495.jpg

Pop up a link to the original? Full size etc.

Well I don't profess to be an PS expert, but since I am learning (well trying to teach myself) I thought I would have a quick and dirty go at this With PSE....hope you don't mind...
I duplicated the layer and created mask of the girl and edit the mask to use gradient fill to protect part of the road in same focal plane as girl, I then applied guassian blur, I also tried to lighten the distracting shadow on the road and dodge the girls face to bring out some shadow detail and applied some hue/saturation adjustment to the background.

This is only a quick edit whilst at work so the selection and masking might not be the most accurate but it would be interesting to get some feedback on the ideas attempted.

i think bluring the background in post processing most often looks weird. better approach is to replace the background . here is one attempt . it is a quick edit so it has many flaws but if one spend little bit more time in post processing , it is possible to avoide those flaws.

I'm not sure what the DOF was like in the original, but here is a quick fake using the Lens Blur filter in PS with the rough depth map inset in the image. The blur is a little too much, but I did it that way so you could see what was going on - the blur I applied was on top of that in the original posting, so that also adds to the slight strangeness.

In my depth map, the area of the gradient at the mid gray should probably be pushed further back, to an area between the middle group of 5 people sand the background group of people.

kirk

kirkt wrote in post #16684075
I'm not sure what the DOF was like in the original, but here is a quick fake using the Lens Blur filter in PS with the rough depth map inset in the image. The blur is a little too much, but I did it that way so you could see what was going on - the blur I applied was on top of that in the original posting, so that also adds to the slight strangeness.

In my depth map, the area of the gradient at the mid gray should probably be pushed further back, to an area between the middle group of 5 people sand the background group of people.

kirk

That is the best way to do it and the way that I would do it when needed. One thing to note is that you will need to basically clone out the subject and have it on another layer, otherwise you will end up with a weird halo blur around the subject.

I usually choke the mask around the subject 1px and the feather 1 px and this suppresses the halo - the key is to use the pen tool and make an accurate mask of the main subject. The background subjects can be masked very loosely with the brush tool even.

kirk

kirkt wrote in post #16684075
I'm not sure what the DOF was like in the original, but here is a quick fake using the Lens Blur filter in PS with the rough depth map inset in the image. The blur is a little too much, but I did it that way so you could see what was going on - the blur I applied was on top of that in the original posting, so that also adds to the slight strangeness.

In my depth map, the area of the gradient at the mid gray should probably be pushed further back, to an area between the middle group of 5 people sand the background group of people.

kirk

Forgive my ignorance, but can you elaborate on how the depth map is created, I assume different shades of grey are used in the mask to represent different distance from focal plan, but how do you determine which shade of grey to apply to which parts of the image ? Do you have any links to any tutorials on this method ?
TIA

Furtim wrote in post #16683616
Pop up a link to the original? Full size etc.

Please PM me your e-mail and I will send you the original. Thanks

Nick

birderman wrote in post #16683726
Well I don't profess to be an PS expert, but since I am learning (well trying to teach myself) I thought I would have a quick and dirty go at this With PSE....hope you don't mind...
I duplicated the layer and created mask of the girl and edit the mask to use gradient fill to protect part of the road in same focal plane as girl, I then applied guassian blur, I also tried to lighten the distracting shadow on the road and dodge the girls face to bring out some shadow detail and applied some hue/saturation adjustment to the background.

This is only a quick edit whilst at work so the selection and masking might not be the most accurate but it would be interesting to get some feedback on the ideas attempted.

Hosted photo: posted by birderman in
./showthread.php?p=166​83726&i=i194386055
forum: RAW, Post Processing & Printing

Thanks but abit too much blur, does look real enough.. Thanks again

nittaya wrote in post #16684022
i think bluring the background in post processing most often looks weird. better approach is to replace the background . here is one attempt . it is a quick edit so it has many flaws but if one spend little bit more time in post processing , it is possible to avoide those flaws.

I would like to keep it in the original Photo. Thanks

kirkt wrote in post #16684075
I'm not sure what the DOF was like in the original, but here is a quick fake using the Lens Blur filter in PS with the rough depth map inset in the image. The blur is a little too much, but I did it that way so you could see what was going on - the blur I applied was on top of that in the original posting, so that also adds to the slight strangeness.

In my depth map, the area of the gradient at the mid gray should probably be pushed further back, to an area between the middle group of 5 people sand the background group of people.

kirk

This one is quiet good. Do you have it without the corner Picture?
Or I can send you the original without blur..? Please PM me with your E-mail. Cheers

A Depth Map tutorial here on POTN> click

by POTN member\moderator, rpolitsr

Just tried this depth map tutorial, interesting as its for PS CS, and since I was using PSE 12 do not seem to have channels pallet, however it appears the depth map can be applied to layer mask and with lens blurr filter just select Layer Mask as the depth map source. It also appears to concur that I was on the right lines already for creating a depth map albeit in a slightly different and probably not as effective way. I guess that's the power and advantage of these forums, there is always someone that can ensure we are on the right path.

depth mapping is the proper way to go about it

lol - nittaya, that's a pretty big girl. kinda hot... but big.