Hello everyone this is Chris from Spoon Graphics
back with another video tutorial for Adobe Photoshop.
Today I'm going to show you a useful technique for adding a realistic shallow depth of field
effect to your photos.
We'll use a Depth Map to indicate which areas need to be blurred and by how much.
This method gives you complete control over the effect, which makes it ideal for all kinds
of photographs, no matter the perspective, or complexity of the background.
In a previous tutorial I showed a technique to create a shallow depth of field effect
that involved cutting out the subject, then applying a blur filter to the background.
That process is perfect for images with a background that cleanly recedes into the distance,
but sometimes the scene is littered with other objects that may need to be blurred by different
amounts to represent their distance from the camera.
This is where a Depth Map comes in handy. By defining the sections of the image in grayscale
tones, you can blur some areas more than others.
I'll be using this free photo by Cameron Stewart as an example. You can see the natural focus
depth of the image which keeps the subject in focus, then gradually blurs into the background.
We'll create a depth map to exaggerate this.
Choose the Quick Selection tool and draw a mask around the areas of the photo that are
the closest to the camera that are in clear focus, this includes the main subject and
the rocks she's standing on.
Make sure you capture every detail around the outline. If you go too far, hold the ALT
key while painting to remove the area from the selection.
Add a new layer, then fill this selection with white using the CMD (or CTRL key on Windows)
and Backspace shortcut.
Go to Select > Deselect to clear this selection.
The landscape beyond the subject gradually recedes into the distance. Add a new layer
and drag it below the selection of the main subject.
Select the Gradient tool, then make sure the gradient settings flow from black to white.
Drag a gradient from the horizon down to the subject, ensuring that the area the farthest
away is black and the area closest is white.
The grayscale gradient inbetween will result in this area being blurred more and more as
the tone gets darker.
Add a new layer, then swap the foreground and background colours around. Change the
gradient preset to white that fades to transparency.
Drag a shorter gradient that lightens top of the image so the depth map is darkest at
the horizon.
In this particular photograph the tree branches towards the top of the image are close to
the camera, so they shouldn't be blurred as part of the grayscale gradient.
Since they're pretty clearly defined against the background, the Channels selection method
is the easiest way to select them.
Turn off the visibility of the gradient layers so the tree branches are visible.
Toggle through the Red, Green and Blue channels within the Channel panel to find the one with
the highest control. Drag this layer onto the New icon to make a copy.
Use the CMD+L shortcut to open the Levels, then adjust the sliders to make the leaves
black and sky background pure white.
Draw around the rest of the image with the Polygonal Lasso tool and fill the area with
white.
Hold the CMD key and click on the thumbnail of this new channel to load a selection of
the branches.
Click the RGB Channel again to activate it, then head back to the Layers panel.
Bring back to the visibility of the hidden layers, then add a new layer above them,
Go to Select > Inverse to flip the selection, then fill this area with white, which will
prevent any blur effect being added, since these branches area in the foreground so they
will still be in focus.
Shift and click all the grayscale layers to select them all, then press CMD+G to create
a Group.
Give it a quick name to keep things tidy.
We need to create a snapshot of this grayscale image, so head over to the Channel panel,
then duplicate any channel by dragging it over the 'New' icon. Give it a recognisable
name, such as Depth Map.
Activate the main RGB channel again, then head back to the Layers panel and hide the
Group of grayscale layers, leaving the original photograph.
Make a duplicate of the background photo layer to save a copy of the original, then to go
Filter > Blur > Lens Blur.
Change the Depth Map Source setting to the channel we created and named Depth Map, then
max out the radius to completely blur the out of focus areas.
The depth map is currently applying maximum blurring to the white areas, so check the
Invert button so the blurring is applied to the darker tones.
You can see the background is completely out of focus, but the areas closer to the camera
are blurred less, leaving the subject crisp and clear.
Whilst keeping the background in focus might be better suited to a photograph with such
beautiful scenery as this, the shallow depth of field effect can really enhance images
where you want to draw attention to the main subject.
The use of a Depth Map gives you complete control over which areas should be in focus,
for those complex images that might have items are different depths within the scene.
So if you enjoyed this tutorial or learnt any new tricks, a thumbs up to help spread
the word would be really appreciated.
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Thank you very much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.