In addition to sharpening and detailing, you can use other techniques to get a unique, memorable shot, for example, the opposite effect - blurring and blurring individual details. This approach will allow you to focus on the central figure of the entire composition, add emotional coloring, movement, volume to the picture, add a little mystery to the story. Using the right camera settings, simple tricks and the capabilities of a graphic editor, you can make a blurry background, foreground, vignette along the contours of a photo, contrast the sharpness of individual elements and the blurring of individual details.
Blurring the background in an image can be done in three ways:
- Use the capabilities of the lens, the maximum open aperture, the minimum depth of field and other equipment settings;
- The "Blur" tool of the Adobe Photoshop graphics editor and its variants;
- Mobile applications and smartphone camera capabilities;
For a professional photographer, “power” will not be enough mobile applications. It is better to use the first 2 methods individually or in combination. Any of these options will require you to have knowledge and understanding of the process. Let's consider each of them in more detail.
Camera lens to blur the background
The technical characteristics of the camera and the matrix will not affect the ability to blur individual details, the lens will be responsible for this moment. Better take fast lens, with it it will be easier to fulfill the other prerequisites for obtaining beautiful bokeh.
Bokeh is an optical effect in a photograph, the blurring of individual elements, light sources, as well as artistic highlights and reflections in the picture, which make up a harmonious picture with the rest of the details. Bokeh is an interesting tool that gives a photo a fairy-tale mood, adding attractiveness to objects and the background of the image.
When setting up the camera to get a blurry background, you need to pay attention to the following important parameters:
- Aperture opening degree;
- Distance to the object;
- Focal length;
- IPIG;
- Macro mode.
Aperture settings. To get a blurry background, you need to narrow the distance where the objects in focus will be as narrow as possible so that the foreground and background do not fall into it. This achieves blur or blur in the picture. To do this, select the manual adjustment mode and set the maximum possible opening of the aperture flaps in this situation. In numbers, the value will be, on the contrary, small - f / 1.8, for example. In this case, by placing the focus point on the subject, you will automatically bring the details far behind it into the blur zone. The more the aperture is opened and the f-value is smaller, the more objects around the subject will be blurred.
Depth of Field of View, or DOF. In fact, this is the parameter for which other settings are selected. DOF - an area in which all objects are sharp, the rest are blurry. To put it simply, at a certain distance from the photographer there is an imaginary line of the beginning of the sharpness zone, a little further - the end line.
The range and extent of the depth of field depends on the focal length of the lens, the distance of the photographer and the degree of aperture opening. With a decrease in the value of f, that is, opening the aperture, the depth of field narrows, as with an increase in the focal length. To get the most blurry background, reduce the sharpness zone.
Focal length. Speaking roughly, the parameter is responsible for the sharpness of the object when approaching. The higher the focal length of the lens, the farther the object can be located. Standard standard lenses are in the range of 18-50mm. To create a blurred background, you will need the longest possible optics that can bring a very distant object closer, while narrowing the depth of field to the minimum values. This will give excellent uniform blurring of both the foreground and distant areas.
The distance from the photographer to the subject. Blurred background brings the subject closer to the camera and away from the background. Being at a close distance, the lens gives the minimum depth of field, with the aperture open and maximum focus. Moreover, the foreground will not be so blurred, and behind all objects will be as blurred as possible. For example, to obtain a clear portrait against a blurred background, the distance to the model from the standard "fifty kopeck" should be 2-3 meters, and the background should be removed by at least 7-10 meters. Then you will not need additional manipulations with the image to achieve the desired effect.
The macro mode among the standard camera settings allows you to focus on an object located in close proximity to the lens. It allows you to automatically focus on the subject, without taking into account the background and surrounding objects. For a beginner photographer in conditions subject shooting it can be used, but portrait and landscape will still require you to know the above parameters.
How to make a blurry background in Photoshop?
The second way to get a blurry background is to use the program - Adobe Photoshop, even in a standard shell without plugins. Blur effects, layers, and various brushes are nested in the basic tools.
Any photograph of an object with a background is taken as a basis, opened in the program. You can blur in two ways:
- Magnetic Lasso Tool.
- Layers and the Blur tool.
The magnetic lasso is suitable for small objects with smooth edges, it needs to be selected using dots. Then blur the background through the appropriate tool, excluding the selected area.
