Blurring backgrounds in Photoshop has never been easier.
You can click on a box and Photoshop will blur the background.
But to avoid getting rough edges or weird outlines, you will need to try this
professional technique that offers tremendous control and flexibility.
First, I'll show you how the Lens Blur and the Camera Raw Filter works.
Then I'll show you a pro method to get better edges.
My name is Jesus Ramirez. Let's get started.
When you go into Filter and choose Camera Raw, you will see a new panel
called Lens Blur, which allows you to apply a realistic optical blur and Bokeh
it to your photo by clicking on the Apply box.
With the help of artificial intelligence, Photoshop generates a synthetic depth map.
This 3D depth estimation allows us to
change the focus plane, creating the shallow depth of field effect.
You can then use the Blur Amount slider to increase the blur
and choose the type of Bokeh, Photoshop applies by clicking on these options.
You can use the Boost Slider to control the Bokeh effect's intensity.
By default, Photoshop automatically sets
the focal range using AI-powered subject detection.
This is what this icon indicates, but you can manually set the focal range
by enabling this button and clicking or dragging over the photo.
The focal range box adjusts the range of areas that are in focus.
Make the box wider to have more areas in
focus and make it thinner to blur more areas.
The focal range box
shows yellow to blue colors indicating the near and far focal ranges.
To see this representation over your image, click the Visualize Depth box.
Anything in yellow and warm is close to
you and anything blue or cool is reserved for things that are further away.
When you adjust the focal range in this mode, a white overlay will appear
indicating the areas that are currently in focus.
This filter is great at blurring
backgrounds, but it's not so good when it comes to masking or finding edges.
But you can edit the mask and edges by
using the controls in the refined dropdown.
The focus brush will allow you to bring things back into focus; and of course, the
Blur brush will blur anything you paint over.
These brushes are great, but I prefer the complete set of masking tools in Photoshop
to get better edges when blurring the background.
I'm sure you'll love this alternate method.
You've seen it used in this channel several years ago with older blurring
tools, but it works even better with the new Lens Blur.
Let me know what you think in the comments.
Here we are back again with the original image.
For this professional technique to blur
backgrounds in Photoshop, start by duplicating the layer.
You can do so by pressing Control J on Windows.
That's Command J on the Mac.
Make sure you name your layers.
It's a good idea to stay organized.
I'll call this layer Subject because she's my main subject.
Let's start by creating a clean background
plate to have more control and flexibility over this image.
Hide the subject layer by clicking on the
Eye icon and activate the background layer.
Then click the Select Subject button from
the taskbar to create a selection around the main subject.
With the selection active, click on this icon and choose Expand Selection.
We want to create a selection that expands a few pixels from the edges of her body.
This extra space will help avoid ghosting
or edges when we remove her from the background.
In this case, expanding by 10 pixels should work.
Then press OK.
Now you can add or subtract to the selection depending on your needs.
For example, you can enable the Lasso tool and hold Shift to add to the selection.
Then add the shadows to the selection by tracing below her body.
In your image, add anything else you need.
Now you can click on Generative Fill from the taskbar to remove her.
Leave the prompt blank and click on Generate.
Photoshop will use artificial intelligence
to fill this area, removing her from the photo.
From the Properties panel, you can select the variation you like best.
The results are all outstanding, but I think this one works best.
Perfect. Now, activate the Generative Fill layer.
Hold Shift and click on the background layer to activate it as well.
With both layers active, right-click and choose Convert to Smart Object.
Both layers are now inside this Smart
Object, and we can treat it as a single layer.
Best of all, Smart Objects allow you to keep your changes editable.
Again, always name your layers.
Then, hide it by clicking on the eye icon.
Now, let's remove the background from the subject layer.
But before we do that, do me a huge favor.
If you learn anything new in this video, please hit the like button and subscribe.
Click here to enable the visibility and click on it to enable it.
Then from the taskbar, click on the Remove Background button.
Photoshop will again use artificial intelligence to find and select the main
subject, and it will apply a layer mask to hide the background.
Then enable the background layer, and the result should now be the original image.
I know this seems like a lot of work to
end up at the same place, but we now have two layers making up this
photo, giving us tremendous power and control when we blur the background,
reposition the main subject, or make any other adjustments.
Now you can blur the background.
But first, take note of the area in the background that should be in focus.
That's usually the area where your main
subject is standing, in this case, right above the sleeve.
With the background layer active, go into Filter and choose Camera Raw Filter.
From here, open the Lens Blur panel and check the Apply box.
