bluring a messy background?

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?

I am using Adobe photoshop elements 7.

Regards Brian

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

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?

I am using Adobe photoshop elements 7.

Regards Brian



It depends on how well you do the selection to separate your subject
from the background. Sometimes it helps to make two background
selections and apply two levels of blur.

Also try darkening or lightening the background and lowering the contrast.

On 6/9/09 9:57 AM, in article ,
"John Navas" wrote:

On Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:46:06 -0700, Jürgen Exner
wrote in :

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.

Gee, that's really helpful.

Navas, showing his ASS again as usual.

I thought you had fallen off that boat and was trapped on Alcatraz. Crap!

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?

I am using Adobe photoshop elements 7.

I don't use PhotoShop, but the method is rather generic.

First, do a selection that includes basically the part you
want to stand out. It does *not* have to be precise. Then
invert the selection so that it is everything you want to
be less obvious that is selected.

Then you want to "feather" the selection. But how much depends
on the resolution of your image and just how large the object
is. Set the value to enough pixels that a smooth gradient will
be produced, not a sharp transition that is obvious. This is the
first of a series, and each time the feathering will be greater.
This first one should be fairly thin.

Note that when you add feathering it will go on both sides of
the line where it is selected. Hence some of the feathered
selection will be outside of the area you want to blur, and
inside what you want to be sharp. Because of that, you'll want
to begin with very very mild adjustments. Blur the selection
with a setting that you can barely see, if at all. And then set
the contrast ever so slightly lower and perhaps brightness too.

After the first adjustments, decrease the size of the selected
area by about the same number of pixels as the amount of
feathering. Reset the feathering too, and use a slightly larger
number of pixels. Then do the same blur/contrast/brightness
adjustments, but with slightly greater values.

Repeat the above series. This should probably be done in at
least half a dozen increments. Eventually you get to a position
where the selection is half way from the edges of the image to
the area to be preserved, and it is then possible to set
feathering to the minimum width of the selected area and hit it
with the maximum blur that you want to show up at the edges.

--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)

Floyd L. Davidson 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?

I am using Adobe photoshop elements 7.

I don't use PhotoShop, but the method is rather generic.

First, do a selection that includes basically the part you
want to stand out. It does *not* have to be precise. Then
invert the selection so that it is everything you want to
be less obvious that is selected.

Then you want to "feather" the selection. But how much depends
on the resolution of your image and just how large the object
is. Set the value to enough pixels that a smooth gradient will
be produced, not a sharp transition that is obvious. This is the
first of a series, and each time the feathering will be greater.
This first one should be fairly thin.

Note that when you add feathering it will go on both sides of
the line where it is selected. Hence some of the feathered
selection will be outside of the area you want to blur, and
inside what you want to be sharp. Because of that, you'll want
to begin with very very mild adjustments. Blur the selection
with a setting that you can barely see, if at all. And then set
the contrast ever so slightly lower and perhaps brightness too.

After the first adjustments, decrease the size of the selected
area by about the same number of pixels as the amount of
feathering. Reset the feathering too, and use a slightly larger
number of pixels. Then do the same blur/contrast/brightness
adjustments, but with slightly greater values.

Repeat the above series. This should probably be done in at
least half a dozen increments. Eventually you get to a position
where the selection is half way from the edges of the image to
the area to be preserved, and it is then possible to set
feathering to the minimum width of the selected area and hit it
with the maximum blur that you want to show up at the edges.

PhotoPlus feathers outwards. Not sure about others.
Dave Cohen

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.

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.


--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida

On 2009-06-09 15:50:11 -0700, daveFaktor said:

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.

You can try Tiffin Dfx plugin for CS4 & Elements for 15 days. That has
some selective blurring tools which should work.
http://www.tiffen.com/dfx_v2_home.html


--
Regards,

Savageduck

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.

That feature is built into Photoline's more advanced editor. www.pl32.net
Part of the program. It's the "Variable Blur" filter. It adjusts the amount
of Gaussian Blur by the intensity of the mask value. Editing the mask layer
with black = 0% blur, white = 100% blur. Those 12 or so meticulous,
multi-stage, feathered-mask steps previously described for Photoshop are
done in just one step in Photoline.

Though I have to admit, my favorite is still "Depth of Field Generator Pro"
plugin by Richard Rosenman. Works great with Photoline's more advanced
editing and mask creation tools. Same scenario as in Photoline, create a
DOF Map mask in varying shades of grays. It also compensates better for
that nasty halo effect that happens from pulling in the foreground image
tones into the blurred data for the background.

Now if you really want to have some "you'll never be able to tell the
difference from the real thing" fun, you might want to try the "Lenscare"
plugin. It allows you to design your own lens aperture masks to emulate
catadioptric lens systems, or any number of aperture leaves in your more
simple lens designs. Emulating the exact Bokeh that you want from any lens
design ever made. It also allows you to use depth-maps.

Catch up ... if any of you Photoshop Simpletons ever can. LOL!!