The second method is more complicated, but more effective, especially if the selected object has uneven edges, a lot of details, and it is quite difficult to select it with dots evenly. First of all, we copy the layer with the keyboard shortcut "Ctrl + J" or by creating a new layer. If everything is done correctly, then a copy of the original image will appear in the layers column on the right. The work must be carried out with a copy, and the effect is superimposed on it.
In the "Filters" tab located on the top panel, in the drop-down list we find "Blur". There are several options, they differ in the direction of the “strokes”, the location of the blurred area, and so on.
The Gaussian Blur effect is suitable for uniform filling of the image; in its settings, you can change the intensity and radius using the corresponding buttons on the panel. If the result is satisfactory, then accept it and continue working with the layer.
In the "Layers" - "Layer Mask" tab, select the "Show All" item. If everything is done correctly, the blurred image will be highlighted with a white rectangle in the layers list. Next, take a suitable brush and begin to gently erase the layer with blur in those places where the image should be sharp. That is, we remove it to the original image. Using different brushes in size, shape, hardness, you get different artistic effects, limited only by your imagination. Where the brush did not go through, there will be a blur.
After completing the design, you need to connect the layers, for this, select the "Layers" item in the menu, select "Perform mixing" in the drop-down list, the two pictures become one, now you can save and use them further for their intended purpose.
Such actions will be enough to blur any part of the picture, you can do several levels, repeat the process more than once to achieve the effect of a multilayer blur. Over time, experience will allow you to create more and more daring pictures and combinations using the "Layers" technique or any other.
Blurred background using smartphone
The creators of smartphones, tablets, as well as application developers do not stand still in terms of processing images received from mobile devices. For both operating systems, options for standard settings, free and paid programs installed on all known phone models have been developed. Image processing using a blurred background is also present in many of them. The effect of blur or blurred background can be created at the time of shooting or on already finished photos.
- In the first case, in the process of focusing on an object, you can choose the direction, intensity and location of the blur, most often its dependence on the size and location of the object being shot is adjusted. To do this, buttons are provided that are displayed in the camera menu. The disadvantage of this option is a decrease in the quality of the image and the inability to bring it back to its original form.
- In the second case, the frame is saved in the normal mode, and then the application offers options for its design and editing. These editors are automatically pre-installed on the Instagram network when you add a picture to your account, you get access to tools for working with photography. Or the settings are stored in the phone's memory along with the original picture and can be used for any other purpose.
Of course, such images are not suitable for large format printing and are used mainly for home viewing and for placement in in social networks. But the growth of their popularity could not but affect photography in general. Many applications are created specifically for active bloggers, for those who like to post beautiful pictures on the network, to collect “like” marks. For photography, as an art, this approach no longer applies.
Smartphone Apps:
- Camera MX offers an excellent set of features for taking semi-professional-level shots. Users can use filters, manual settings, all kinds of processing tools;
- Z Camera offers you to use various filters at the time of shooting, as well as edit them from the gallery.
- Google Camera is installed on smartphones of some models and is available for download. The application allows you to use phone cameras at the level of good cameras, process pictures immediately and create collages.
- BestMe Selfie Camera allows you to see the effects for shooting and choose an interesting option in real time. Great app for lovers of quality selfies.
- Cymer offers filters and stickers, captions and various tools for changing the color of hair, eyes, clothes, as well as an intuitive interface when creating collages.
- Footej Camera- an application for those who want to always have a cool camera at hand. It allows you to shoot in RAW format and adjust the settings for shooting, just like in a real camera.
- candy camera, created specifically for the beautiful half of humanity, obsessed with selfies. Here you can apply various effects, pictures, stickers, assemble a collage or even make yourself a makeover.
These applications are available for the Android OS, but manufacturers have created a considerable number of different assistants for owners of apple smartphones. Of course, by installing them on a smartphone, you will not make it a good camera with optics, but you will get decent pictures for posting on social networks. their networks will be enough.
Summing up the topic
A blurry background in photography is a great artistic technique, suitable for both professional and amateur shots. You can create it in two ways: during the shooting process and by working on the finished image. In the first case, you will need:
- Long lens;
Maximum open aperture;
The minimum distance to the subject of filming;
The maximum distance to the background behind the object.
To get a better picture without interference, you need to use a tripod. Of course, if the shooting mode allows the photographer to stay in one place for a while. Choose a situation where you can shoot as close as possible without losing quality. This trick will allow you to move the background and focus on the object, the rest will become unsharp, as intended.
