Portrait Photoshop 7: Blur background to create a realistic depth of field effect

Blur a background can draw attention to a focal point.
As always, the best way to do this is in-camera with a wide maximum aperture , F2.8 or low number. If you didn’t have the right lens with wide open aperture, Photoshop can help. In this example, we will use Gaussian Blur to blur the background.

Before

  1. With the image open, duplicate the Background layer by hitting CMD or CTRL + J on the keyboard or by clicking and dragging the Background layer to the New Layer symbol at that bottom of the Layers Panel.
  2. Use the select object tool to select subject. Please refer this post:
3. Go to Select>inverse.
4. Pixels slider beneath and then moving the Pixels slider to the left or right the Gaussian Blur effect increases and decreases. Don’t over do it. You can check the preview to compare before and after.

3. Located the Radius and

5. Go to Select>Deselect.

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Bob Lin

Bob Lin, MS-MVP, MCSE & CNE Data recovery, Windows OS Recovery, Networking, and Computer Troubleshooting on http://www.ChicagoTech.net How to Install and Configure Windows, VMware, Virtualization and Cisco on http://www.HowToNetworking.com