Add Depth of Field to Your Photos
One mark of a professionally created photo is depth of field - a blending of in-focus and out-of-focus areas that is usually produced with fancy lenses and special camera settings. In the past, creating depth of field in your digital photos required a long, tricky process. Now, however, Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo XI lets you create this professional look in only a few minutes.
What you'll need
- Corel® Paint Shop Pro® Photo XI
- Sample image PSPPXI_03.jpg (download)
When you complete this tutorial, you'll be able to
- Use the Organizer to open a photo
- Add depth of field to your photos
Open the photo
- Download the PSPPXI_03 image, and save it in your My Pictures folder.
- Once you have the image saved, begin typing the file name PSPPXI_03 in the search box at the top of the Organizer. Your collection of image files is automatically filtered.
- Once you find the sample image, double-click the photo to open it in the workspace.
Open the Depth of Field Dialog Box
- On the Learning Center palette, click Adjust, and then click Advanced Adjustments. Next, click Depth of Field.The Depth of Field dialog box appears.
- At the top of the dialog box, you'll see the original photo (Before) and the photo with the depth of field applied (After).
Select Your Area of Focus
- In the Area of focus section of the dialog box, click the Circular Selection Tool button.
- In the Before pane, click between the puppy's eyes, right above his nose. Drag to create a circle that just touches the inside of his ears and is right below his mouth.
Set Blur & Aperture Shape
- Now, you need to adjust the Blur slider. For this example, we set the Blur control at 18. The higher you set the control, the blurrier your background will be.
- In the Aperture shape section, click the Circular Aperture Shape button.
Adjust Area of Focus
- In the Area of focus section of the dialog box, choose the following settings:
- Feather Edge: 25
- Focus Range: 0
- Click OK.