How to blur the background in Photoshop. How to make a blurry background in a photo

Hi all. Sergey is in touch.

If you have some beautiful photos and want to blur the background in Photoshop to shift the focus on a certain object or person, then this instruction will definitely help you. I will be making the background blurry in one of my photos. Repeat after me and you will succeed!

Blurring the background in Photoshop

Let's launch Photoshop. Click the File – Open menu and select a photo on your computer whose background you want to blur.

I chose this wonderful photo:

The next step is to select a selection tool. One of the best is Pero. But selecting an object with them is difficult, and to speed up the process I will use the Magnetic Lasso tool.

Select the tool and begin to select an object that will not need to be blurred in the future. By using Magnetic lasso you need to click in the place of the object where it borders with the background, for example, in the head area. A point is created and we begin to circle people.

So we need to completely select the object. We move the mouse around these people and the tool automatically creates points. If suddenly it messes up somewhere, then we can manually create a point by clicking the left mouse button or delete the extra one by pressing Delete on the keyboard.

After we select the object, I suggest immediately adjusting it a little. Click on the menu Image – Correction – Levels.

In the new window, move the left slider 2–15 points to the right, and move the right slider to the left by 2–15 points, depending on the photo.

At the moment, we have these little men highlighted. But since we will blur the background, we need to highlight nature. Therefore, click on the menu Select – Invert.

That's all! The background is now selected.

To blur the background in Photoshop you need to use filters. Click on the menu Filter – Blur – Gaussian blur.

In the window that opens, set the radius. We put it around the number 7. The main thing is not to overdo it, otherwise the photo will not turn out natural. In general, increase the radius and immediately see the end result. Look how much the background blurs.

At the moment I got it like this:

But that is not all. Some amendments still need to be made here. Let's take the Loupe tool and zoom in on the photo. You need to pay attention to the border where the person ends and the blurred background begins. There may be untreated areas like this:

It is very easy to fix such small mistakes. Select the Blur tool and drag several times over the area that remains unblurred.

Perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions among beginning photographers is: “How to make a blurry background?” .

Why do we need a blurred background in a photograph? Firstly, it allows the viewer to focus on the main subject. Secondly, blurring the background can mask an unpleasant background and remove unnecessary details from the frame.

Let's look at 2 ways to blur the background:

1. A technical way to blur the background.

Background blur is a fashionable feature of DSLR digital cameras. This is the easiest and simplest way. To get a blurred background you just need to shoot at the widest aperture.

Find the aperture symbol “A” or “Av” on the camera roller and set the required aperture number (depending on the type of lens), then point the lens at the subject and press the shutter button. Look at the result. If the background is too blurry, reduce the aperture value. Using ideas for an outdoor photo shoot in the summer, you can use various techniques to achieve this effect.

What to do if you don’t have a SLR camera, but only a simple point-and-shoot camera? Of course you can find out How to choose a digital camera. Here, of course, everything is much more complicated, because such cameras are already configured to sharpen the background and foreground. But if the point-and-shoot camera has creative shooting modes, then you can try shooting in “portrait” or “macro” mode. These modes allow you to focus on the foreground while slightly blurring the background.

2. A graphical way to blur the background.

Photoshop is our indispensable assistant in this difficult matter.

Other materials where you can learn how to make a blurred background in a photo

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The course included 28 lessons with a total duration of 6 hours 2 minutes.

Good day, dear readers! I am glad to present to your attention another lesson on the GIMP editor, from which you will learn to create blurred background effect in a photo.

Of course everyone likes it photos with blurred background. What is the appeal of such shots? But the fact is that with the help of blur we remove all the excess garbage that clogs photo background and only the main subject we are photographing remains sharp. Take a look at these shots.

Or, for example, when photographing some dish

Such photographs reek of “professionalism.”

How to make such a blurry background?

Create silence..., now I will tell you the terrible secret of the recipe for such a shot. You will need:

1) A good camera, mostly a DSLR with interchangeable lenses, for example the budget version Canon 1100d

2) A lens with a large aperture, for example, if you have a Canon camera (like me), 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, or even better to 1.8

5) Filming...

