Semi Out of Focus Imaging

[Kelz1990]

Hi All,

I am in need of some hints/tips.

One of my partner's band members have asked me to help them with producing some photos for their solo album cover. They are wanting:

"either a semi out of focus backgorund with me in focus on stage or me sitting on a bench playing my gutiar in focus with everyone walking past out of focus"

Is anyone able to advise how I would go about doing something like this, either through my camera itself (Nikon D3100) or through GIMP, as I don't have Photoshop as yet.

Any and all help/tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

[ameerat42]

Hmm! Thinking cap material!!!:scrtch:
Stay tuned until I get more than just a few vague :lightbulb: s
I'm trying to think of something simple.
Am.:rolleyes:

[Kelz1990]

Thanks Ameerat. I will stay tuned

[William]

Well if you sit still enough while the shot is being taken, get everyone to walk past you at a fast walk , Then focus on you and use a slow shutter speed , Bit of trial and error and you should nail it :) Easy Peasy !!

[ameerat42]

^(nodding in agreement.)
The people would have to be behind your friend. If they were in front, there might be a bit of ghosting from his still image.
Other methods would involve PP, using layers. You'd take two shots: one of him with a dark background, the other of the passers-by, lit as
you want them. You'd then blend the two shots so that the others would fill in the background and leave your friend clearly isolated.
You could use a faster exposure time for your friend in his shot.
(Back to head-scratching).
Am.

[William]

I agree AM, Re : The blending of two shots , But I'm thinking the OP has limited PP skills , Mine was the easy way out :th3:

[Kelz1990]

Thanks both :)
What's PP?
Something easy would probably be best
Hopefully I can manage to get the shots that Ash wants for his album cover :S

[William]

"Post Processing" :) Processing the shot out of Camera in a Program like Photoshop or Gimp etc

[Kelz1990]

Thanks William :), greatly appreciated.

[ameerat42]

Yes, W. I only mentioned it because Kelz mentioned GIMP. I agree it is involved, but Kelz, you might be up to it. You could practise on simpler shots.
Am.

[Kelz1990]

I shall get some practice in with photos and GIMP before the weekend when I am meant to be getting the shots for Ash.

[ricktas]

My honest opinion! As a beginner you should not be taking these photos! You should be thanking them but declining!

[Kelz1990]

Thanks Ricktas. When he first approached me I did decline, now he's asked a couple of months later as he hasn't been able to find someone else to do it.

[rackham]

Shoot with a wide open aperture.

... is anyone else reminded of those band shirts from Almost Famous or is it just me?

[Kelz1990]

Thanks Rackham :)

[ricktas]

Thanks Ricktas. When he first approached me I did decline, now he's asked a couple of months later as he hasn't been able to find someone else to do it.

OK. so what he is really saying is he cannot find anyone else who is FREE or CHEAP. All he needs to do is open the yellow pages for professional photographers in the area and would find heaps

But Good luck with it and I do hope you get the images he wants. Though have you thought what happens if he dislikes the results? Doing 'favours' for friends is fraught with issues.

[Kelz1990]

I understand what your saying Ricktas and I appreciate what you are saying. I'm sure he has looked through the Yellow Pages etc. I'll try and decline it again but I don't like my chances of getting out of it.

Maybe once I get through with the studies Im soon to undertake, things like this should hopefully become easier. Just a matter of practice right?

[mpb]

My question is do you want blurred or out of focus people. Blurred = large aperture, as per 'rackhams suggestion' say 1.7 or 2.8 depending on distances to the subject and the people/background, the people will need to be either some distance in front or behind the focused subject.

For blurred people = slow shutter speed as per 'william' above.

Merging two shots may be easier.

[Kelz1990]

Thanks mpb, Ash (my partner's band member) suggested the blurred people in the background. His other suggestion was to get a photo of him on stage, which I have done before, but the place where he does his open mic gigs has really bad lighting around the stage area, so I think thats why he's opted for the out of focus people in the background to go with something different than what I have done for him before.

I will discuss it with him further tonight and perhaps we can come up with something together that I feel more comfortable doing at this stage.

[arthurking83]

OK.. something tells me that 1.7 or 2.8 may be out of the question here.

OP has a (Nikon) D3100, which be default implies a kit lens or two to go with that order!

Kit lenses can be used with a shallow Depth Of Field(DOF), but you need to know how to use them in this way.
But, the issue with this blurred background ability is that the blur is usually more distracting rather than complimentary.
(most folks wont bother to see this blur quality actually, I think it's more of a photographer thing!)


I dunno how to use GIMP, but I hear it's quite handy at doing it's stuff.
What you need to be looking into as well(as well as trying to get the shot right from within the camera) is to also look up the editing step known as Gaussian Blur.
Hopefully you will find it .. BUT!!!! .. that you will also have the good sense not to overuse it!

Can be a handy editing step to help an image that almost looks right, but needs a bit of help.


Usually you would use this Gaussian Blur with a brush type tool around the subject, or you can use it with a gradient selection step which generally tends to look more natural if there is no blur at all.


FWIW too, had the partner's band friend asked me to perform that sort of brief, I'd have done him in a Robin Williams in Deconstructing Harry kind of way! :D

Oh! forgot to ask, what lens(es) do you have?

[ROA44]

Before you try for the real shot, find a suitable and interesting stationary object with people walking behind and set up your camera focused on the stationary object. then try taking some photos at various aperture and shutter settings until you end up with the desired affect. That will at least give you an idea of where you might be able to start. you also need to consider distance from the subject as that will impact greatly on the effect + lighting condition as to where and when you try your practice shots. tried this technique at a course I did interesting results haven't tried it since. One day.

Have fun and good luck.

[Kelz1990]

Thanks Arthurking. I greatly appreciate your input. I have spoken to Ash since I got home and he's decided to go with something other than the blur background. So fingers crossed, between us we can both work out something and get a shot that Ash is happy with to use for his cover.

I have the twin lenses that came with the camera, those being 18-55 and 55-200

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Thanks ROA44, I will keep that in mind