She looks like she’s been cut out and pasted on a blurry image.
Now i admit, i’ve had some trouble with trying to add blur to my images. I no longer do it because I always end up messing it up somehow, but I understand that the blur is supposed to be behind the subject or really close in front and clear in the back.
Oh yeah, nice outline around her. Really makes us believe that it wasn’t edited.
All you have to do in your editing is, in CS5, make a duplicate layer, then add a smart or gaussian blur (preference, really) you the added layer. Close your original layer so you can clearly see what you are erasing. Then, when you have everything erased that you don’t want blurred (do it in small stages so you can back up easily) ‘open’ the original layer so you can see how much blurring you want. Highlight your added layer, and adjust the opacity to the desired setting. Piece of cake.
Does it really matter what terms I use? Christ on a cracker, I was trying to explain it to even someone who doesn’t use photoshop 24/7 could probably still figure out what I was trying to say, but then you walk in, shove your uppity-ass comment in, with no useful contribution to make whatsoever. Does it make you feel more important to talk above others, rather than trying to contribute to the conversation? What kills me is, you and your ‘pro’ comment would suggest that you are a professional, yet are not linking to your own stuff. Hmmmm.
Art Student – the blur you speak of comes from (as Georgi says) using a wide aperature (wide opening on lens). I’ve never seen it added in post-production effectively. Even if it could be, it doesn’t make sense to. Once you spend some time learning the 3 main points of exposure, it will become second nature.
Her legs look a bit funky, period. She clearly has decently muscular legs– it looks like fauxtog tried to “airbrush”/smooth out the definition a little bit, making them look blurry and out of focus, while leaving her shoes with a drastically contrasting, “in focus,” sharpness.
You guys. Blur is ALWAYS to be achieved IN CAMERA. To the people posting above that they tried to edit it in….no. no no no. And to this fauxtog, get a lens with better aperture.
if you know how to synthesize a depth of field blur in ps…then that’s good…it can look realistic…
but, it takes knowing how to work the filter, and also knowing abit about 3 dimensionality in everyday life…..
sadly, lot of people don’t understand either.
but you know, to be fair, sometimes when you are editing, a shot that you thought would look better with clearly defined backgrounds, might strike you as something you could use a little gaussian blur to it. It happens. Even the best of us misread a shot that we regret later, and you just want to tweak it a bit. but there is a clear right and wrong way to do it.
Nothing ever strikes me as needing some gaussian blur, because bokeh is more than simple blur. The ‘bloom’ that occurs in defocused areas cannot be replicated with gaussian blur, which is one of the reasons hack blur jobs like this are so easy to spot.
Can we talk about the contrast between the subject and the scenery? The blur is ridiculous but the complete desaturation of the scenery looks just as bad! There’s is so much wrong with this I can’t even…
Trying to mix low depth of field with wide-angle? Troll science has the answer!!! Buy an expensive 10 mm f1.2 lens and cross your fingers while shooting!
I can’t decide if this is a copy/paste or piss-poor editing. The lack of shadow would suggest c/p, but to be fair, where the blur was ‘missed’ (as someone else pointed out above, see lack of blur close to the legs) it matches with the bridge deck, and it also looks extremely cloudy. Meh, not a fan of the photo in general, the posing is too posed, and makes her butt look huge when it clearly isn’t, the dof is off, and the cars in the parking lot behind her (which is why, I suspect, the blur was added) shoulda have been avoided altogether.
Listen, all you nay sayers. This isn’t photoshop at all, this is MASTERFULL use of a PC lens, this photographer has such wicked control of the focus plane that he/she can LITERALLY wrap it around the subject. This might be through combining a PC lens with a DC lens, by using gaffers tape you can actually do the special bokeh-control-wrap-perspective, you just have to use a D4 to do it correctly. Its new tech people, like auto-smile-capture.
Wow, yeah…no. LOL. Assuming it wasn’t a c-p job, it looks like they were manually blurring the background and choked when they got to her legs, thus leaving these awkward unblurred marks. I’d love to see the original. I bet it wasn’t too awful, in its way. Why did this happen?
Hey Mo, ummm do you actually read your own blog or do the rules not apply when it concerns you? Sometimes you really should shut up you pompous blow hard.
