How about a tutorial on adding bokeh now the mask has been improved?
Answered
I discovered Luminar at the start of the year through a search for an app that I could use to enhance the bokeh from my m43 files.
I gave the system a try and was impressed at how well it handled portraits. However most of my work needing a better bokeh was not of portraits and I decided to cancel my purchase.
I re-activated it as a way of getting some money to Ukraine. I am glad I did as I see that Neo has just got a more flexible mask system.
Can someone show me how to use these better masks so I can protect the key elements of my image and get plausible bokeh on the surroundings?
Tony
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Hi Tony I find watching some of the YouTube Neo tutorials very useful. Skyler Ewing and Clever Photographer are just 2 of the many on offer (3) #luminarneo - YouTube
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Hi Tony,
Portrait Bokeh AI doesn't include Mask AI because the smart masking is already baked into the tool. If the tool doesn't detect people properly, I'd be grateful if you could provide us with the samples at https://skylum.com/support . We'll test them on our end and use them for algorithm improvement.
Here's how you can send us the file:
- Visit https://wetransfer.com/
- If it's your first time visiting this website, it might ask you to purchase a subscription. Simply select to proceed with the free version.
- Click Add your files.
- Select the file(s) on your computer.
- After you see all the files you need to send appear in the list, click the icon to the left of the Transfer button (the icon looks like a circle with three dots in it).
- In Send As select Link.
- Click Transfer.
- After the files have finished uploading, click Copy Link and paste it into your support request at https://skylum.com/support
You can also try the following:
1. Open the Structure AI tool > Masking > Mask AI. Let it scan the photo and detect the objects.
If the created mask requires tweaking, you can get back to the list of masking options> Choose Brush > Adjust Brush settings, and then you can fix your Masking manually.2. Mask the person/objects in the photo, then in the Mask Actions menu (see the screenshot below), choose Invert. This way, the tool will affect the area that wasn't masked initially.
You can use the negative values of the Structure AI tool to blur the photo.
The same can be done with the Glow > Soft Focus tool.
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Thanks.
I have tried what you suggest using the Structure AI Tool.
What I liked in the Portrait Bokeh was where one could adjust the focus point so the background had more bokeh than the foreground.
This is what I start with.
This is what I get.
OK it is not a brilliant example to work with but I hope is shows the weakness of a generic blur as it makes the path in the front far too soft. What I would want is the building in the background making soft to make that white tree stand out.
If you added what you offer in the 'focus' I'd be getting more what I'd like.
EDIT.
My guess is that what you are doing is alter the amount of blur using a graduated mask. AI cannot know where the focus us - but the odds are that the top of the image is further away from the camera than the bottom. Am I on the right track? If so can one of your wizards help me to apply a graduated mask to the blur?
Tony
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Looking again I see there is Lineal Gradient.
If I create the mask so the background can have negative Structure is there a way I can grade that background so it has a strong negative and a weak negative at the bottom?
I can't work out how to grade a mask that is already created.
EDIT
What might work is to create a gradient mask from top to bottom and then use the brush to remove the element that you don't want to soften. I have tried this in Structure and Glow.
Packing up now (BST) to watch a movie but will look in again tomorrow.
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