If you don’t live under a rock, you know by now that portrait mode, aka bokeh, is one of the most sought-after photography tricks. Previously, portrait mode photography was only possible via DSLR cameras, now the game is completely different, all thanks to advanced smartphone cameras. Yes, the phone now has a dedicated portrait mode that automatically blurs the background of a photo.
But just in case your phone doesn’t have a dedicated portrait mode, don’t worry, we’re here to help.
Photo editing tools like Snapseed have a ton of features and filters. And as you might have guessed, one of Snapseed’s tools allows you to achieve near-perfect bokeh. All you need is a little patience.
So what are we waiting for? Start.
Method 1: Using the Lens Blur Tool
Step 1: Before you start, polish the photo a bit. You can use one of the regular filters or use the Tune Image tool to adjust the saturation and contrast in the image.
Once done, tap done to save the current edits.
Step 2: For landscape photos with many backgrounds, cropping the image will help focus the subject.
To do so, touch Tools and select Crop. Adjust the contours to your liking. When you’re done, save the current settings.
Step 3: Next, pull up the Tools window, select Lens Blur. Tap the shape icon and select a shape. You can choose to use either a liner blur or a circle blur. For my photo, I chose to use an oval/circle.
Adjust the outline to the shape of your object. Pinch the image to increase the area. Just be careful to keep the outline of the circle as close to the subject as possible.
Step 4: Unlike other photo editors, Snapseed comes with a transition effect (second border), which is responsible for giving the blur effect a gentle transition as it moves away from the subject.
To lower the transition area, swipe the photo up to reveal the submenu. Select Transitions and drag left.
Step 5: Now that the transition is set, it’s time to adjust the opacity.
Do you want strong blur? If so, swipe up on the photo and select Blur strength. Next drag the slider to the right.
Similarly, you can choose to lightly tap the Vignette effect on the edges of the image. But if you want the edges to stay their original color, drag the Vignette slider to 0. And that’s pretty much it.
Now all you need to do is save the current edits and then export the photo to your phone gallery.
Although the above method is quite easy, it has one major flaw. It does not allow you to adjust the opacity according to the shape of the object. For example, if you look at the picture above, you will see that the area between my hair and shoulders is not blurred.
For some shots, these gaps can be easily overlooked. But for close-up portraits, these gaps look like a half-hearted attempt.
Fortunately, Snapseed has another trick that gives you the opportunity to select the area that you want to blur. And for this we will use Snapseed’s hidden tool – View Edit.
Pro tip:
Method 2: Through Advanced Editing
Step 1: After cropping the image and adding the necessary filters, select the Lens Blur tool.
Now instead of increasing the blur area, pinch in to decrease the area as shown in the screenshot above.
Hit the Save button in the lower right corner when done.
Step 2: You will now see an Undo icon next to the Info icon. Tap it and it will bring up a sub-menu. Select View edits from the list.
All the filters that you have applied so far will appear on the right. Tap on Lens Blur and then select the Stacks Brush icon.
Step 3: Now, it’s time to start drawing. With the Lens Blur parameter set to 100, start by painting a layer mask over your subject. That will be indicated in red.
So why do we draw on the subject instead of the background? Well, we plan to reverse the selection then. It’s easier and saves a lot of time.
The trick now is to drag as close to the edge of the object as possible. To do so, magnify the image by pinching out. That will give you a better brush. Once you have drawn the outline, start painting the inner part as shown below.
Here, let me warn you that the process is long and tedious. Thankfully, the results are really worth it.
Once done, click the Invert icon as shown in the screenshot above and hit the Save button and that’s it! Hello, portrait mode.
Now all you have to do is export the photo and send it straight to Instagram.
Create Beautiful Photos
In photography, things often don’t go as we planned in most cases. On some days, you might ask someone to take your perfect portraits, or one day the background isn’t as impressive as the foreground.
So if you don’t want to remove these elements from your photo, all you need to do is use the blur tool your way. And hey, did I tell you that Snapseed also has a great Healing tool for getting rid of small and unwanted objects? Try it out, it’s pretty cool.
Next up: Stuck with overexposed photos? Learn how to fix them through the article below.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