The degree of aperture opening and the distance to the object can also control the intensity of the blur. Closing the shutters will increase the sharpness of the background, the same will happen if you get closer to the subject or model.
Blurring the background is an excellent tool for focusing the viewer's attention on important details, reducing the impact on the overall picture of background elements that do not always fit harmoniously into the photographer's idea. This is especially true for reportage and street photography, when people, cars and numerous details create a lot of noise in the picture.
In this tutorial, I will teach you how to create a blurry background effect without glowing halos around the main subject of the composition. First we will use the tool SelectandMask(Highlight and Mask) to create a perfect selection of the main object and cut it out. Then apply a filter to the background fieldBlur(Field blur).
Step 1
Opening a working photo through the menu file- open(File - Open). So that we have a backup copy of the unedited photo, use the Ctrl + J key combination to duplicate the original layer.
Name the copy "Blur" and turn off the visibility of the original layer by clicking on the eye icon next to the layer name.
Step 2
First we need to create an accurate selection of the model in the photo. To do this, we will use the tool PenTool(P) (Feather). I didn't take the time to highlight the hair because we'll be working on that section separately later.
Step 3
Next, without deleting the selection, we take QuickSelectionTool(W) (Quick Selection). If you're using Photoshop CC 19.1, a button will appear in the top bar. SelectandMask(Highlight and mask). Click on it to open a panel with selection options.
If you are using Photoshop CS6, then first apply a mask to the selection layer, then right-click on the mask and select RefineMask(Specify the mask). As a result, you will see a window with almost the same settings as in SelectandMask(Highlight and mask).
Step 4
Opening the window SelectandMask(Selection and mask), select the tool RefineedgeBrushTool(R) (Refine Edge) and run it through the hair to remove the background. How it works? The tool performs calculations and determines where the background is and where the details of the model are.
Please note that I did not keep the small protruding hairs. Instead, I removed them beforehand. Later I will write a tutorial that will tell you in more detail how to cut hair and what to do with fine hairs. For now, let's focus on the current lesson.
After working with the tool, you should get the result as shown below.
Below you can compare before and after results. SelectandMask(Highlight and mask).
Do not close the settings window SelectandMask(Selection and mask) and go down to the settings OutputSettings(Export settings). On the menu OutputTo(Output to) choose NewlayerwithlayerMask(New layer with layer mask). This means that the result of the selection will be displayed on a separate layer with a mask. You can enable the option if you wish. Decontaminatecolors(Clear Colors) to remove color distortion.
After clicking OK, another Blur Copy layer with a mask will appear in the Layers panel.
Step 5
Now we have our object perfectly cut out and we can work on the background. First, re-select the model by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking on the mask thumbnail in the layers panel.
Then select the "Blur" layer:
After that we pass Select- Modify-Expand(Select - Modify - Expand):
Step 6
In the window that opens, enter 5 pixels to expand the selected area by this value. Expanding the selection will allow us to avoid the glow around the object.
After expanding the selection, go to Edit-Fill(Editing - Fill) and in the menu content(Content) select content-Aware(Subject to content). Set up the rest of the settings:
Step 7
If you turn off the copy of the "Blur" layer, you will see that the person has almost completely disappeared. Photoshop cloned different parts of the photo and simply filled in the selected area with them.
Right click on the "Blur" layer and select ConverttoSmartObject(Convert to Smart Object). Also don't forget to turn on the visibility of the "Blur" layer copy.
Step 8
Now we have to set up the filter. First, in the center of the document, add two anchor points (just click with the mouse in the place where you want to add a point). This will create a smooth blur from the top center border of the document towards its center. On the panel on the right set Blur(Blur) by 32 pixels.
If you want to blur the entire background, then one dot will suffice. Please note that for each point we separately set the degree of blur.
Click again on the document to add a second point. With this point we indicate the place after which the blur disappears. The program will only blur the area between these two points. If you blur the lower part of the background, the result will not be very beautiful. Therefore, we set the blur of the second point to 0 pixels.
Step 9
Look at the blur result below. As you can see, there is no glow around the model:
Don't forget that the filter fieldBlur(Field blur) we apply to the "Blur" layer. Don't apply it to the Blur Copy layer.
Step 10
If we zoom in on the picture, we will see that there is no slight noise in the background, which is on the model.
