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Re: Faking Depth of Field
Good effect Steve
You can achieve this with a blurred photo and a sharp photo using a circular transparency applied to the sharp photo.
I did a Workbook on this a long time ago. Workbook 26 Selective Focus.
Re: Faking Depth of Field
Yep that's right Gary.
But for irregular objects and greater DoF control of the background, an additional and different approach works well.
Just to differentiate, Garys method is really what is known as 'Soft Focus'. This softens everything around a central 'focal point' and differs markedly from Depth of Field because it also defocusses the foreground which DoF does not.
'Soft Focus' is ideal for adding a gentle romantic/dreamy feel to photos.
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Re: Faking Depth of Field
...which reminds me.
Anyone who uses Picasa as their Photo manager, may be aware of the 'effects' tab. Picasa also include a 'Soft Focus' effect.
Dreamy huh? ;)
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Re: Faking Depth of Field
What I wanted to do was make it look as though the tree in the background wasn't growing out of the cat's body. D o F seemed the obvious choice. Not sure it worked, though. Perhaps using the clone brush in PSP on the sky might have been the better option.
Saludos,
Bob.
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Re: Faking Depth of Field
Pretty good Bob.
I used your small colour image and with the methods described in my first post's attachment, was able to quickly do (at least) this much. Note how the foreground (what there is of it) also remains focussed
Attachment 52597
Yes the trees behind the head are distracting, rather than resort to PSP's clone brush, I used Xtreme. Simply duplicated the background image again, intersected a small rectangle over some clear blue, feathered it and tucked it behind the head.
Re: Faking Depth of Field
Thanks for the tip, Steve, I'll give it a go. It's one of my favourite pictures of the boy, apart from the trees.
Saludos,
Bob.
Re: Faking Depth of Field
Good looking animal, Bob. What's his name?
As you say, it's a great photo apart from the trees. Really like the grayscale idea.
Re: Faking Depth of Field
He was called Dos (spanish for 2). Sadly, he died last Christmas of kidney failure. He's still very much in out thoughts, though.
Saludos,
Bob.
Re: Faking Depth of Field
Sorry to hear it. Been there.
Allison