Here's an example recipe for getting a blurred background in an image. But if finances do not allow you, then we can get remotely closer to the blurred background using processing in graphic editors, such as photoshop and gimp. Thanks to the built-in tools in the editor, we can make the background of a regular photo taken on a regular digital compact camera, the so-called “point-and-shoot” camera, appear blurrier.

And how this is done, we will now learn from today's lesson.

Step 1. Open the original photo in the editor

Step 2. The next step is to highlight 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” (as in Photoshop). After this, carefully outline the object. The more checkpoints you set, the better.

Step 3. While the selection is active, create a copy of the original photo through the “Layer – Make a copy” menu or by clicking on the “Make a copy of layer” icon

Step 4. Now you need to right-click on the top layer and select “Add alpha channel” from the context menu that opens.

After this, 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 layer below again and remove the selection using “Select - Remove”

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.

Help: This value depends on the original photo. The higher the resolution (photo size), the larger the entered 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 achieve the desired effect. For example, I set the value to 80.

So, in a few simple steps, we got a sharp object, which now focuses the main attention of our viewer.

Soon I plan to tell you friends about the creation of more realistic background blur using additional. If you don’t want to miss the release of this lesson, I recommend it.

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!

Best regards, Anton Lapshin!

Little BONUS:

Unfortunately, ordinary compacts and smartphones most often do not know how to create beautiful bokeh. This is explained by the fact that such devices have a smaller matrix built in. What should owners of budget cameras do? We can recommend that they use Photoshop, where making a blurred background is not difficult. All you need is appropriate practice, which you will now receive.
How to blur the background in Photoshop?

First, you need to clarify that not every photo is suitable for blurring the background. It is best to choose a photo in which the person’s legs are not visible, as are nearby objects. In our case, the person is standing against the background of the forest; this frame is ideal for processing. If there was also a bush or tree in the foreground of the photograph, then great difficulties would arise.

You should immediately remember that the desired effect is achieved using the Gaussian Blur function. If you apply it to any photo, you will get the impression that the photographer forgot to focus his camera. But we need to understand how to blur the background in Photoshop, not the entire image. Therefore, you should initially select the object that remains in the sharpness zone. There are several ways to do this. The easiest one is to use the Magnetic Lasso tool. If you already know how to use it (in one of the previous lessons we talked in detail about its work) - this is very good. If you don’t have enough skills, you’ll have to work hard. But in this lesson we will only briefly touch on this method. First of all, it’s worth talking about how you can get a blurred background using a mask. This is difficult for a beginner, but the result is impressive. It may take you 15-20 minutes to process one photo.
Blurred background in Photoshop CS5

First you need to create a copy of the existing layer. This is done in the Layers panel. Just open this palette and press Ctrl+J. You can also drag the “Background” layer onto the “Create New Layer” button. This will also cause a copy of it to appear.

Select black color and then go to the Brush tool. Set the hardness to 20%. The diameter depends on the resolution of your photo and the size of the person. When the diameter suits you, start drawing in black on the subject.

Gradually you need to make the entire figure of a person sharp. It's okay if you go slightly beyond its edges. At any time you can press the Latin key X. This will change the color from black to white. Now all that remains is to brush over those places that accidentally became sharp. The filter action will be applied to them immediately.

Most of the work is ready: we have already succeeded in making a blurred background in Photoshop. But there is now a kind of halo around a person with its blurred outline. We need to get rid of him. To do this, use the Stamp tool.

Merge both layers into one. To do this, follow the path “Layers - Flatten”. The background layer needs to be unlocked. To do this, double-click on it in the Layers panel and give it a name. Next, use the Stamp tool. Set the pressure to 10%. All that remains is to remove all existing artifacts. You should already know how to work with this tool. If this is not the case, then Photoshop will explain everything to you. In short, this tool copies one area of ​​the image to another location. The area to be copied is selected by pressing the Alt key and the left mouse button. Then click next to the outline of the person so that a stamp appears on it in the form of a copied circle. Don't forget to adjust the diameter of the brush, otherwise you risk getting too much on the person's figure or taking too long.

