Part 2. How to do the Fast DOF fix in Photoshop.
1.Start with the photo in question.
2.Make a duplicate layer. Here is what we see at this point
3. Choose the Lens Blur Filter as see here
4. Then choose the amount of blur you want. In other words pick the blur that looks best for the part of the photo that you want most out of focus.
Here is what we see on our return from using the filter:
Very ugly!
5. Now add a layer mask as shown:
6. Now everything looks the way it did before we used the lens blur filter.
7. Choose the Gradient tool as shown and choose black to white gradient as shown in this screen shot.
8. Starting at the left middle of the photo drag the tool all the away across the middle to the other side and release the mouse button. You will now see this:
So what just happened. Well you added a blur layer, and then you put a layer mask over it. That made it appear to do nothing. Now if you paint on a layer mask with a white brush it shows the full effect of whatever filter you've applied to that layer. If you paint with black it shows nothing and thus you see the background layer. Well if you use a shade of gray, then you see a partial revealling of what is there. Since we used a black to white gradient then where it is blacker, we see less of an effect of the blur and where it is whiter we see a greater effect of the blur.
9. Now since we have also passed over the subject when we drew our gradient across the photo, we need to make sure that the mask has solid black whereever the subject (girl in red) is in the photo. So now we take a black brush and we paint over the girl in this case which makes sure the mask over her is black and shows her from the background layer. Here is a screen shot of what the mask looks like now:
Notice the solid black areas in the mask where I've painted over the girl to make her in sharp focus. I had skipped that step in my original before and after.
Well that's it. It takes about 30 seconds to do all this once you've done it a few times and it is easy and works pretty well. Naturally its still easier to do it in the camera and you'll get better results in most cases.
Cheers,
rfs