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#11
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bluring a messy background?
On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:47:32 -0700, John Navas
wrote: On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:40:17 -0400, tony cooper wrote in : On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:50:11 +1000, daveFaktor wrote: For now... There is a Photoshop plugin for creating a Depth of Field map which you can then use to blur the picture from the focus point back (or forward). It's not free but it works exceptionally well if you are willing to spend the time to learn how to use it properly. Why in world would you buy a program to blur a background? [SNIP] Because the program does a more realistic job than a simple Gaussian blur, and is less work than multiple Gaussian blurs. You have a poster who thinks the Blur Tool is a tool used to blur the background. You think he can tell what a "better" job is? Without seeing the image, I couldn't possibly decide what "better" consists of. He says he has a photo of someone in a workshop and the background is a distraction so he wants to blur it. Unless the image is going on the cover of "Popular Woodworking", a simple Gaussian blur will probably satisfy the OP. I don't know why where Floyd came up with that suggestion for multiple applications of a Gaussian blur. He specifically says he doesn't use Photoshop. The multiple blur technique is used to reduce image noise while blurring detail. The OP would have to know what "image noise" is before he should worry about this. When you know you have a PS novice, you give him the simple steps. -- Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida |
#12
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bluring a messy background?
Dave Cohen wrote:
I don't use PhotoShop, but the method is rather generic. Keep the term *generic* in mind. This is not, was it was explicitly stated, a PhotoShop method, nor specific to any particular editor. Note that when you add feathering it will go on both sides of the line where it is selected. .... PhotoPlus feathers outwards. Not sure about others. A better choice of words would have been to say that it may do that. The point was, and is correct, that the reader, when implementing this generic method using a specific editor, needs to be precisely aware of how feathering affects the selection borders. I'm pleased that the only criticism has been over something of no significance. -- Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) |
#13
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bluring a messy background?
John Navas wrote:
On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:40:17 -0400, tony cooper wrote: On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:50:11 +1000, daveFaktor wrote: For now... There is a Photoshop plugin for creating a Depth of Field map which you can then use to blur the picture from the focus point back (or forward). It's not free but it works exceptionally well if you are willing to spend the time to learn how to use it properly. Why in world would you buy a program to blur a background? [SNIP] Because the program does a more realistic job than a simple Gaussian blur, and is less work than multiple Gaussian blurs. That is true. The youtube.com video that you posted is essentially the same as this description. Neither are sophisticated enough to provide high quality results. The multiple blurs method that I posted is sophisticated enough, but if done manually it is exceedingly tedious for even one image much less multiple images. (Of course I don't do it manually, and long ago written a script that allows setting various parameters and then merely waiting for it to finish.) -- Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) |
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bluring a messy background?
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#15
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bluring a messy background?
Thanks Tony for the useful information. It sounds like it's easy to
do. Regards Brian tony cooper wrote: On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:50:11 +1000, daveFaktor wrote: Jürgen Exner wrote: Brian wrote: I took a photo of someone in a shop and the background is distracting. I tried to use the blur tool to blur the messy background but this did not look right. Is there a better way of buring a background so a person stand out and the background is not distracting to the viewer? Suggestion for next time: use a lens with a large apperture wide open, thus creating a very shallow DOF. jue For now... There is a Photoshop plugin for creating a Depth of Field map which you can then use to blur the picture from the focus point back (or forward). It's not free but it works exceptionally well if you are willing to spend the time to learn how to use it properly. Why in world would you buy a program to blur a background? All you have to do is duplicate the background copy twice (Control J twice), make the top layer active, turn off the "eye" in the bottom two layers, create a selection of the whatever is in the foreground that you want to remain in focus, inverse, and hit "delete". Then go to the second layer, turn the eye on, and apply a Gaussian blur to that level to the point where the background is sufficiently blurred, turn the eye back on in the top layer, flatten, and save as a .jpg. Some feathering may be appropriate in making the selection. I have an extra couple of layers, but I do that because I want to be able to dump a layer if I don't like what I've done. The selection can be made with a layer mask, the Quick Mask, the Pen Tool, or one of the lassos if working in full Photoshop. (Lasso or Magic Selection Brush in Elements). The Eraser could be used, but it's non-correctable. The Blur Tool is not designed to blur a background. It's for blurring small bits, and it's not very good at that. You could take the Blur Tool and the Smudge Tool out of Photoshop and no experienced user would miss it. There must be 100 or more tutorials on line on how to make selections and delete a background. The only difference here is that you are not deleting the background completely. You are keeping it on a layer and letting it show through around the sharp foreground part. |
#16
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bluring a messy background?
