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New to photoshop, After some guidance and hopefully a solution to a crisis lol.


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Hello people! New to photoshop and after some advice and a clear solution to a issue I am having. Here it is I am trying to get a specific look to my images I am trying to achieve a background blur and in some cases blur out specific parts also, I have learned the basics of this via youtube but still struggling I am into mainly pet photography but only minor mainly bulldogs and I'm trying to get my dogs noticed but getting lost in the noise because other people have photoshop down to T. Mainly blur and some stretching to make body parts more prominent, I can post photos up hopefully will get some people chiming in here to help. Much appreciated people. regards Curtis. Oh also I have photoshop elements 15 and a canon 100D. :cheesygrin:
 
Welcome to PSG.

To add to what Sam said, you really need to post an example or two of pictures you have taken that you want to re-touch, as well as a couple of "goal" examples, ie, examples of what you would like your pix to look like.

Also, you didn't mention either the lens(es) that you use, your typical lighting setup, whether or not these are indoor studio type shots or outdoor, action or posed, etc. etc.. These things are almost always much more important than the camera body, so long as the body meets minimum requirements for speed and accuracy of autofocusing and shutter delay. These days, the number of pixels is almost a non-issue -- most cameras will do just fine with respect to this.

Finally, you have to realize that Elements is a seriously watered-down version of the full version of Photoshop and is limited in what it can do. These limitations might impact what you want to do with your pix. "Elements" is so watered down that, as far as I know, only a relatively small fraction of the regulars on PhotoshopGurus even own Elements (... e.g., I don't...). So, depending on exactly what you need to do, and if you are serious about such work, you might have to bite the bullet and learn the full version of PS.

Again, welcome! We look forward to hearing from you.

Tom M
 
Cheers sam, Yeah tom i get that sorry for not providing enough information.. its natural light I'm using and outdoor images, my camera lense is efs 18-55 on a canon eos 100d.. If i need the other Photoshop i will also purchase that :) however i can achieve a decent photo in comparison to the other guys just not the blur or exaggeration on some limbs etc.. i will be quick uploading examples as soon as i log in on my phone, again thanks for the responses once i figure out how to login on another device i will be sorted lol..
 
Thanks for the photos.

Is photo distortion a common practice in Bulldog photography?
 
IamSam said:
Thanks for the photos.

Is photo distortion a common practice in Bulldog photography?
Click to expand...

Now yes before not so much, But lately the bigger kennel names are messing with Photoshop and getting better images i am on resizing the images i have myself so you can see a comparison all my dogs are down from there dogs, Either grandson or Daughter. Thanks for the help
 
Ok, next question just so I'm clear, these are example photos and not yours right? If so, post one of your photos that you would like to appear as the ones above and let's see if we can get you some help. I will add though, most of us are using Photoshop and not Elements so our help or solutions may not translate with PSE.

EDIT: you posted while I was typing!
 
omen copy 1.jpg Heres another, Thanks for the help Sam see my images are decent enough but with this type of editing I'm getting completely lost, i understand it probably isn't great distorting the image to that degree but that's what's getting recognition..
 
Once you understand layers and layer masks, we can work on the first (of many) effect and that's adding a blurred background.

We start by making two copies of the original.
Turn the original image layer off.

The first copy layer we will leave alone.
Screen Shot 2017-02-07 at 4.16.26 PM.png

The second copy layer (top or uppermost layer) we will add a Gaussian blur.
Screen Shot 2017-02-07 at 4.16.47 PM.png

We then add a reveal all layer mask (white) to the second copy layer.
Click on the layer mask to select and use the Brush Tool with a low setting and set to black as the foreground color to mask the dog and leash.

What we are essentially doing is erasing the blur of the second copy layer and allowing the non-blurred/normal layer to show through.
Screen Shot 2017-02-07 at 4.18.10 PM.png

Here is what the masked second copy layer looks like with the first copy layer turned off.
Screen Shot 2017-02-07 at 4.18.23 PM.png

Here is the layers panel.
Screen Shot 2017-02-07 at 4.19.00 PM.png
 
You can even include some of the foreground grass in the layer mask.
Screen Shot 2017-02-07 at 7.02.11 PM.png

Here's another view of the layer mask.
Screen Shot 2017-02-07 at 7.02.47 PM.png
 
IamSam said:
You can even include some of the foreground grass in the layer mask.
View attachment 71478

Here's another view of the layer mask.
View attachment 71479
Click to expand...

Thanks Sam for the step by step.. I had a go last night after watching some tutorials but still struggled to fully understand the concept it is more clear now. Let me get this stage correct and I will get back to this thread asap. I understand the layer mask concept a lot more now that you have included the dog .
 
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