Would you know how to do this?

[crozer]

Hey,
I've been trying to achieve a 'blurry-light-bubbles' effect that you see i.e. on macros, or in photos of night city-lights.. It's kind of hard to explain, I'll better just drop some examples:



Mainly, I wanna achieve that blurry effect that you get to see with your very-own eyes when you almost close your eyes, or well, when you see those photos with special lenses.

I hope you can give me a hand.
Please note, there can be no brushes involved, everything must be done through Photoshop filters, gradients, whatever (i.e. Filter > Blur > ... but no brushing or erasing) - this is because I want to create an action from these steps.

[Jeff]

it's called bokeh. did you give the lens blur (filter > blur > lens blur) a shot?

[crozer]

Hey,
yeah sorry about not mentioning I already had researched 'bokeh'.
I've tried lens blur indeed, and it somehow teases me, I feel like it is getting me somewhere but not giving me the precise result. Am I missing something?

I've also found Shape blur, anything you might know where? I've tried a lot of setting-playing, but nothing gives such good results.. (that I know of, of course)

Thanks for the help, any more ideas?

[Chris]

There's a filter in after effects that does this. I know it sounds incredulous, but you can export png from after effects, so maybe you could take the image you're trying to blur up into AE, apply the filter, and then export back to PS? I've done it so it's nothing extravagant. I love this effect though, looks great as a 3d layer XD

[Jeff]

the lens blur can be tricky to get right because it has several parameters.

here's a picture that you can use to practice. the one on the top left is in focus, so separate that into a layer of its own first, and then try to mimic those other blurs by varying the parameters for lens blur. doing this should help you get a better feel for what each of the parameters do so you can adjust accordingly on your own pics.

you could also follow up the lens blur some other filters, like unsharp mask or high pass on soft light if the bokeh itself needs to be sharpened. you could also play with the colors via adjustment layers -- particularly the saturation. blurring of any kind tends to take away some of the richness of color the original had, so you could try to restore that by increasing saturation or vibrance.

i haven't seen the after effects filter but it sounds like it would work better than the lens blur, if you have access.

[crozer]

the lens blur can be tricky to get right because it has several parameters.

here's a picture that you can use to practice. the one on the top left is in focus, so separate that into a layer of its own first, and then try to mimic those other blurs by varying the parameters for lens blur. doing this should help you get a better feel for what each of the parameters do so you can adjust accordingly on your own pics.

you could also follow up the lens blur some other filters, like unsharp mask or high pass on soft light if the bokeh itself needs to be sharpened. you could also play with the colors via adjustment layers -- particularly the saturation. blurring of any kind tends to take away some of the richness of color the original had, so you could try to restore that by increasing saturation or vibrance.

i haven't seen the after effects filter but it sounds like it would work better than the lens blur, if you have access.

thank you very much! did you create that step-by-step image?
well, i managed to set-up somewhat 'bokeh-similar' parameters with the lens blur filter rising its brightness and so on.

i'll really write your words down, as they've passed through my mind (sharpening the bokehs themselves, applying and playing with soft-light, color dodge and additional blending modes overall..)

Thank you very much indeed, I've really appreciated your comment.
Best regards.
Chris

[Jeff]

thank you very much! did you create that step-by-step image?

i don't take credit for that image. it's just one that i found. it's probably actually "true" bokeh -- so it wasn't just added in photoshop. but that's what makes it a good practice dummy.

well, i managed to set-up somewhat 'bokeh-similar' parameters with the lens blur filter rising its brightness and so on.

i'll really write your words down, as they've passed through my mind (sharpening the bokehs themselves, applying and playing with soft-light, color dodge and additional blending modes overall..)

Thank you very much indeed, I've really appreciated your comment.
Best regards.
Chris

cool. glad to help.