Extending depth of field
When you’re shooting a photo, you often have to choose to focus on either the background or the
foreground. If you want the entire image to be in focus, you can take two photos—one with the
background in focus and one with the foreground in focus—and then merge the two in
Photoshop.
Because you’ll need to align the images exactly, it’s helpful to use a tripod to keep the camera
steady. However, you may be able to get good results with a handheld camera if you pay
attention to framing and alignment. In this exercise, you’ll add depth of field to an image of a
wine glass in front of a beach.
1. Choose File > Browse In Bridge.
2. Navigate to the Lesson05 folder, if you’re not there already, and then look at the
Glass_Start.psd and Glass_End.psd thumbnail previews.The first image has two layers. Depending on which layer is visible, either the glass in the
foreground or the beach in the background is in focus. You’ll extend the depth of field to make
both clear.
3. Double-click the Glass_Start.psd file to open it.
4. Choose File > Save As. Name the file Glass_Working.psd, and save it in the Lesson05
folder. Click OK if the Photoshop Format Options dialog box appears.
5. In the Layers panel, hide the Beach layer, so that only the Glass layer is visible. The glass is
in focus, but the background is blurred. Then, show the Beach layer again. Now the beach
is in focus, but the glass is blurred.