Faking It!

In case you haven't kept up, I don't have a ton of fancy camera equipment and software.

I rambled on about those issues in my Before & After edition.

Sooo, because I don't have the photography world at my disposal I've had to find a few clever ways to Fake It.

One thing that I've been trying to learn how to do is duplicate the fabulous photos I've seen where most of the photo is blurry but just one tiny part of the subject is in focus.  I know that look can usually be achieved thru the proper aperture settings and focal point manuevers.  But "proper" is not a word that is often associated with me and my camera abilities!  Usually it's not until I open the photo in elements that I realize I should've done that...or this...or maybe even all those other things:)  Get my point?  

So I've been doing some experimenting with blurring out parts of the photo to keep the main focus...in focus!

Here's a quick run-down of what I've attempted so far...

1.  This is my original...I like the composition but wish just the face was the focus and the rest not as sharp.

2. I duplicated the original photo to put it on a separate layer above the Background layer. Then I blurred the whole photo. I clicked Filter - Blur - Gaussian Blur at about 8 px. Here's the screen shot...

3. Now the whole photo is blurry so I need to unblur the parts that I want to focus on...

First I chose my Eraser tool and picked a small airbrush round brush. (you can also add a layer mask for flexibility)

Then I made sure my Background Copy layer was highlighted.

Then I started to erase the parts of the blurry layer revealing the sharp layer underneath.

I lightly erased most of the face and a little bit of the hand and top of fence.

Here's my screenshot showing you what my Layers Palette looks like...notice his face is pixeled out in the Background Copy.

4. That's more of what I was looking for. Just that subtle blur of everything but his pretty little face makes me happy!

Next I cropped the photo to put his head in the top left 1/3 of the photo. Then I did a little color correction and added some textures and actions from FloraBella, Kaleidoscope & Coffeeshop. Here's what I ended up with. I like it.

I tried the same technique on this photo...here's the original with almost everything in focus...it's a gorgeous photo...

...but I have major issues...I MUST mess with perfectly good photos! Here's the end result after I blurred out everything but her right eye...

So tell me what you think!! And if you have any brilliant techniques for achieving this look please let me know!