Select the "Blur" layer and go to filter-CameraRaw(Filter - Camera Raw).
On the tab effects(Effects) (fx icon) have settings Grain(Corn). Just pull the sliders to set Amount(value), size(Size) and Roughness(Roughness) as shown below.
The question of how to get a beautifully blurred background is constantly asked by my students. There is a big misconception among novice photographers who believe that to get this effect you need to buy a very expensive fast lens. While it's true that a wider aperture will give you a shallower depth of field, there are also two other factors that many people haven't heard of or don't care much about. In this article, I'll walk you through the three factors that affect background blur, and how to achieve this effect with the lenses you already have.
Three main factors:
- Diaphragm
- Lens focal length
- Distance between object and background
So, to demonstrate how it works, I created some examples, photographing a friend's daughter. The first series was taken at a distance of about 2 meters from the front door of the house. Focal lengths for all examples: 16mm, 35mm, 70mm, 150mm. While I purposely do not write what aperture I used, I will only say that it is the same in all eight images.
***Note: keep in mind that I used a full frame cameraCanonEOS 5DMarkIII. If you are using a non-full frame camera (for example, with a crop factor of 1.5, then the equivalent focal lengths for you will be approximately 11mm, 24mm, 50mm, 100mm.
The second series of photographs was taken 20 meters from the house. Each time I changed lenses, I moved further away from the girl to keep her relative size in the frame.
Note how much softer the background became in the second series, especially when using a long focal length. See the addiction? Remember that all eight photos were taken with the same aperture. The only thing I changed in the first case is focal length lens. In the second set, I changed the distance to the background, making it much larger.
But what about the diaphragm?
As already mentioned, at first I did not specifically write which aperture I used. Would you be surprised if I said all the photos were taken at f/5.6? But that's the way it is! All images are taken at f/5.6 aperture. Isn't aperture the first thing you think of when someone talks about blurry backgrounds? Do you also have an f/5.6 kit lens? If so, then surely you think that you will never get a well-blurred background without buying a fast lens that costs hundreds or thousands of dollars? Think again and read on!
Another f/2.8 comparison
Just to prove my point, here are two more series shot at f/2.8. In the same way, the first series is filmed near the house, and the second is further away. Notice how the effect of focal length and distance from the background on the blur is greater than the effect of aperture. There really isn't much of a difference between these images and the first ones taken at f/5.6.
What conclusions can be drawn
Using a wide aperture to create photos with blurry backgrounds is not the only factor, and in my opinion not the most important one. If I'm doing a portrait, I look for a place where I can place people at a good distance from the background and use a lens with a focal length of 85mm or more. There is also a middle ground for using long focal length lenses for portrait photography. Too much focal length can lead to the fact that for shooting you have to go very far and just shout so that the person being filmed can hear you. For this reason, a 300mm lens is too much for portraits. However, with such lenses you can make very beautiful pictures wild animals with beautifully blurred backgrounds, knowing what you know now.
Now look at the image at the beginning of the article. It was also shot at f/5.6! I bet you didn't even know about it! I will not talk about it for a long time, but rather I will give a few more photos taken in the same place so that you can draw your own conclusions.
Practice and read more
I am not asking you to take my word for it. Go outside and do this exercise on your own. Find your subject and start at a small distance from the background, zooming from small to large, trying different apertures. Then move a few meters away from the background and repeat all over again. View and analyze the received photos. Think about how you can use this new information to improve your photos. Read articles about depth of field and lens choice.
How professional photographers Do you get such stunning portraits, in which the subject is perfectly focused, and the background is blurry? There are several techniques you can use to blur the background of a photo - adjusting the aperture and shutter speed settings, using portrait mode and autofocus, editing the image in Photoshop.
Steps
Blurring the background with the aperture setting
- To better blur the background in a photo, you need enough distance between the camera and the subject. Then you can use the zoom to bring the foreground into focus.
- In addition, the farther the subject is from the background, the easier it is to achieve a beautiful blur effect. Depending on the characteristics of the lens, try placing the model at a distance of one and a half, 3 or 4.5 meters from the background (back).
-
Get your subject in a medium shot. In other words, let the person be seen approximately to the waist. To take a portrait, you'll probably want to get up close or zoom in so that only the head and shoulders are in the frame. But start at a greater distance to better compose the shot and adjust your settings.