The end result is a pretty good image. Some may have the impression that it was obtained using a good lens and a DSLR camera. But in fact, all you have to do is look closely and some artifacts will become noticeable. Only very painstaking photo processing, which sometimes takes an hour, will help you get rid of them. This is why experienced photographers use high-quality, fast optics. It is better to spend a decent amount, but then save a lot of time.

As for the second method of blurring the background in Photoshop, it is very similar to the first. A copy of the background layer is also created, and the unlocked background layer is blurred using the above method. Then you should go to the top layer and select the person in any way convenient. The most commonly used tool for this is the Magnetic Lasso tool. Then all that remains is to invert the selection and enjoy the result. This is also how you can blur the background in Photoshop CS6 and later versions of the graphics editor.

This concludes our lesson. Today you've learned another useful skill that you can then apply to almost any portrait shot. Now you know how to blur the background in Photoshop, which should only make your photos better.

A blurred background in Photoshop is used to highlight the main object in the photo and smooth out unnecessary details in the background. This is a natural effect that can be observed, even with your own eyes. When focusing your vision on a near object, distant ones will be blurry.

It is best to do this effect when shooting. If you set the aperture priority on a DSLR camera and set the smallest number possible, the background will be blurred and no additional action will be required. Unfortunately, cameras in mobile phones are small and cannot blur the background significantly like professional cameras.

And if you don’t have a SLR camera or the picture was already taken with different settings, then this can be corrected in Adobe Photoshop CC. Blur filters, for example, when you need to simulate the movement of an object, highlight the center of a photo, or write text on a photo.

Many tutorials on the Internet on this topic describe methods in which you need to manually wipe the edges of a blurred object. This requires additional time, and the quality of the image may deteriorate. In this lesson, I will talk about how make a blurred background correctly, without wiping anything or adding anything to the photo.

To blur the background behind an object, you must select it. Some people prefer to first blur the duplicate layer, and then use a layer mask to draw the main object. But it's best to first select the main object and then apply blur filters.

In which photos can you blur the background?

Almost everyone. The only question is the processing time. A photograph of a giraffe has two planes, foreground and background. They blurred the background, left the giraffe and that was it. Most photos have two scenes; if there are more of them or there are no clear boundaries between them, then processing will take longer.

When there are several objects in the photo at different distances, you need to select them separately and apply different blur strengths.

As you can see in the picture above, the task has become even more difficult. The animal stands on a plane, the sharpness under it should be the same as on it. And then gradually disappear and at the farthest point have maximum blur. How to do this in practice?

Blurred background for a complex scene

For example, let's take a photo of a bison. His feet touch the ground, and a fence can be seen in the background. Here you need to use a smooth flow of blur from zero value to maximum.

First, we select the bison with any convenient tool. In this situation, you can use the Magnetic Lasso or use a selection with a layer mask.

After selection, check that nothing unnecessary is captured. For example, a piece of grass may stick to its legs or face.

Just as in the description above, invert the selection, move it to a separate layer (CTRL + J) and reload the selection by clicking on the layer thumbnail with the CTRL key.

Apply Gaussian Blur or Shallow Depth of Field Blur. I chose the second option and set the maximum radius value.

Now, all this looks unnatural and it seems that the animal is cut off from the background. Let's place it on the ground, reducing the transparency of the blur to zero and gradually increasing it towards the horizon.

To do this, turn on the layer mask for the blurred background and grab the black to white gradient blend tool.

Draw the flow direction as shown in the screenshot below.

Now the photo looks natural.

So, let's summarize briefly. First, use the correct selection method to blur the background so you don't have to do any extra work. Secondly, use a “depth of field” filter to make it more realistic. And use additional techniques for difficult scenes.

VIDEO LESSON: How to make a blurred background in a photo

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