Heh! Ain't PS fun?

First, I think you need to decide a focal point.....where do you want the most emphasis placed? My eyes tend to wander too much in that image. It's dramatic but maybe too so, in that the background light is as intense as the foreground light of which definitely disturbs the depth you want to create.

*!*

Hmmm good point, I got a little enthusiastic.

Tweeked it a little...might have made it worse though.

What I see is too much, too many different focal points. The bright light doesn't help either.

If the lite were behind something and giving the halo type effect, it would be helping to focus the lookers attention, if you had a field of marigolds one would be larger and in more detail and maybe sharper focused to catch the attention. Now some that are better can catch your attention with 1 item and then lead you deeper into an image, with an OH what's that over there!

But to start with depth, think of sharpness and contrast up front and step by step softening as you step back into the image. When you get brave think of slight softness in the foreground and focus, sharpness on your main object and then further softness beyond. So the looker glances and his or her eye catches on what is in focus then as they look longer they pickup on other stories being told.

Hope that helps.
Marty

I'm gonna go try all that out! With a new image cuz I saved it wrong so it's ruined thanks a bunch, might have it by tomorrow, probably won't, but I'll let you know how it went.

Thank youuuuu

This is going to sound really rude but...


YOUR RIGHT IT'S TERRIBLE! For Depth of field at least.

Now that is over and done with I will focus on Depth in an Image.



So I took the image and butchered it to illustrate my point.

Difficulties...

I do not have the original PSD, this has been a 10 minute chop from the JPG image.

The content changes in the image are designed to pull the eyes to the foreground and create artificial depth.

Things done.
- Shadows: Shadows are really important, not just cast shadows but also self shadowing.
- Highlights: are just as important as shadowing, again not just self highlighting but also cast light.
(Light doesn't just illuminate everything, if you have too much ambient light, the image will look flat and without body, like having a flash on a camera.
- Blur: A subtle blend of blur at different levels of intensity in your image will alter the entire feeling of the image.

Tools used...
(Pen Tab)
Paint Brush tool. (For painting new shadows on the ground and objects)
Blur Tool (For creating a layered depth of field
Burn tool (For intensifying existing shadows)
Dodge tool (For increasing highlights.
Overlaid layers to up the flat contrast.

The result is a mix of shadows that cross the image and a subtle yet intense blur that actually pulls the eye to a constructed foreground. The mere fact that it does this means the effect has been successful. It now has a depth of field...

10 minutes is not my best work but it will suffice.

This topic is getting very interesting.
Marx, I'm not sure if your edited image is entirely correct, but it sure does look better. We should update our tutorial-section

w-o-w.....I'm gonna go review my photoshopping. If you did that in 10 minutes, then I suck more than I thought because I've been seriously trying to work on that and I have the original file.

That looks so much better!

Thank you.



the only thing I'm curious about though is; I see quite a few pictures where the foreground and the background are Sharp....kind of like high definition photography, that's what I was heading towards, an image with depth but loads of detail. I usually work with shadow and lighting, but then I lose all the detail of the image. Just wondering how I can distinguish between the two.

Best thing to do is find a picture that is exactly what you are talking about so you can point out specific things.

It is a lot easier to get help when everyone is on the same page, and visual aids help that along just right