Depth of field

[canadianaustralian]

Hello.

I'm new to photography and new to editing.

I have tried to add depth of field to these photos. It doesn't look right. I used the simple function in Photoshop Elements 11 which just blurs the whole picture and then you click and drag on the areas to bring back to original. I think it looks terrible.

I'd love some tips on how to improve this photo in regards to DOF as well as any other improvements you can suggest I make.

I'll be submitting a few more. Please be kind

Thank you

Added note: The third photo attached wasn't suppose to be added so I'll just ask my question here....how can I change the colour of her beautiful tummy so it's not so white and how can I change my background to something nicer or even pasting more hardwood behind her?

Thanks again

 

[binga63]

Use your lens to create Dof.... what you did sticks out like a sore thumb ... instead of using f11 try 5.6 and look at the difference.. I say 5.6 because I don't know what lens you have... and the majority of lens will open up to 5.6

 

[shefjr]

I'm guessing you wanted more bokeh. The best suggestion I would give would be to try and get the image you want in camera and not after when you process. If you are not talented (like me) at photoshop it can be difficult to go back later and process in the bokeh. DOF is controlled by the distance to your subject, focal length, and aperture (or fstop). If you can reshoot, I would suggest trying to give yourself a more shallow DOF so that the background is blurred out as you like.

 

[jenko]

The second is my favorite. Nice, natural smile and expression. Her outfit goes well with the outdoors. Binga is correct about lowering your aperture. That will give you a more shallow DOF.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

I have tried to add depth of field to these photos

Just to clarify, what you are trying to do, is emulate a shallow DOF (less DOF), not add.

DOF is the distance/range that is in focus...so when you add blur, you are essentially removing or lessening areas of focus.

It is usually A LOT easier to do this with your camera settings and just shoot the image with less DOF. It can be tricky to get the same results in Photoshop, and when you don't do a really good job of it, it tend to look pretty bad, especially to those of use who can spot it easily. For example, in your examples above, the edges of the image are blurry, but the background that is seen right around/behind her, are still sharp. If you were to do this and even begin to have it look like actual shallow DOF, the line between sharp and blurry has to match her outline exactly. And the blur should be stronger on things that are further away, and less on things that are closer to her (where you actually focused).

So as you can see, it's much easier to just shoot it that way out of the camera.

The main way to do that, is to use a large aperture (low F number). However, to get the type of shots that you're probably trying to emulate, you may need a different lens (or camera) than what you have now.

 

[KmH]

I'm guessing you wanted more bokeh.

There is no way to make more, or less, bokeh.
Bokeh is an inherent property of a lens that cannot be adjusted.
The only way to adjust bokeh is to put a different make or model of lens on the camera.

We can make adjustments to lens aperture, point of focus distance, lens focal length and make a photograph that has more (deeper) or less (shallower) depth-of-field (DoF).

Factors that affect bokeh are the number and shape of lens aperture blades, type of glass used to make the various lens elements, and the type of lens elements used to minimize optical aberrations on the lens.
Telephoto lenses that are small catadioptric telescopes (usually 500 mm, no aperture blades, fixed aperture) deliver odd donut looking bokeh because of the secondary mirror on the inside of the front correcting plate.

An example of a lens that delivers jarring, jittery, nervous looking, visually unappealing bokeh is Canon's inexpensive, 5 straight, sharp edged lens aperture blades EF 50 mm f/1.8 II.
An example of a lens that delivers exceptionally smooth, visually stunning bokeh is Nikon's 9 curved, rounded edged, lens aperture blades AF 85 mm f/1.4D.

 

[shefjr]

There is no way to make more, or less, bokeh.
Bokeh is an inherent property of a lens that cannot be adjusted.
The only way to adjust bokeh is to put a different make or model of lens on the camera.

We can make adjustments to lens aperture, point of focus distance, lens focal length and make a photograph that has more (deeper) or less (shallower) depth-of-field (DoF).

Factors that affect bokeh are the number and shape of lens aperture blades, type of glass used to make the various lens elements, and the type of lens elements used to minimize optical aberrations on the lens.
Telephoto lenses that are small catadioptric telescopes (usually 500 mm, no aperture blades, fixed aperture) deliver odd donut looking bokeh because of the secondary mirror on the inside of the front correcting plate.

An example of a lens that delivers jarring, jittery, nervous looking, visually unappealing bokeh is Canon's inexpensive, 5 straight, sharp edged lens aperture blades EF 50 mm f/1.8 II.
An example of a lens that delivers exceptionally smooth, visually stunning bokeh is Nikon's 9 curved, rounded edged, lens aperture blades AF 85 mm f/1.4D.