- Focus on the eyes.
- Note that the nose, ears and hair will be more or less in focus. When the aperture is closed (high value), the background will also be in focus. If the aperture is wide open (low value), it will be blurry.
-
Use zoom. Reduce the depth of field by zooming in closer to the image. To achieve the smallest possible depth of field, use a telephoto lens or use the maximum zoom setting. Get as close to the subject as you need to.
- If you are using a telephoto lens, you will have to stand quite far from the model.
- If you are using the lens that the camera was originally equipped with, you may need to get closer to the model. You should still zoom in as far as the lens allows, and the distance between you and the subject will be less than between the subject and the background. A simple rule: it is better to stand far away and use the zoom than to get too close.
- Try different zooms and take some test shots to see if you get close to your desired result.
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Move the camera behind a moving object. If your subject is in motion, follow the camera to keep it sharp and blur the background.
- Try shooting at different shutter speeds to strike a balance: only the background should be blurry, not the subject.
- First, set your shutter speed to 1/125 second.
- Try to keep your body and camera as stable as possible. Follow your subject through the viewfinder and make sure you focus correctly. Shoot confidently with a steady hand.
- This technique uses the background blur effect to emphasize the movement of the subject, while blurring the shallower depth of field adds volume to the photo, separating the subject from its surroundings.
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Set your camera to aperture priority mode. On the top of the camera body, you will find a dial with different shooting modes, such as "Auto". Rotate it to select aperture priority.
Keep a distance between the camera, the subject and the background.
Good day, dear readers! I am glad to present to your attention another lesson on the GIMP editor, from which you will learn how to create background blur effect on photo.
Certainly everyone likes photos with blurry background. What is the attraction of such shots? But the fact is that with the help of blur we remove all the extra garbage that clogs photo background and remains sharp, only the main subject that we are photographing. Take a look at these footage.
Or, for example, when photographing some kind of dish
From such photos it breathes "professionalism".
How to make such a blurry background?
Create silence ... now I will reveal to you terrible secret recipe for such a frame. You will need:
1) good camera, mostly "reflex camera" with interchangeable lenses, for example a budget option Canon 1100d
2) A lens with a large aperture, for example, if you have a Canon camera (like I do), then the cheapest option would be to buy a Canon 50 1.8 lens
3) We put the lens on the camera and set the creative mode AV (or manual - M), which allows you to adjust the aperture value.
4) Set the aperture to 2, and even better to 1.8
5) Shooting...
Here is an example recipe for getting a blurry background on an image. But if finances do not allow you, then we can remotely approach the blurry background with the help of processing in graphic editors, such as photoshop and gimp. Thanks to the built-in tools in the editor, we can make the background of an ordinary photo taken with an ordinary digital compact camera, the so-called "soap box", pseudo-blurred.
And how this is done, we will now learn from today's lesson.
Step 1. Opening the original photo in the editor
Step 2 The next step is to select the main object in the photo, which we want to make sharp. To do this, the simplest, but at the same time universal method is to use the Free Selection tool or the so-called Lasso tool (as in Photoshop). After that, carefully outline the object. The more breakpoints you set, the better.
Step 3 While the selection is active, create a copy of the original photo through the menu "Layer - Create a copy" or by clicking on the icon "Create a copy of the layer"
Step 4 Now you need to right-click on the top layer and select "Add Alpha Channel" from the context menu that opens.
After that, press the Del button. See what you should get if you temporarily turn off the visibility of the bottom layer.
Turn on the visibility of the lower layer again and deselect using "Select - Deselect"
Step 5 Now let's use the standard filter of the blur editor through the menu "Filters - Blur - Gaussian Blur" and set the desired value in the settings.
Reference: This value depends on the original photo. The higher the resolution (photo size), the larger the input parameter. For this example, I took the size 30px
Step 6 If necessary, you can adjust the opacity of the top layer with the effect, to do this, move the opacity slider to the left until you get the desired effect. For example, I set the value to 80.
Like this, in a few simple steps, we also have a sharp object, which is now the main focus of our viewer.
Soon I plan to tell you friends about creating more realistic background blur with additional. If you do not want to miss the output of this lesson, then I advise.
That's all for me. Thank you all for your attention and see you in new lessons.
P.S. Special thanks to reader Lare for the lesson idea!
Sincerely, Anton Lapshin!
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