A new feature in PhotoShop. It's called Lens Blur. It seems to work....

I like to keep up with new features in PhotoShop. I wrote a while back about Adobe's introduction of DeNoise A.I. which cleans up noisy files without messing too much with the detail and overall look of files. The current limitation of DeNoise is that it only works with raw files. That's okay if you know that before starting a job on which you pretty much know that things are going to get noisy. 

Today I played around with a new feature called, Lens Blur. I was able to choose a Jpeg file this time and the feature worked well. It's just a grab shot of an advertising person on location, lost in thought. There was foreground stuff and background stuff and a nice looking subject to work with. I used the default lens blur setting but there is a slider that you can use to get more or less effect. This is at the halfway point on the slider. While the image might be improved if I spend some time with it and work on opening up shadows, etc. I was very impressed with how well the software detected the sharp intention in the front and then interpreted where the background blur was needed. The automation certainly saved a lot of selection time which might have been spent outlining the product boxes to the left as well as the bottles and stuff. 

This was a handheld shot, done with a Fuji GFX 50Sii and the "kit" lens; the 35-70mm f4.5-5.6. the image started life as a Jpeg and was shot at ISO 2000. I'll be using this feature a lot...

Why is Kirk posting so much? Hmmm. Well, we're having the house painted, inside and out. B. is out of town so I'm nominally in charge. Occasionally I have to spot check to make sure a custom paint color match actually matches. And I have no idea what the schedule for the painters will wind up being, day to day. So I meet them in the morning, go to swim practice, come back and check in, go out and find myself some tacos for breakfast, and coffee (since my kitchen is shrouded with layers of protective plastic sheeting...), come back and return calls, send bids, write a blog and then go out on a search for lunch. Today it was Whole Foods. Veggies. Some fish. Nice hot bar at the flagship store. Kind of a test kitchen for the far flung empire. Then I come back and check in with the painters. Admire the work. Ask a few obligatory questions and then head back into the office for more calls, returnable emails and, yes, more blogging. Stuff comes up. Now waiting for B.'s return from her adventure in San Antonio. Might have to book a hotel room tonight. The painting isn't over here for today and we're heading toward 6 pm. Pretty sure I don't want to sleep immersed in the paint fumes...

So, blogging. It's fun. It's easy. There's generally always something to discuss. Just thought I'd let you know.