blurring the background in photoshop
I remember seeing on this site a fairly easy explanation on how to blur the background in CS5 but could not find it in the search.
I took some hummingbird photos I really like but the "staged" background was less than desired and I'd like to see if I can blur it.
Can some one please direct me to where I can find the instructions, or give this beginning photoshop user some good directions.
Thanks
Stan
Stan
There are several ways you could approach this in PS depending on the image and how easily you can separate the HB from the Bkgd
Can you post a sample image you want to correct
Peter
My question seems to be changing some what because after I cropped a few the issue changes a bit.
I was using a friends background that was just a spray painted canvas. As you can see from the photo is a little "light".
My question now becomes how can I change the background to become a little bit more realistic?
I can select one, the hummer or the flower, but don't now how to do both to create a mask or layer.
And then how can I blur then darken the background a bit more? NOt the best photo but learning the concept will really help me.
Thanks Peter and others for your help!
Hi Stan,
This is quite an easy image to mask. I used the color range selection to select the green background. saved this as an alpha channel. Using black to paint I zoomed in and finished any loose bits off. I then loaded the alpha channel as a selection. copy as new layer. Blurred this layer using gaussian blur (you could darken at this point too). Then used the same alpha channel as a mask to bring back through the bird and flower.
Regards.
Stu.
Stewart,
Excellent. That is what I would do too. You can also use the magnetic lasso tool. Also try the magic wand tool and the quick selection tool. (I usually prefer the quick selection tool after I do a basic selection.) I hold old down the shift key (on windows--not sure about Macs) to add to the selection and the ALT key to subtract.
Roger
Don't you get any bleeding effects from the non-selected areas this way (I am to lazy to actually try it) ? I tend to use clipping layers to avoid the bleeding effect you easily get from the gaussian blur filter.
Hi Svante,
By using the blur on the copied layer (which didn't include the bird or flower) and then using the alpha mask on this layer to bring back through the original layer you don't get any bleed. Bonus of using the alpha as a mask is if you notice you missed any bits you can paint the original in or out by painting on the layer mask.
regards.
Stu.
The color selection tool worked great, but I'm not sure what a alpha channel is, and I can't get the box alpha channel checked when I try to save the selection as one. Like I said, I'm brand new to this once I get past lightroom.
Hej Stan
Stuarts way works fine but you need to know a bit about Photoshop to actually be able to make sense of it I think ;-). Actually I would recommend reading a book or two because the learning curve is very steep without that type of help. Anyway I'll try to give a bit more detailed explanation of a similar way to blur the background (the reason for the complexity of the below explanation is that the Gaussian Blur filter will normally look not only on the selection but also on the non-selected areas thus giving weird colour bleeding effects). My explanation below is based on PS CS5 (Windows version - at least the command keys are different for the Mac).
1. Select the background by use of the color range as described above (or any other way for that matter ;-).
2. Go to Refine Edge to possibly improve the quality of the selection (may not be needed here) and then select "Output to: New Layer with Layer Mask" in the Refine Edge dialog box and click OK (another way of achieving the same result is to make a copy of the background layer and then go to "Layer - Layer Mask - Reveal Selection").
3. You should now have a new layer. This layer has 4 items in it. First the eye which tells you if the layer is visible or not (note that the original layer below isn't visible anymore). Second a miniature of the image. Third a link showing that the image and the mask is connected to each other and last the mask is shown in black and white.
4. If you need to improve the selection click on the black and white mask ( you should get a frame around it). You can add to the selection by painting with white in the image or detract from it by painting with black (if you need to refine the image).
5. When you are happy with the mask hold down the Control key while clicking on the mask (you can achieve the same result by using Select - Load Selection and then select the layer from which to load the selection). The white part of the mask should now show up as a selection in your image.
6. Go to Layers - New and select "Layer via Copy". This should give you a copy with only the background.
7. If you now once again Control click on the mask in the layer below you will get a selection of the background in the top layer. Now go to Filter - Blur - Gaussian and decide the amount of blur you wish.
8. Click on the "eye" in the background layer to make the bird visible again and voila you should (hopefully ;-) have a blurred background (without bleeding).
I've actually tried the steps while writing this so hopefully it will be both understandable (I have now updated the explanation since it obviously wasn't understandable the first time around ;-) and work.
/Svante
PS! I strongly recommend "The Adobe Photoshop Layers Book by Richard Lynch" to learn a lot in a fairly short time - currently only covers CS4 but the changes to CS5 with respect to the basics on layer is minimal.
Last edited by Svante Larsson; 09-12-2010 at 03:41 AM.
Sorry Stan, skipped the bit about you being a PS beginner. Svante, great explanation.
regards.
Stu.
Svante- Where is the "Output to" command in Photoshop. Which menu? Can't seem to find it.
This is a very useful thread but I'm struggling to run through the Ps steps. Would it be possible to have the method above translated to PS4/5 showing the exact Menu->Menu item selected each time. Thanks.
John,Originally Posted by John Chardine
It's in the Refine Edge dialog window towards the bottom. It's has several options in a pulldown menu.
Hope that helps. JR
Hi Svante,
Thanks for the detailed outline. I stumble though in step 6 as Layer via Copy is not an option in the Layers/New menu. :( And why do you need to copy the background selection onto a new layer to do the blurring? Why not on the layer created in step 3 after step 5?
Thanks in advance. JR
Thanks Jeorg. Unfortunately I don't seem to have that menu in my CS4 for Mac.
Too bad. And yes, I was referring to CS5 for Mac. But I presume that you can achieve the same/similar effect by choosing Layers/New/Layer via Copy after the Refine Edge process. That being said... I am still learning about PS... JR
Hej John
Thought I was crystal clear but just shows how complex PS is (and maybe something about my limited talents as an instructor ;-). I have now updated my earlier input trying to respond to your queries. Let's see if it now becomes clearer.
/Svante
Last edited by Svante Larsson; 09-12-2010 at 02:52 AM.
Hej Joerg
I am not quite sure why the Layer via Copy sometimes is grayed out. I have seen the same sometimes but by changing the tool to for example the selection tool the Layer via Copy has become selectable. Not sure why.
With respect to blurring immediately after step 3-5 you should not trust me but rather try it yourself with a fairly large blur (50 pixels or more) and you will see the bleeding of colours from the non-selected areas ;-).
/Svante
Many thanks!
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