darkening and defocusing photo background

[provlima]

I have cutout a mother and a child from a picture using the lasso tool. The photo had a very bright background and I wanted to  darken and blur it to create a depth of field effect and emphasizing the mother and child which I will paste back after I get the wanted effects.

In attempting to darken the background I find that using the enhance>brightness to accomplish the darkening causes a wierd discoloration effect instead of turning down the brightness.

I have also found I am having difficulty using the sharpness slider to slightly blur the same background.

Can someone advise what I might be doing wrong?

Thanks for your help!

[Guest]

You might try a levels adjustment layer to darken the background.

Layer>New Adfjustment Layer>Levels and move the center slider.

To blur the background try Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur.

MTSTUNER

[hatstead]

Addressing the issue of adjusting the brightness of the foreground and of the background independently, a good technique is to do it with layers:

Duplicate background layer and work on background copy layer. Shut off visibility of background layer

1. Select the foreground with one of the selection tools (e.g. lasso), feathering 5-15px
2. Create Levels adjustment layer #1 above this
3. Press CTRL + left click the layer mask (the white rectangle) in levels adjustment layer #1
4. Select the  image layer - Background copy layer
5. Go to Select>Inverse
6. Create Levels adjustment layer #2
7. Now, you can adjust each separately by double clicking on the left to access the levels controls and working the sliders.

[Mark_Sand]

You might want to upload your picture to this forum so we can take a look and offer suggestions. To upload click the camera icon:

[hatstead]

I forgot to address the issue of selective blurring.

After you have completed the changes to the foreground and background as delineated in my previous post, make a "stamp visible layer".

1. Open a blank layer at the top of the stack of layers in the layers palette, and press CTRL+ALT+SHIFT+E
2. Duplicate this layer and apply  Gaussian blur  (Filter>Blur>Gaussian blur). Adjust with slider
3. Place a Levels adjustment layer between the 2 layers, but do not work the sliders
4. Make the top layer active and press CTRL+G
5. Access a black brush and paint where you want to have the foreground in focus. If you go too far, you can correct with a white brush.

Please report back with your progress.

[hatstead]

Mark posted while I was typing. Yes, seeing the picture will be helpful. 

[provlima]

Thank you for your help

Okay here is the picture

I am a newbie and have not worked with layers before but want to learn this capability, so I would appreciate simple steps approach

As I mentioned on my OP I want to darken the background and give it an SLR depth of field quality.

So I thought I would cut out the foreground mother and baby and work with the remaining background. When I got the backgroud right I could then paste back the cutout. 

When I attempted this by sliding the brightness to the left, the colors turned wierd and the background picture looked like a warhol painting.

Is there an easier or better way??

[hatstead]

Is this the effect that you are after?

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1oyleAtUcsamA83zApvX1X04bPHH8P1

[provlima]

yes!!

[Mark_Sand]

Here I used methods hatstead described.

1. Duplicate the  Background layer and apply a Gaussian blur.

2. Add a Levels adjustment layer but do not make any adjustments; just click OK. Group the duplicate layer with the Levels layer.

3. Set the Foreground/Background colors to their default black/white values.

4.  Activate the Levels layer and paint with black on mother/child to  restore the focus. If you paint too far switch to white and paint to  restore the blur. You can type "X" to toggle between black & white  while painting. You might find that a soft brush works better than hard  on the outer edges of the skin and hair; the transition between the focus and blur is not so noticeable.

5. To darken the background, I duplicated the first duplicate layer and changed the new layer's Blend Mode to Multiply. This intensifies all the colors. I thought the result was a bit too much so I lowered the Opacity to 80%.

[hatstead]

Ok. I used the same technique described previously in detail, except that I used  Brightness/contrast adjustment layers instead of Levels.

In addition, I created a blank layer at the top, and with the brush tool painted gently over the blown out areas of the baby, and another blank layer for same for the mother.

I also sharpened and applied a stroke(rudimentary frame).

The layer structure is labeled for your reference on the print screen.

Don't hesitate to ask for help should you need it.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1ba9OcZL5n8rTBEnIaRfDDs04IZrhh1

[provlima]

thank you very much for your help!

I will follow your steps to learn the process.  Ihave never worked with the layer feature before but look forward to learning this tool.

I noticed the cutout using the lasso tool was missing. 

I will attempt when I get the opportunity and ask if I run across any problems.

Again thank you very much!