Bourbon Neat
Senior Member
What editing tools would you use to bring down the distraction of this background?
Distracting Background
- Thread starter Bourbon Neat
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Bourbon Neat
Senior Member
Software consists of Nikon, LR, PaintShopPro, Perfect Effects and Elements. Gunna run through the HSL in LR develop module. Thanks for your input.
Bourbon Neat
Senior Member
Still a bit of distraction
You can blur the background more and either lighten or darken the background to make the dog stand out. Here's a quick edit with more background blurred and darkened slightly although the edge selection could have been refined better. Added a slight vignette, too.
Bourbon Neat
Senior Member
Yeah, the blur takes care of the dark lines very well and going lighter or darker brings the leaves down some. Cool.
What did you use to get a blur?
What did you use to get a blur?
First I used the Quick Selection tool and outlined the dog. You can also use the Lasso Tool. Then I selected Inverse which switched the selection to everything BUT the dog. Once the background area was selected, I went to Filter→Blur→Gaussian Blur setting the radius at 4.5 pixels. Keeping the background selected, I darkened it as it was too bright for my taste. Then I deselected the background. Lastly I went into Filter→Lens Correction and added a darker vignette. Only took a minute or two to do everything. Like I said earlier, the edge of the dog could have been refined a little better, but this was a quickie edit.
Oh...and I did a really quick noise reduction going to Filter→Camera RAW at some point...can't remember exactly when during the process. Your image was a little too noisy. Although I didn't adjust any contrast, mine seems to be a lower contrast...perhaps from the noise reduction. I didn't edit any color or saturation at all--the background picked up more color when I darkened it.
Bourbon Neat
Senior Member
Thanks for your input, that is a definite improvement. When blurring, do you set the noise to the plus side? It appears so in the screenshot.
While brushing the slider choices in, do you use a mask and reveal the results in the end or, immediate results while brushing?
Bourbon Neat
Senior Member
Did it all in Photoshop CC. You should be able to do everything in Elements. I haven't used Elements in a while, but I'm pretty sure everything I accessed is in Elements, too.
Just checked Elements 10...can't see how to access Camera RAW for the noise reduction, but Elements has its own noise reduction that should offer about the same results.
And if you aren't comfortable with the Lasso Tool, take a look at some videos on the Selection Tool. I tend to use that one much more myself.
And if you aren't comfortable with the Lasso Tool, take a look at some videos on the Selection Tool. I tend to use that one much more myself.
Yes, the higher the percentage, the more noise it takes out.
Sometimes I use the mask, but 90% of the time I like to see the results in real time. Either way would be fine.
Isolate the dog in PS layer, the background in another. Then process the background as you like. You can even replace the background with another. Then merge the dog and the background.
This is a standard approach. I read an article by a famous bird photographer who suggested replacing the back ground if it was not to your liking.
This is a standard approach. I read an article by a famous bird photographer who suggested replacing the back ground if it was not to your liking.
Many ways of doing this.
In PS - I would select the dog using quick selection tool and refine edge. This is way easier than trying to use lassoo tool selection.
Once you have this save as - New layer with selection mask.
Then you can add a new layer below this and fill it with whatever you want.
In V1 I used a radial gradient fill
Another easy way is to duplicate the initial layer then apply a gaussian blur filter to the top layer. You can adjust the amount of blur to suit your taste.
Then add a mask to this top blurred layer and paint the mask with a black brush to remove (hide) the blur on the dog. See V2
This took about 10 mins to do.
V1
V2
In PS - I would select the dog using quick selection tool and refine edge. This is way easier than trying to use lassoo tool selection.
Once you have this save as - New layer with selection mask.
Then you can add a new layer below this and fill it with whatever you want.
In V1 I used a radial gradient fill
Another easy way is to duplicate the initial layer then apply a gaussian blur filter to the top layer. You can adjust the amount of blur to suit your taste.
Then add a mask to this top blurred layer and paint the mask with a black brush to remove (hide) the blur on the dog. See V2
This took about 10 mins to do.
V1
V2
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thequeenscheese
Senior Member
pxlr express has some good features for that you can select focal points and blur points, altho I'm sure photoshop also has this option at least pxlr is free
thequeenscheese
Senior Member
in pxlr that took couple of mins but I think wornish's results are better..
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Bourbon Neat
Senior Member
Very nice results. Thank you for taking the time to show what is possible, and explaining it too.
I've stayed away from the deep end of the pool (layers). After seeing these results, I will take the plunge.
I've stayed away from the deep end of the pool (layers). After seeing these results, I will take the plunge.