Tutorial 3
Lauren scott uses the adjustment brush to make subjects stand out. All shots with an unimportant background can benefit from this trick
Enhance a blurred backdrop by using the adjustment brush
Longer focal lengths, wide apertures and close camera-tosubject distances all compress the backgrounds of your scenes. However, it’s not always possible to blur backgrounds in-camera. For example, you might not have the right focal length lens available, and it might not be possible to set a wide aperture because at the longer end it’s only f/6.3.
In this tutorial we’ll show you how to blur the background at the editing stage – think of it as an emergency rescue, rather than a failsafe approach. The technique is best applied to images where a busy background detracts from your main subject – it works particularly well for wildlife or portrait shots. Blurring the background is a good way to make subjects pop out and eliminate unattractive or simply unimportant details.
Our kingfisher shot was taken on a 17-40mm lens, with an aperture of f/5.6. While the background was already out of focus, there was more we could do to make the bird pop out from the foliage behind.