It's an interesting idea Marty. Does fogging the background make the
background duller or does it look like a room full of light smoke? Regards Brian Marty Fremen wrote: Brian wrote: I took a photo of someone in a shop and the background is distracting. I tried to use the blur tool to blur the messy background but this did not look right. Is there a better way of buring a background so a person stand out and the background is not distracting to the viewer? Someone else mentioned lowering contrast which should work quite well. In addition you could fog the background slightly to mute it: select the background and then on a separate layer floodfill it with the dominant background tone (which you could grab with the eyedropper) or possibly just with a mid grey. Now adjust the opacity of the layer until it looks natural (probably 10-20% opacity). You can improve the natural look by partially erasing the tone where it is over things that are in a similar plane to the subject. |
#17
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bluring a messy background?
On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:30:35 +1200, Brian wrote:
It's an interesting idea Marty. Does fogging the background make the background duller or does it look like a room full of light smoke? Keep in mind that if you "fog" the background that you will also "fog" the foreground unless you first make a selection of the foreground and then "fog" only the layer under the selection. Any way you do it, you have to make a selection to isolate that from whatever other steps you take. Marty Fremen wrote: Brian wrote: I took a photo of someone in a shop and the background is distracting. I tried to use the blur tool to blur the messy background but this did not look right. Is there a better way of buring a background so a person stand out and the background is not distracting to the viewer? Someone else mentioned lowering contrast which should work quite well. In addition you could fog the background slightly to mute it: select the background and then on a separate layer floodfill it with the dominant background tone (which you could grab with the eyedropper) or possibly just with a mid grey. Now adjust the opacity of the layer until it looks natural (probably 10-20% opacity). You can improve the natural look by partially erasing the tone where it is over things that are in a similar plane to the subject. -- Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida |
#18
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bluring a messy background?
tony cooper wrote:
On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:50:11 +1000, daveFaktor wrote: Jürgen Exner wrote: Brian wrote: I took a photo of someone in a shop and the background is distracting. I tried to use the blur tool to blur the messy background but this did not look right. Is there a better way of buring a background so a person stand out and the background is not distracting to the viewer? Suggestion for next time: use a lens with a large apperture wide open, thus creating a very shallow DOF. jue For now... There is a Photoshop plugin for creating a Depth of Field map which you can then use to blur the picture from the focus point back (or forward). It's not free but it works exceptionally well if you are willing to spend the time to learn how to use it properly. Why in world would you buy a program to blur a background? All you have to do is duplicate the background copy twice (Control J twice), make the top layer active, turn off the "eye" in the bottom two layers, create a selection of the whatever is in the foreground that you want to remain in focus, inverse, and hit "delete". Then go to the second layer, turn the eye on, and apply a Gaussian blur to that level to the point where the background is sufficiently blurred, turn the eye back on in the top layer, flatten, and save as a .jpg. Some feathering may be appropriate in making the selection. I have an extra couple of layers, but I do that because I want to be able to dump a layer if I don't like what I've done. The selection can be made with a layer mask, the Quick Mask, the Pen Tool, or one of the lassos if working in full Photoshop. (Lasso or Magic Selection Brush in Elements). The Eraser could be used, but it's non-correctable. The Blur Tool is not designed to blur a background. It's for blurring small bits, and it's not very good at that. You could take the Blur Tool and the Smudge Tool out of Photoshop and no experienced user would miss it. There must be 100 or more tutorials on line on how to make selections and delete a background. The only difference here is that you are not deleting the background completely. You are keeping it on a layer and letting it show through around the sharp foreground part. What you describe is done with a slider after you determine the focus point and the out of focus point. The value of the plugin is that it transitionally blurs the image, just like a real one is. |
#19
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bluring a messy background?
