How do you do this? Asking editing gurus

[Blackbelt93]

Ok so i was on flickr and i was browsing around and i found this photo, how is the world do you do that? i just recently got cs4 as a birthday present and i would love to learn how to edit like this. So anybody who knows how to edit please help me out

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/6626/3611655327864a7ebba6.jpg

all im asking for is just like a typed out like explanation, nothing like extremely indepth just enough to learn from it.

 

[benlonghair]

That's just a good use of DoF, I think.

 

[tsaraleksi]

Convert to black and white, adjust contrast? Or heck, doesn't CS4 actually have a black and white adjustment filter that you can use to control the way the black and white conversion looks?

Other than that you might adjust local contrast and/or brightness with dodge and burn or masked adjustment layers.

 

[Double H]

Looks like it was shot correctly to begin, not so much pp. If converting to b&w, channel mixer is the best way.

 

[KmH]

TPF really frowns on posting images that aren't yours. Links are appropriate however.

Here is the relevent verbage from the forums Rules and Regs:

* You agree to only post images and/or other material to which you have exclusive copyright, or permission from the copyright holder that you are able to present to TPF Staff. Under no circumstances will any instance of copyright infringement be tolerated.

Without seeing the orginal image everything is just speculation. At any event, with image editing software there are usually many ways to create the same effect. Image editing software is frequently used in ways never antisipated by the softwares designers.

 

[Iron Flatline]

It's a simple image shot with a fast lens, probably with a slightly longer focal length. Maybe an 85mm lens, wide open. Then the image was converted to Black and White. Contrast was possibly heightened.

 

[mattgamer]

even if everything is in focus, you can still blur anything in the foreground or background of the photo by using the blur tool.

here's how i do it: i would start with the lasso tool and select a part of the image that you would like to blur. then right click inside the selected area, and select the "Feather..." option. this blurs the edges so you don't have a sharp edge on the selection. unless, of coarse, you're a pro at the lasso tool, but feathering the edges is always a plus in my book. then click in the option's menu: Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur. the Gaussian Blur menu will pop up and allow you to blur the selected area. this helps pop out the object and creates a better focal point

the same can be done with the Unsharp Mask filter (Filter> Sharpen> Unsharp Mask...). sharpening the image can bring out detail as well that was lost in a badly focused image.

then again, as in the previous posts, if you get the photo right the first time you would not have to go through the Photoshop editing.

congrats on the cs4 birthday gift. play with it everyday and you will learn so much.

 

[Alpha]

It's a regular old shot with a moderately shallow depth of field. The contrast comes from using the Unsharp Mask.

 

[Moglex]

Really, you need to explain exactly what you believe was done by editing.

Believe it or not, up to around 20 years ago the only way to get a picture like that would be to have taken one like that. (Perhaps printing it on a higher contrast paper).

If that was taken by a competent photographer it would not have needed much editing.

Indeed, for all we know it could be a straight scan of a black and white print made from a black and white film negative.

 

[C.Lloyd]

using a circular gradient blur would get the job done too.