Beginner Post Processing: WHY DOES THIS SUCK!?!

Baaaark · Jul 26, 2009

Okay, so I'm trying to learn post-processing. I have CS3, and pathetically enough I have no clue what I'm really doing. All I do is adjust colors and contrasts.

So for the first time ever, I decided to dive in. I have a p&s, so I thought a good task would be to blur the background since it's way too in focus. But it looks so fake, and I don't know why!

Feel free to critique my other parts. I know its crazy noisy, and my composition isn't the greatest. But remember I just took a photo of my dog to work with. It really wasn't picked out for any reason.

Bitter Jeweler · Jul 26, 2009

Doing any heavy handed processing around hair is the most difficult thing ever.

Baaaark · Jul 26, 2009

Bitter Jeweler said:
Doing any heavy handed processing around hair is the most difficult thing ever.

So this was an advanced project? I guess that makes me feel somewhat better.

Maybe pick something with harder lines for a beginner... GOT IT!

Bitter Jeweler · Jul 26, 2009

Yeah. It's hard to do what you are trying and have it look good.
From his nose to his(her) eye looks fairly convincing, but the top of the head/ear is too obvious.

Baaaark · Jul 26, 2009

Bitter Jeweler said:
Yeah. It's hard to do what you are trying and have it look good.
From his nose to his(her) eye looks fairly convincing, but the top of the head/ear is too obvious.

There's hope for me yet... lol.

musicaleCA · Jul 26, 2009

What kind of blur are you using? You should be using Lens Blur if you're trying to mimic, well, er...lens blur.

shmne · Jul 26, 2009

The technique you're trying is not so basic, and to really do it right you must have a graphic tablet. The problem is the hairs, looking at the larger version it just jumped at me instantly. I can see the hard edge of the blur, so in photoshop you should have about 4-5 layers of varying blur and using masks to slowly paint in the amount you want.

I did this for a project a long time ago and gave up because painting even some of the hairs in was just driving me crazy. A trick to get around this is to cut the dog out cleanly, then use the liquid mesh tool to physically pull out new hairs. These new hairs are now on a new layer separated from the background allowing you to apply a gradient that will smooth out the harsh blur.

And technically speaking you can do it with a mouse, but honestly it won't be any fun.

Baaaark · Jul 26, 2009

musicaleCA said:
What kind of blur are you using? You should be using Lens Blur if you're trying to mimic, well, er...lens blur.

I used, "Smart blur." It never occurred to me the reason may be cause my blur is unnatural for a lens. My bokeh (I hate that word) is bad!

I truthfully just started clicking buttons

shmne said:
The technique you're trying is not so basic, and to really do it right you must have a graphic tablet. The problem is the hairs, looking at the larger version it just jumped at me instantly. I can see the hard edge of the blur, so in photoshop you should have about 4-5 layers of varying blur and using masks to slowly paint in the amount you want.

I did this for a project a long time ago and gave up because painting even some of the hairs in was just driving me crazy. A trick to get around this is to cut the dog out cleanly, then use the liquid mesh tool to physically pull out new hairs. These new hairs are now on a new layer separated from the background allowing you to apply a gradient that will smooth out the harsh blur.

And technically speaking you can do it with a mouse, but honestly it won't be any fun.

I don't know what half of the stuff you said is. So, I'm gonna guess that my project was maybe the incorrect project to START with.

shmne · Jul 26, 2009

Yeah, its something that takes a lot of artistic talent and understanding of photoshop to begin with =\ At least to do it believably! You can do a decent job, it is just going to be noticeable =|

musicaleCA · Jul 26, 2009

Yeah, so don't be discouraged by the results. shmne is totally right; it's why one just doesn't bother if one has a DSLR. Using an open aperture is way easier.

Samanax · Jul 26, 2009

You could get the background to blur with your P&S if you zoomed out the lens as well as used a wide aperture. A friend of mine took this picture with his P&S...used the widest aperture, zoomed the lens out all the way and got as close as he could to the subject. The DOF is pretty thin in this image. A short/wide focal length can have a very deep DOF. Use a longer focal length with a wide aperture and the DOF becomes shallow.

shmne · Jul 26, 2009

Samanax said:
You could get the background to blur with your P&S if you zoomed out the lens as well as used a wide aperture. A friend of mine took this picture with his P&S...used the widest aperture, zoomed the lens out all the way and got as close as he could to the subject. The DOF is pretty thin in this image. A short/wide focal length can have a very deep DOF. Use a longer focal length with a wide aperture and the DOF becomes shallow.

Many P&S's have a macro mode, are you sure he just didn't use that?

Baaaark · Jul 26, 2009

Samanax said:
You could get the background to blur with your P&S if you zoomed out the lens as well as used a wide aperture. A friend of mine took this picture with his P&S...used the widest aperture, zoomed the lens out all the way and got as close as he could to the subject. The DOF is pretty thin in this image. A short/wide focal length can have a very deep DOF. Use a longer focal length with a wide aperture and the DOF becomes shallow.

I know it was f/2.8... It says my focal length is 6mm, but I don't know if that's the lowest it will go.

BTW, here's the original so you can see how much blur I was getting...

Clawed · Jul 26, 2009

I am not sure what you did to get the results in the shown pic, but to be very brief: I would have created a duplicate layer and blurred the layer for the background. Then, I would create a layer mask and revealed the blurred layer. Then, I would chose the brush tool, choose black and "paint in" the subject, using a feathered brush for the edges where foreground and background meet.

The results will be much better than, for example, if you tried to use a selection tool to isolate the subject.

Hope that helps!

Samanax · Jul 26, 2009

Baaaark said:
I know it was f/2.8... It says my focal length is 6mm, but I don't know if that's the lowest it will go.

Play around with the P&S by setting it to f/2.8 and zoom out the lens all the way and shoot something up close but make sure the background is not right up to the subject. The background should go very out of focus.