XSI and DOF in Photoshop

[srvargas]

Greetings everyone,
I need some help and advice on creating depth of field effect in Photoshop. Browsing the forums I understood that compositing programs like AE and Shake have DOF special features, but since I don't have these programs and my project is for print output Photoshop is what I will be stuck with..

So does anyone have experience wit the creation of correct depth of field with Photoshop?

[wurp]

I dont think there is a good way to create DOF in photoshop, sorry.

[rsh]

I haven't done this in years but I used to create fake DF in PS by rendering an image with a depth alpha channel. In Photoshop load the alpha channel as a selection. Hide the selection. Apply a Gaussian Blur to the image layer and mess with the amount of blur. If you don't get a great effect cancel the effect and adjust the levels of the depth channel then try again.

You can get decent results by doing this.

[fuzy]

Have a look at www.rustboy.com He's got a good low end way of doing DOF

Ivanp.

[srvargas]

Thanks for your replies...
Anyway I was hoping to find a way to correctly simulate DOF. The approach with a mask for the filter created by an alpha channel is something I did myself, but this technique gives incorrect results in most situations. Correct depth of field means that the overall contrast of the out-of-focus backround will remain the same, only the outlines of the objects will be blurred, whereas applying a gaussian blur or sth similar will simply blur everything and reduce contrast by mixing large areas of neighboring pixels into a gradation (e.g. a dark background with a brigh object - a shining lamp with correct DOF means that the shape of the lamp is "approximated" but the bright pixels would still be just as bright, and appear larger >> gaussian blur will "erase" the bright pixels and make a smooth mix between the bright/dark areas )...
ANyway, thanks again for your answers, I guess rendering with a lens shader is the only way to go noww...

[bhamill]

you can also connect a 2D depht of field shader as output shader in the pass properties:
pass-->edit-->current pass. the dof will be applied after rendering as a filter and i think it is better then the photoshop solution, because it looks better.