On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:57:44 +1000, daveFaktor
wrote: tony cooper wrote: On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:50:11 +1000, daveFaktor wrote: Jürgen Exner wrote: Brian wrote: I took a photo of someone in a shop and the background is distracting. I tried to use the blur tool to blur the messy background but this did not look right. Is there a better way of buring a background so a person stand out and the background is not distracting to the viewer? Suggestion for next time: use a lens with a large apperture wide open, thus creating a very shallow DOF. jue For now... There is a Photoshop plugin for creating a Depth of Field map which you can then use to blur the picture from the focus point back (or forward). It's not free but it works exceptionally well if you are willing to spend the time to learn how to use it properly. Why in world would you buy a program to blur a background? All you have to do is duplicate the background copy twice (Control J twice), make the top layer active, turn off the "eye" in the bottom two layers, create a selection of the whatever is in the foreground that you want to remain in focus, inverse, and hit "delete". Then go to the second layer, turn the eye on, and apply a Gaussian blur to that level to the point where the background is sufficiently blurred, turn the eye back on in the top layer, flatten, and save as a .jpg. Some feathering may be appropriate in making the selection. I have an extra couple of layers, but I do that because I want to be able to dump a layer if I don't like what I've done. The selection can be made with a layer mask, the Quick Mask, the Pen Tool, or one of the lassos if working in full Photoshop. (Lasso or Magic Selection Brush in Elements). The Eraser could be used, but it's non-correctable. The Blur Tool is not designed to blur a background. It's for blurring small bits, and it's not very good at that. You could take the Blur Tool and the Smudge Tool out of Photoshop and no experienced user would miss it. There must be 100 or more tutorials on line on how to make selections and delete a background. The only difference here is that you are not deleting the background completely. You are keeping it on a layer and letting it show through around the sharp foreground part. What you describe is done with a slider after you determine the focus point and the out of focus point. The value of the plugin is that it transitionally blurs the image, just like a real one is. Link to it, then. -- Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida |
#20
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bluring a messy background?
tony cooper wrote:
On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:57:44 +1000, daveFaktor wrote: tony cooper wrote: On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:50:11 +1000, daveFaktor wrote: Jürgen Exner wrote: Brian wrote: I took a photo of someone in a shop and the background is distracting. I tried to use the blur tool to blur the messy background but this did not look right. Is there a better way of buring a background so a person stand out and the background is not distracting to the viewer? Suggestion for next time: use a lens with a large apperture wide open, thus creating a very shallow DOF. jue For now... There is a Photoshop plugin for creating a Depth of Field map which you can then use to blur the picture from the focus point back (or forward). It's not free but it works exceptionally well if you are willing to spend the time to learn how to use it properly. Why in world would you buy a program to blur a background? All you have to do is duplicate the background copy twice (Control J twice), make the top layer active, turn off the "eye" in the bottom two layers, create a selection of the whatever is in the foreground that you want to remain in focus, inverse, and hit "delete". Then go to the second layer, turn the eye on, and apply a Gaussian blur to that level to the point where the background is sufficiently blurred, turn the eye back on in the top layer, flatten, and save as a .jpg. Some feathering may be appropriate in making the selection. I have an extra couple of layers, but I do that because I want to be able to dump a layer if I don't like what I've done. The selection can be made with a layer mask, the Quick Mask, the Pen Tool, or one of the lassos if working in full Photoshop. (Lasso or Magic Selection Brush in Elements). The Eraser could be used, but it's non-correctable. The Blur Tool is not designed to blur a background. It's for blurring small bits, and it's not very good at that. You could take the Blur Tool and the Smudge Tool out of Photoshop and no experienced user would miss it. There must be 100 or more tutorials on line on how to make selections and delete a background. The only difference here is that you are not deleting the background completely. You are keeping it on a layer and letting it show through around the sharp foreground part. What you describe is done with a slider after you determine the focus point and the out of focus point. The value of the plugin is that it transitionally blurs the image, just like a real one is. Link to it, then. What am I? Your butler? Look for it yourself Tony. It's not like it hidden or something. |
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