Comments on: Creating Faux Bokeh Backgrounds in Photoshop Tutorial

By: StevenJLewis

StevenJLewis — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:30:45 +0000

Dee
in Elements: add a Levels adjustment layer between the background layer and its copy (don’t adjust it, just hit OK). Select the copy layer and use Ctrl/G: shortcut for Layer/Group with Previous. Now paint black (un-do with white) in the Levels layer and that imitates the full Photoshop solution. (Add a blue layer, as in this exercise, to see the effect). You can also use shades of grey to determine how much shows through. Hope that helps and I’ve explained well enough, Steve

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:25:18 +0000

@Dee: I’m afraid I’m not very well versed with Elements. However, you could definitely do everything that I’ve done here in Elements (although I’m not sure about layer masks). You’d just have to look up how to do the equivalent in Elements for each step that you were unsure of. Sorry I couldn’t help you more!

By: Dee

Dee — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:48:16 +0000

Hi,

This looks cool but how do you do it in Photoshop Elements?

Thanks for sharing your talent!

By: browserFruits: Foto News, Updates & Links | Digitale Fotografie Lernen - KWERFELDEIN - Martin Gommel

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 06:02:10 +0000

[...] # Ein gutes Bokeh (Unschärfe im Hintergrund) kann man ja bekanntlich nicht faken, egal wie gut man in Photoshop ist. Diese Technik ist aber meiner Meinung nach die Lösung, welche relativ nah dran kommt. [...]

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:25:20 +0000

@Jimbo: So true, thanks, Jimbo!

By: Jimbo

Jimbo — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:23:58 +0000

When you do the bit with select colour range, the quick way to turn the layer mask into a selection is just to command/ctrl click the layer mask thumbnail – either in the channels panel or in the layers panel. Only saves ten seconds or so, but it all adds up…

By: Joakim Bergquist

Joakim Bergquist — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 21:33:30 +0000

Great tutorial and a great way of doing it… I usualy use lasso tool + blur tool to achieve this.. but your way is far more pro.

By: Miss Cherie

Miss Cherie — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:34:49 +0000

Thank you so much! Now I’ve learnt about layer masks too. I did it in Gimp and step 10-11 didn’t work very well for me so I just skipped them, but the picture turned out great anyway! =)

By: Mājas lapu izstrāde un grafiskais dizains

Mājas lapu izstrāde un grafiskais dizains — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 19:01:44 +0000

Super amazing, thanks !!!

By: Aeltari

Aeltari — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:28:07 +0000

Stephanie this is so nice. I really wish I could follow this tutorial but Im stuck with Elements, and as soon as ANY tutorial starts talking about layer masks, I cant continue. :(

By: Charlotte.

Charlotte. — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:12:03 +0000

hi
i need help.
i can’t do step two i cant find mask, i have photoshop elements 6 and i cannot find that button :(
help !
xxx

By: Charlotte.

Charlotte. — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 23:02:38 +0000

simply amazing :)

By: Best of Photoshop May 2009 — Gurus Unleashed

Best of Photoshop May 2009 — Gurus Unleashed — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:21:36 +0000

[...] can’t afford Alien Skin’s plug-in this nifty tutorial at Obsidian Dawn will show you how to create bokeh background effects without a plugin. onOne Software is giving away a new Lite version of PhotoTools 2 Standard Edition [...]

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:20:17 +0000

@gearcy: Awesome! Glad to hear it – and thanks so much for sharing your great idea! :)

By: gearcy

gearcy — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:56:25 +0000

Great tutorial! I didn’t even know what Bokeh was before this.

One additional suggestion: if the subject is in the center, you may want to try a radial blur (zoom) to give the impression of motion.

I’ve also applied this after the Boken brushes with good effect.

One of the marks of a great tutorial is that it gets the reader thinking about other things that can be done with this as a starting point. This one certainly did that! Thanks.