Editing advice required.

[King_Boru]

Hey everyone,

I was snapping tonight while my partner blew some bubbles at my baby girl and these two came up. I really wanted to go outside but it was too windy. Basically I want to make the background less destracting/changing it. I have tried many times and cant come up with anything. Does anyone know of a way to blur it out without destroying the focal points (bubbles/baby)?

Would be much appreciated.

http://www.homepage.mac.com/dannyhurley/.Pictures/E1.jpg

http://www.homepage.mac.com/dannyhurley/.Pictures/E2.jpg

Cheers,

King.

EDIT: I WANT MY OWN STUDIO!

[CT]

I don't think there's any way to do this which doesn't involve a lot of tedious manual mouse or pen work work and you'll have to to work very precisely and carefully. I like the shots so it's probably worth the effort if you really want to do the work.

I think I'd...

Duplicate the image.
Blur the **** out of Copy 1 with Gaussian Blur or similar.
Paste Copy 2 over Copy 1 as a new layer.
Select the eraser tool and carefully erase the unwanted bits of Copy 1. Experiment with the best size for the eraser tool and the best opacity. When it looks right - save frequently as you work and walk away from it when you've had enough. Work zoomed in large.

Flatten when complete.

As an alternative to duping the image, you could of course just use a different background.

Good luck - do post a result. :)

[oldgit]

... bit like this..??

Mostly like CT said.
- duplicate 2x
-- bubble selected with magnetic lasso. Mask. Saturation->posterize colour.
-- child.. rough selection with magnetic lasso->quick mask-> fettle. Mask -> Gauss blur on mask 3px (softens edges). Sharpen whats masked using USM.
- gauss blurr background 16px :thinking:
- flatten.
TADA

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/gallery/data/825/E2.jpg

[King_Boru]

Definately give that a go. Will have to wait till tomorrow as I have wedding to cover from 1300 today. :-)

Cheers Guys.

King.

[Shorn]

That bit of PP is great.
How did the wedding go ?

[photo-edits]

The pen tool, it's the only way.

http://www.photo-edits.com/pictures/bubbles.jpg

fast and easy going on the PC. :thumbs:

Sorry forgot to mention -

Love the BW conversion.