I forgot this is a big bone of contention for you. Lol! I get that bokeh is how light is rendered by a specific lens. My 50mm 1.8 has ugly bokeh. 5 blades I believe. Anyway, the images DOF was what I meant and how blurry it was. I always substitute bokeh for blurry. You'll just have to keep correcting me.

 

[apaflo]

There is no way to make more, or less, bokeh.

That is absolutely true. Bokeh is the character of areas that are out of focus. The character can be changed...

Bokeh is an inherent property of a lens that cannot be adjusted.
The only way to adjust bokeh is to put a different make or model of lens on the camera.

Well... ouch! That's going a little too far. There are many ways to literally change the bokeh with the exact same camera/lens combination.

With lenses that do not have rounded diaphragm blades it is almost guaranteed that adjusting the aperture will also have a dramatic effect on bokeh. Wide open there will be a round aperture shape, stopped down 1 stop won't be hugely different, and stopped down more than that will very much show the shape of the aperture. A 5 blade diaphragm will be more distinctive than an 11 blade diaphragm. Plus on most lenses at wide open the image will be less sharp, and then as it is stopped down the over/under correction for spherical aberrations will also change.

Hence the bokeh on any given lens might be very different at different apertures, and knowing that can make it a way to adjust bokeh.

On the other hand, really good lenses (e.g., either Canon's or Nikon's various 85mm f/1.4 lenses with reputations as having great bokeh) will have well controlled spherical aberrations that don't change that much with aperature and rounded diaphragm blades that present a round aperature even when stopped down. With those lenses the bokeh is the same or nearly so at all aperatures, and instead all that changes is DOF and the amount of blur for any given out of focus area.

Of course with any camera/lens combination bokeh can be changed by external means. Way back when (when authors were young and healthy and readers weren't born yet) putting a little vaseline around the edges of a filter in front of a lens was not uncommon. Today that still works, or the same can be accomplished in post processing with a little care.

 

[shefjr]

That is absolutely true. Bokeh is the character of areas that are out of focus. The character can be changed...

Well... ouch! That's going a little too far. There are many ways to literally change the bokeh with the exact same camera/lens combination.

With lenses that do not have rounded diaphragm blades it is almost guaranteed that adjusting the aperture will also have a dramatic effect on bokeh. Wide open there will be a round aperture shape, stopped down 1 stop won't be hugely different, and stopped down more than that will very much show the shape of the aperture. A 5 blade diaphragm will be more distinctive than an 11 blade diaphragm. Plus on most lenses at wide open the image will be less sharp, and then as it is stopped down the over/under correction for spherical aberrations will also change.

Hence the bokeh on any given lens might be very different at different apertures, and knowing that can make it a way to adjust bokeh.

On the other hand, really good lenses (e.g., either Canon's or Nikon's various 85mm f/1.4 lenses with reputations as having great bokeh) will have well controlled spherical aberrations that don't change that much with aperature and rounded diaphragm blades that present a round aperature even when stopped down. With those lenses the bokeh is the same or nearly so at all aperatures, and instead all that changes is DOF and the amount of blur for any given out of focus area.

Of course with any camera/lens combination bokeh can be changed by external means. Way back when (when authors were young and healthy and readers weren't born yet) putting a little vaseline around the edges of a filter in front of a lens was not uncommon. Today that still works, or the same can be accomplished in post processing with a little care.

Good luck! I believe many have tried to challenge Keith and none have turned him. Lol

 

[robbins.photo]

Ok, so to get the background blurrier, first increase the aperture of the lens - the more open the lens, the less DOF you'll get and therefore the blurrier objects that are not on the same horizontal plane as your focus point. If you cannot get the lens open wide enough to get the effect you want, you can also increase the distance between your subject and the background, and you can additionally decrease the distance between the camera and your subject. All three of these will help create the effect your looking for.

 

[480sparky]

Making more (or less) bokeh is EASY.




Less bokeh:

Bokeh.





See how simple that was?

Now, you want more bokeh? OK:

Bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh.



Want LOTS of bokeh?:

Bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh, bokeh.

 

[AlanKlein]

A good explanation of Bokeh and how lenses effect it.
Bokeh

 

[Designer]

....how can I change the colour of her beautiful tummy so it's not so white and how can I change my background to something nicer or even pasting more hardwood behind her?

Adjust exposure and white balance.

Fixing the background may be easiest by re-shooting.