Since there's no subject to select automatically, Photoshop will keep the
center part in focus and blur the rest of the background.
But you can change that by clicking on this target icon and then clicking on the
area where she's standing right around here.
Now, use the Blur Amount Slider to increase the blur.
Then select the Bokeh type.
I like this bubble one the best.
And if you like, use the Boost Slider to make it more intense.
One of the issues with blurring
backgrounds digitally is that the result is often very smooth.
All real photos have a degree of grain or
digital noise, and without it, they can look fake or overly manipulated.
I always recommend adding a little grain
to images created in Photoshop to make them feel more organic.
To do so, go into the Effects Panel and use the slider to add about five or so of
grain, just enough to make your image feel more organic.
Now, press OK to apply the Camera Raw Filter adjustment.
The image looks fantastic.
Now, let's use Photoshop masking tools to create the best edge as possible.
A layer mask allows you to hide or reveal
parts of a layer without permanently erasing them.
Black hides and white reveals, while different shades of gray partially show or
hide, creating varying levels of transparency.
To paint on the mask, first enable it by clicking on it.
Then choose the Brush Tool from the toolbar.
When you paint with white on the subject
layer mask, you will reveal the original images pixels which are in focus.
When you paint with black, you will hide
the original pixels revealing the background below, which is now blurry.
This is why we created a clean plate.
No matter what we hide, we always get the blurry background.
Look at your image and paint with white
over the areas you want to bring back into focus.
If necessary, increase your brush size.
You can tap on the bracket keys to resize
your brush, which you can to the right of the letter P in North American keyboards.
This looks much, much better.
Also, you can double-click on the layer
mask thumbnail to bring up the Select a mask workspace.
From here, set your view to black and
white to make the mask edges easier to see.
Then use the Global Refinement Sliders to improve the mask edges.
In most cases, you probably will need to increase this smoothing to smooth the mask
edges and apply a bit of contrast to sharpen the edge.
Of course, each image will have its
challenges, so experiment with these sliders.
Once you press OK, your changes will apply to the mask.
Also, here's a trick to manually create smoother mask edges.
With black as your foreground color, click once, hold Shift, and click again in
a different area to create a straight line between the two points.
You can now repeat this process and smooth
out the edges that the selected mask didn't remove.
One of the most challenging edges to correct in most masking jobs is hair.
No matter what you do in some cases, it
just won't work, especially when you have long hair up against the busy background.
One of the secrets professionals use is
that if it's too difficult to select, we just ignore it.
Instead, we paint in digital hair, which
looks much better than any mask we could create.
I have a brush I made in a previous tutorial that helps paint hair back in.
You can download it for free on my website.
The link is below in the description.
I'll also share the link to that tutorial
in case you want to find out how it was made.
To add the fly away hair to this image,
create a layer below the subject layer and give it a name.
Then choose the hairbrush you downloaded.
To make things easier to see, enable the
zoom tool from the toolbar, then zoom into her hair.
Now, hold Alt on windows, option on the
Mac, and click over her hair to sample a color that's similar to it.
Now, match the size and angle of her head by resizing the brush.
Tap on the bracket keys to resize and rotate by tapping on the arrow keys.
Then click once to paint.
Repeat this process with a different color
and repeat it as much as your image requires it.
If you need to remove any bad edges added
by the brush, create a layer mask on the hair layer.
Then from the options bar, choose any soft
brush from the general brushes and paint with black to remove any unwanted areas.
Another fantastic reason this blurring background technique offers so much
flexibility is that you're free to move your subject around in case you need room
for copy or to create a better composition.
If you added a hair layer to your image,
you will need to link it to the subject layer so both move together.
To do so, select both layers by holding Shift while clicking on them.
Then from the Layers panel, click on the link icon.
Now from the toolbar, double-click on the hand tool to fit the image to screen.
Then enable the move tool and drag the layer to place it anywhere you like.
Since both layers are linked, they will move together.
One problem I see here is that the shadow below her feet is hidden, so you can make
your foreground color white and paint on the mask to reveal the shadow.
The best thing about this technique is that everything is completely editable.
You can always go back and adjust the Camera Raw Filter by opening the smart
object and double-clicking on the Smart Filter label.
From Camera Raw, you can apply any adjustment, like adding a vignette.
Of course, we can adjust the blur by going
back into the Lens Blur tab and changing the blur amount and the Bokeh type.
Once you press OK, you will see the updated version.
Again, if you learned something new, hit the like button and subscribe.