Lens Blur and Depth Map

Remember the Gaussian Blur? It is in photohshop for a long time. A new addition in later editions of Photoshop CS is the Lens Blur. The Gaussian Blur has its uses, but Lens Blur givesmore leeway. Learn to create a Depth Map. You can use it to keep something in focus selectively and blur the background.I will be using this free stock image which you will find hereIt belongs to jessangel2003This is the effect I will be aiming for.Step 1 : Press CTRL+J to duplicate the Background Layer to Layer 1.Step 2 : Switch over from the Layers palette to the Channels pallete and click the Add New Channel button at the bottom.Step 3 : An Alpha 1 Channel...

Read More

Pastel Look

A soft pastel look is liked very much by some. You can apply it as a special effect to your images. You just need to use some layers, Curves and Gaussian Blur and a thing or two to achieve this effect in Photoshop.Step 1 : I will be using this free stock image, which you will find hereIt belongs to *Storms-StockThis is the effect I will create.Step 2 : Press CTRL+J to duplicate the Background Layer to Layer 1. Press CTRL+SHIFT+U to desaturate Layer1.Step 3 : The image is desaturated.Step 4 : Click the Add New Fill or Adjustment Layer button.Step 5 : Click on Curves from the pop up menu.Step 6 : The Curves 1 Layer forms. The Curves...

Read More