This is a nice tutorial, and I'm really happy to see that blur can be used to such wonderful effect as you so well demonstrate. I think that too often, blur is ignored as an artistic choice. Too often also, at least in my photos in which I try to use blur, it doesn't come off well. Rather than improving the mood or communication of the photo, it just looks blurry!
I'm a bit confused as to how to begin the actual steps here. Do I make a new layer first (an *overlay* layer)? When I do this, it does not allow me to select any blur, as it says nothing is selected. I'd sure love some help here in the specific steps you take to get the great results that your photos have in the tutorial. Thanks in advance!
In Photoshop it's possible to do this without the new layer, of course at the cost of making it more difficult to "go back".
Simply apply the gaussian blur (I usually use between 4-10 px radius)and then immediately select edit/fade gaussian blur. Set the slider as desired, I usually set between 25% to 40%.
In the first one 'Digital soft focus'
There is a duplicate layer created from the original image, which is then blurred with gaussian blur with about 10 pixel radius. The opacity for this layer is then set at 10% (and you can then vary the values from there)
This effect can be done as kirbic mentions directly to the image, with the difficulty in changing things if you don't like it.
The radius used depends somewhat on the image size, so it pays to play around with it.
The gaussian blur overlay method is similar, except the blending mode of the blurred layer is set to multiply and the blur radius is about 25 pixels in the action I created. This cannot be done directly to the image, without using a layer (I don't think...)
The stepped blur action uses 6 layers, with increasing amounts of blur and decreasing amounts of opacity
The layers are assembled as follows:
radius Opacity
32px 14%
16px 17%
8px 20%
4px 25%
2px 33%
1px 50%
Original Image
I have actions to do these, but don't currently have them available on a site.
Okay, I've tried the first two methods and indeed the blur looks *soft* rather than just *blurry*, so this is a really helpful skill! The third method still kind of baffles me though. Could you pretend I'm a small child and explain the first few steps very carefully?
Okay, I've tried the first two methods and indeed the blur looks *soft* rather than just *blurry*, so this is a really helpful skill! The third method still kind of baffles me though. Could you pretend I'm a small child and explain the first few steps very carefully?
It is based on a fairly technical article I read once about how the eye really sees, so ends up being a bit complicated.
Take a picture
Make 6 copies
from the top to the bottom
Blur the first one with a 32px radius gaussian blur, and set the opacity at 14%
Blur the second one with a 16 px radius gaussian , and set the opacity to 17%
The idea is that the really blurry bits (32px radius) contribute only a small amount to the final image(14%), and the really not very blurry bits (the 1px) contribute the most to the blur(50%). So you end up with a blur that gets increasingly softer and more blurry. The ordering of the layers is I think not important, but I can't remember off hand. I wouldn't think it would be because the blend modes are all 'normal'
