'Depth of Field' option in PE10

[fozzybear]

Just having a mess about with the 'Depth of Field' option in Photoshop Elements 10.

Before

After

Does anyone know the best way to avoid the 'smearing' around certain edges like the horses head and ears? I use the quick selection tool with a small 20px brush but can't seem to avoid selecting a bit of the sky.

Although the effect looks OK, some edges look a little bit artificial. Still, it could be useful for anyone using 'lesser' lens.

 

[fozzybear]

Just found a video that may help me.

 

[fozzybear]

Personally I'd say that you have to just weigh up whether you can improve a photo or whether what you are doing is a lot of work to overhaul it when it doesn't really improve it.

I think the photo suffers from composure to begin with.
You really don't want that guy's head in the background, even if you had shot with a lens that gave you a wide aperture to really blow it out, it would still be distracting.

Secondly, you've tried to make a foreground element part of the background, in way of the reigns and the lady holding it. Not only does that totally ruin the photo, its again another aspect of a problem with the initial composure, you either needed her completely out of it, or framed her as part of the shot.

Sorry if I'm being negative and you are just playing about with this filter, but at the end of the day, you seem to be trying to fix the photo with it.

I wasn't posting the photo to showcase my photography skills or lack of them.

What is this 'composure' you speak of?

I've just picked a random photo out to experiment with PE10. I think I took it about 3 years ago with a Sony kit lens that was incapable of producing any respectable bokeh.

And yes, the initial purpose of trying out the 'depth of field' setting was to make the mans appearance less 'obvious'.