Ummm, is the left side (her right) of her head shaved? Maybe it’s just an illusion thrown in there but it you follow her hairline around it looks like it goes from a nice healthy head of hair to bald.
oh come on people…funky blur aside, and the selective color and everything else that could have been, should have been and never will be…..they composed it using the rule of thirds…..pity they didn’t follow all the other rules. *sarcasm*
Seriously though, put PS away, and challenge oneself using in camera settings…the results are more rewarding.
All of you who are suggesting better ways to add blur in PS are in fact, fauxtographers. I know this is probably difficult to hear, but real photographers don’t use PS as a crutch. This is basic stuff that you should be doing with the proper gear.
You are all obviously not photographers. You can tell that she was added into the photo because she is not to scale!!!! And I’m not a photographer at all!
blippo
i guess ‘masking’ isn’t their strong point….
really like the twinkly white bits around her……that be good fotoe editings
KNOTTY
I could do a better job with 2 photos, an exacto knife and rubber cement.
Rebecca
SIGH.
Art_Student13
She looks like she’s been cut out and pasted on a blurry image.
Now i admit, i’ve had some trouble with trying to add blur to my images. I no longer do it because I always end up messing it up somehow, but I understand that the blur is supposed to be behind the subject or really close in front and clear in the back.
Oh yeah, nice outline around her. Really makes us believe that it wasn’t edited.
Georgi
The blur is easy… F2.8
Snappy
Why use the correct gear and settings when you got Photoshop? Aperture, schmaperture…. its all overrated.
LOLZ
All you have to do in your editing is, in CS5, make a duplicate layer, then add a smart or gaussian blur (preference, really) you the added layer. Close your original layer so you can clearly see what you are erasing. Then, when you have everything erased that you don’t want blurred (do it in small stages so you can back up easily) ‘open’ the original layer so you can see how much blurring you want. Highlight your added layer, and adjust the opacity to the desired setting. Piece of cake.
Andy
The fact that you’re even suggesting erasing and backing up is scaring me. How about being a bit more pro and using a layer mask???
LOLZ
Does it really matter what terms I use? Christ on a cracker, I was trying to explain it to even someone who doesn’t use photoshop 24/7 could probably still figure out what I was trying to say, but then you walk in, shove your uppity-ass comment in, with no useful contribution to make whatsoever. Does it make you feel more important to talk above others, rather than trying to contribute to the conversation? What kills me is, you and your ‘pro’ comment would suggest that you are a professional, yet are not linking to your own stuff. Hmmmm.
Melissa R.
Art Student – the blur you speak of comes from (as Georgi says) using a wide aperature (wide opening on lens). I’ve never seen it added in post-production effectively. Even if it could be, it doesn’t make sense to. Once you spend some time learning the 3 main points of exposure, it will become second nature.
Nikki
is it me or is her shoes in focus while her legs are out of focus???
Ali
Her legs look a bit funky, period. She clearly has decently muscular legs– it looks like fauxtog tried to “airbrush”/smooth out the definition a little bit, making them look blurry and out of focus, while leaving her shoes with a drastically contrasting, “in focus,” sharpness.
lequeen
um. a 35mm, 50mm, or 85mm would have allowed a better bokeh if that was the intent. and they’re super cheap to rent. duh.
Kat
Clearly, she is a vampire as she’s floating across this blurry bridge.
What a bad copy/paste job.
Catie
You guys. Blur is ALWAYS to be achieved IN CAMERA. To the people posting above that they tried to edit it in….no. no no no. And to this fauxtog, get a lens with better aperture.
Kimmy B.
Or buy a camera with interchangeable lenses… I’m having a hard time believing this was shot with a DSLR.
blippo
if you know how to synthesize a depth of field blur in ps…then that’s good…it can look realistic…
but, it takes knowing how to work the filter, and also knowing abit about 3 dimensionality in everyday life…..
sadly, lot of people don’t understand either.
Mike
Sadly this could have been a decent photo had the fauxtographer invested in a better lense along with investing the time to learn how it works
LOLZ
but you know, to be fair, sometimes when you are editing, a shot that you thought would look better with clearly defined backgrounds, might strike you as something you could use a little gaussian blur to it. It happens. Even the best of us misread a shot that we regret later, and you just want to tweak it a bit. but there is a clear right and wrong way to do it.
Derek
Nothing ever strikes me as needing some gaussian blur, because bokeh is more than simple blur. The ‘bloom’ that occurs in defocused areas cannot be replicated with gaussian blur, which is one of the reasons hack blur jobs like this are so easy to spot.
