
One of the most common photographs that people take is a close-up picture. This could be because it shows the subject in greater detail or just because you’re closer to it. Whatever the reason, there are some tips and tricks that can help you use Photoshop CS2 to do this effectively, without much effort on your part. Let’s take a look at some of these settings photographers like DavidPaul Doyle Naturwise use daily.
Using Depth Of Field– This is probably one of the most important settings when taking close up shots because you use it to blur everything that’s not your main focus. For example, if you want to take a picture of your friend, then everything behind them will be blurred, so they stand out. To do this, you need to go to the Depth Of Field settings under the Window menu. When you first open it up, it should look something like this:
The three numbers at the top are your f-stop values, affecting how much light gets into the camera. The higher they are, the more light will get in, but it will also make everything in your picture more focused. The middle number is the Distance setting which controls how far your depth of field can go. And finally, you have the Near and Far options.
Shooting Close Up – There are two ways to get close up shots with Photoshop CS2. One way is cropping down later, which can be done in any image editing program. However, if you want to make sure everything is focused, then it’s much easier to do this before saving your pictures. The other method is simply changing the camera lens (focal length) for different situations; however, that only works with digital cameras that have removable lenses. For those of us who don’t have one, we’ll have to use all the different options Photoshop has.
Focal Length – Focal length is probably the easiest way of getting close ups in Photoshop. All you need to do is go into camera RAW mode (File -> Open In Camera RAW). Once open, crop away everything that you don’t want, and set your focal length to its maximum. For example, if you want the shot focused on your face, set it as tight as possible so that only your head will be in focus. If you want a close up of an object, then go as wide as possible, so everything from your hand to those far away is in focus.
Depth Of Field – If you want to use this effect on shots that you’ve already taken, then all you have to do is go into Photoshop and click Image -> Duplicate. Once the new file is open, switch back to your original picture and select everything except what’s in focus with the Marquee Tool (M). Then go over to your new image and press Delete to get rid of everything but the focus. There you have it, a closeup shot done in seconds.
Using Blur And Unsharp Mask – If you don’t want your picture to be in perfect focus, then it’s much easier than using Depth Of Field. Just go into Camera RAW and switch the focal length back to normal (or wide angle if you want it blurry), then click on the FX tab on the right. Select Blur from the drop down menu, and move the slider to where you want it. Now go back up to Image -> Duplicate, select everything but what’s in focus with the Marquee Tool (M), and press Delete. You should see the difference between the two images, which one is more blurry.