[daveyuk]

Guys, I've tried to give this photo an oof bg to make this woman stand out a bit more. I used the Gaussin blur filter but is there another way to do this?



TIA

[stepheno]

I see what you mean. It's very apparent where you've gone round her body. I'm not the bees knees but I might have tried to create a separate layer of the woman, work on that with USM etc and then bring the layers back together. More PS knowledgable folks will no doubt have better ways. HTH.

regards

[daveyuk]

Thanks Steve I'll give that a go later but will also wait to see what the PS gurus say as well

[CT]

The problem with what you'e trying to do Davey is that the way you're doing it there's a very sudden cut off behind the woman between sharp and unsharp which looks false. It's particularly noticeable on the grass where the gradual blurring needs to start. In real life DOF gradually lessens into the distance - at the distance she is from the camera that is. What you need to do is simulate this effect by blurring the blackground across the pic in progressively more blurred bands (feathering the edge of the mask each time to hide the joins). This is one of the more difficult things to do well IMO unless it's blurring a background behind say a close- up portrait.

Have a go Davey, it's good practice anyway, but this is one thing which it would definitely be a lot easier to get right in the camera rather than try to correct afterwards, as it's very difficult to get a convincing result. Unless the pic is particularly important, then I'd charge this one up to experience.

Im no Photoshop Guru by any means, and I honestly wouldn't have a clue exactly how to do it, but that is how I would approach it myself. I would do the required work via separate layers, then bring them back together.

[daveyuk]

I'm up for a challange I'll have a go tonight and I'll post the result :lol: :lol: or should I say the butchered result :lol: :lol:

[CT]

LOL Good man! You'll learn a lot doing stuff like this. You can't do it via layers unfortunately. Contrary to popular belief there isn't always an easy way to do these things in PS et al and you end up virtually working as a painter would with some jobs, and this is one of those.

The way I'd tackle it is draw a VERY accurate tight mask around the woman and chop her out of the pic. Paste her as a new pic and save it somewhere handy. Then going back to the original pic- blur the background in bands into the distance. You'll have the cut out silhouette of the woman to use as a guide where to start blurring.Don't forget that to be realistic the foreground will need to blur slightly as it nears the camera too.

When you're happy with the background, paste your figure back into the shot. You may need to do some tedious touching up by hand (no jokes Bod!) around the figure. If her outline isn't clean and sharp it will look pants. The hair will cause you the biggest problem as you tend to lose the very whispy bits.

Don't bottle the job now, I look forward to seeing how you do!

[daveyuk]

I can feel a late night or two coming on lol

Originally Posted by CT

You can't do it via layers unfortunately

And this is why you shouldn't listen to me I was just testing you

You may need to do some tedious touching up by hand (no jokes Bod!)

:naughty:

[CT]

Actually Bod you could do it via layers, but it would still involve some accurate mask drawing to cut out the figure or remove her with the eraser and would probably end up being more difficult.

[daveyuk]

A) Got bored at work again
B) Couldn't wait till I got home
C) So I've had a go at it :naughty:



Let me know what you think

[CT]

Noble attempt Davey, but think about it ... if the woman is sharp then the grass where she's sitting needs to be sharp too and gradually go out of focus both towards and away from the camera. The same degree of blurring all over looks instantly false.

Full props for having a go, but wait till you get home and do a proper job.

Post the original so everyone can have a play.

[SammyC]

Nicking from Steve's gallery, this is the effect you are trying to mimic:

[daveyuk]

Right ok think I know where I'm going wrong will send the psd home and work that one.
then I'll post a new thread with old and new and maybe do a write up of how I got there oooooh the challange. Think the beer will be flowing tonight!!!
Cheers for the pic Sammy

[daveyuk]

Here we go, I think this is the better one however I don't think I'll get it bang on. Should have change from tv to av mode and then opened the appeture all the way.
Hey ho you live and learn and the photoshop edits were a bit of fun too.

Well here you go me last attempt for this one, let me know what you think.

[SammyC]

You've got the right idea its just a bit sudden in the transistion.

To be honest I don't think you'll ever get it looking realistic without hours of effort.

[daveyuk]

In truth Sammy I knida think I've biten off more thn I can do on this one, but I had fun having go but as you say with hours of effort that's as close as it's goin to get lol

[CT]

I wouldn't feel too bad about it Davey, simulating gradual DOF is one of the most difficult things to do well, in fact I'm not sure I've ever seen it done really convincingly. Some things are still best done in the camera.