Depth of field (DOF) refers to the nearest and farthest points in a photo which appear in sharp focus. The amount of depth of field is controlled by lens aperture, focal length and the distance a camera is to a subject. Shallow depth of field is often used creatively by photographers when taking portrait, close-up and similar shots. The subject is emphasized because it is sharply in focus while the background, or portions of the background, are not.
Many photos would look even better if they had less depth of field. The good news is that, if you don't get it quite right with your digital camera, you can add shallow depth of field to a photos using layers found in many image editing programs.
The original image, not edited except reduced in size, appears flat. Every area in the photo is about equal sharpness. The background detracts somewhat from the main subject.
What follows is a step-by-step tutorial about how to give the look of shallow depth of field to the background of a photo. Please note that the degree to which a tool or filter is applied is a matter of personal taste. For example, you may want the background blurred more or the subject sharpened less.
The tutorial is illustrated with Photoshop, however many photo editing programs offer layering and filtering capabilities. As with all image editing techniques, there are other ways to go about obtaining the same results.
