Photoshop / LR advice required please.

[Bhuna]

I am revisiting old photos, ones that I took prior to me understanding the settings to get good bokeh. The first picture was taken at a 70th surprise party and is my sister in law and her daughter. I have tried a bit of post processing (in Photoshop Elements 11) and cropped and applied a "blur" for the background but Im not happy with it and have fiddled and fiddled for over an hour now but cant seem to get rid of the "Ready Brek" glow that I have somehow managed to give to the subjects.

I know I should be using LR / Photoshop CC now I have those, but I am used to Elements at moment so was trying to get these done quickly. Can anyone give me advice on how to get rid of the "glow" that I have given the surrounding victims either using elements, or LR / PS.

Sincere thanks in advance.

Picture One:



Picture Two:

[colin C]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

I can appreciate how this must be doing your head in. Before I tell you what has gone wrong, there are two things you need to know about blur and post processing:

1. In real life, the background is not one 2 dimensional plane of focus, but has depth. As you move into the background, that depth will gradually take on more blur to add dimension. So if you mask the main subject and add one amount of blur to a background, it will look very odd indeed. In your uncropped shot, you can easily see three planes of depth: The seat area they are leaning against, the near side of the table and gentleman with his back to us and the far side of the table with the couple facing us. Apply a little blur to the seat, even more to the next plane and even more still to the back plane.

2. When you make a selection of the main subject, in this case your sister in law and her daughter, you can then make a new layer of that selection which will be above the background layer. With that now safe, you can revert to the background layer and blur within separate planes to get the right effect. Now, the more blur you apply, the greater the halo effect you will experience.

This now brings us up to date and why do you get the halo effect? Because the previously sharp background layer has been blurred and effectively bleeds out behind the sharp top layer of mother and daughter. To correct it, turn off the top layer, click on the bottom layer and use the clone tool just outside of the halo area and clone into the halo and slightly further in. With the top layer back on and hey presto .......... no halo.

Here is my version:

[Bhuna]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

Thank you ever so much Colin. I think I understand and will give it a go myself later. It's just I think it's a nice pic of the two of them together spoilt by the background because of my lack of photography knowledge at the time.

[ST-EOS]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

Well done Colin that's a great explanation and worked example 👍

[digiman]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

Another colin master Class! Nice work Colin, and a great image Andy.

Well done both

[Bhuna]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

Thanks for the comments re the image - i will admit to that being pure luck as it was within my first couple of weeks of owning the camera and getting used to just using it (prior to having it, I was a mobile phone camera person :) ).

[colin C]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

I was a mobile phone camera person :)

Wash that boy's mouth out with soap and water!

[Bhuna]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

Here goes.

I used Photoshop CC for this now (as thought Id give it a go). Opened the image, selected the foreground elements (sister in law / daughter / chairs), created new layer from copy of selection. Then I did the same for the background couple / wall - created another layer from copy of that selection and I just created a copy of the entire picture and put it as a layer in between those two.

I then only selected the layer with the couple and field blurred (so many blur options to choose from I went for the top one).

I then selected the middle layer (copy of entire picture) and field blurred that but less than rear layer.

I then overlayed the front layer (sister in law/daughter) and viewed image. I then clone tooled around the "halo" as mentioned.

After cropping (in proportion to original size), I then saved as a jpeg / resized to 800 and then I opened in Elements to Apply Smart Fix Enhancement (as dont know where to find it yet in PS CC).

This is the resultant outcome which I can see isnt totally perfect but have to say is a lot better than my earlier attempt so with a bit of practice I hope, thanks to Colin C, I will be minimising my "halo" or as I put it "ready brek" effect (if anyone can remember those old adverts).

Thanks Colin C.

[wayne2418]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

(prior to having it, I was a mobile phone camera person :) ).

A sharp intake of breath ... shock, horror. !! LOL.

[Bhuna]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

A sharp intake of breath ... shock, horror. !! LOL.

I agree. I know someone posted an article the other day about will mobiles with cameras see the end to DSLRs. However I would hope it would see an increase in interest in photography as it got me interested.

[colin C]

Re: Photoshop / LR advice required please.

I then only selected the layer with the couple and field blurred (so many blur options to choose from I went for the top one).

Hmmm, I have never used field blur. Must give it a try and see how it works. I generally use Gaussian Blur for this type of shot, but always open to other solutions. That's the beauty of this Forum ............ we all learn off each other.