Mac
It’s unfortunate really because compositionally it really wouldn’t have been a bad shot. Ruined by too much post! Again!
Alicia
Can we talk about the contrast between the subject and the scenery? The blur is ridiculous but the complete desaturation of the scenery looks just as bad! There’s is so much wrong with this I can’t even…
kr
that coul of been a good shot too .
Wow
This is SO bad. So, so bad.
MP
Trying to mix low depth of field with wide-angle? Troll science has the answer!!! Buy an expensive 10 mm f1.2 lens and cross your fingers while shooting!
Giles
You can always use the Brenizer Method, for shallow Depth of Field works well even with an OK lens.
MP
Thanks for the clue! I didn’t know about this method, and looks interesting.
Pelham
Pity cause it’s sooo close to almost being a decent shot…like uhm if she’d actually been walking across said bridge instead of being c&p’d in…
There’s no point mentioning ‘bokeh’ to a fauxtog, they’d probably think it’s some obscure brand of camera!!
SL
Prime lenses….fake blurs rarely work people!
LOLZ
I can’t decide if this is a copy/paste or piss-poor editing. The lack of shadow would suggest c/p, but to be fair, where the blur was ‘missed’ (as someone else pointed out above, see lack of blur close to the legs) it matches with the bridge deck, and it also looks extremely cloudy. Meh, not a fan of the photo in general, the posing is too posed, and makes her butt look huge when it clearly isn’t, the dof is off, and the cars in the parking lot behind her (which is why, I suspect, the blur was added) shoulda have been avoided altogether.
Sharyn
Look it’s a ghost bridge!!!!
Andreas
Listen, all you nay sayers. This isn’t photoshop at all, this is MASTERFULL use of a PC lens, this photographer has such wicked control of the focus plane that he/she can LITERALLY wrap it around the subject. This might be through combining a PC lens with a DC lens, by using gaffers tape you can actually do the special bokeh-control-wrap-perspective, you just have to use a D4 to do it correctly. Its new tech people, like auto-smile-capture.
NicCole
Is that even her real hair?
Tawny
The Brenizer Method would have worked a lot better here as I’m guessing they didn’t have the right lens to achieve the look they were going for.
Angela
This site proves daily that technology has been the worst (and best) thing to happen to creative professions.
mo
oh my … lots of fauxtogs and fauxtog advice about artificial depth of field in this thread.
Ann
Wow, yeah…no. LOL. Assuming it wasn’t a c-p job, it looks like they were manually blurring the background and choked when they got to her legs, thus leaving these awkward unblurred marks. I’d love to see the original. I bet it wasn’t too awful, in its way. Why did this happen?
yikes
Hey Mo, ummm do you actually read your own blog or do the rules not apply when it concerns you? Sometimes you really should shut up you pompous blow hard.
LIPhotoguy
Ummm, is the left side (her right) of her head shaved? Maybe it’s just an illusion thrown in there but it you follow her hairline around it looks like it goes from a nice healthy head of hair to bald.
NickE
Fake depth of field rarely ever works. This is an example of the worst fake depth of field I have seen. :-S
Frankie
oh come on people…funky blur aside, and the selective color and everything else that could have been, should have been and never will be…..they composed it using the rule of thirds…..pity they didn’t follow all the other rules. *sarcasm*
Seriously though, put PS away, and challenge oneself using in camera settings…the results are more rewarding.
Santanaonfire
I’m 99% sure that she’s photoshopped on to a blurry bridge. She’s not even sized right to be standing on a that bridge.
I’m an amateur photoshopper myself, and I would either do a better job than that, or just not attempt such and idiotic concept.
Derek
She’s not photoshopped in. The bad cutout job around her legs shows that the boards around them were once in focus.
Roula
OMG. Horrible. Just buy the right lenses, use shallow d.o.f and DON’T BLUR, people.
Adam
Its obv the bokah from the amazing lens
roger
She looks like a ho prostitute. Just look at that pose.
Capt. Obvious
All of you who are suggesting better ways to add blur in PS are in fact, fauxtographers. I know this is probably difficult to hear, but real photographers don’t use PS as a crutch. This is basic stuff that you should be doing with the proper gear.
DHMN
Remember the toys we had as kids.. with the plastic “paper” cutouts of people, animals, etc and placed them on a background?
kay
You are all obviously not photographers. You can tell that she was added into the photo because she is not to scale!!!! And I’m not a photographer at all!