What do I want to do to this picture?

December 5, 2009 12:40 PM

I have a picture I want to modify in photoshop, and I'm sure there are relevant tutorials out there on the web, but I don't know how to describe what I want to do to it. Basically, I'd like to give it the illusion of depth -- make the back wall seem further away, and give it more of a sense of perspective, so you get more of a feeling of looking into a room, and less like you're looking at a flattened image of a room. Is there a term for that?

Googling for photoshop and depth has turned up a lot of stuff about depth of field, but I don't think that's what I'm looking for. I'm not looking to make anything more or less focused, so much as alter the picture's perspective.

Also, I have the black + white original of the pic I linked to, so if it'd be easier to add the 3-D effect I'm looking for first, and then colorize it later, I could do that.

posted by patnasty to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

You may want to just change the background completely- remove it and replace it with a picture of a room that looks how you want.
posted by showbiz_liz at 12:46 PM on December 5, 2009

You're looking to add depth cues.
posted by hattifattener at 12:47 PM on December 5, 2009

These two links may help, although I know its not exactly what you want. Using a similar technique you may be able to get the musicians to pop out more. Also, the background seems easy to replace so you may find another photo or a long room and merge it into the background of the picture.


3-D effect

3-D effect #2
posted by occidental at 12:50 PM on December 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Depth of Field. Blur out the background a little bit. It'll create the illusion of depth.
posted by eatcake at 12:52 PM on December 5, 2009

A quick and dirty way would be to make the foreground its own layer, and change the background to something that will be obvious when blurred. Add a drop shadow to the foreground, and blur the background. Here's a quickie sample.
posted by The Deej at 1:12 PM on December 5, 2009

The image of the musicians, on its own, has depth. The fact that its pasted onto a flat torn-paper background reinforces the idea that it's a cut-out of flat photograph - which it is of course - and distracts you from interpreting the depth cues in the photograph itself as such. Even replacing the lavender and mauve used in the background with the two darker intermediate blue-greys from the foreground will make the image more integrated, and thus give it more depth. (That is, the background will look less like something image of the musicians is pasted onto.)
posted by nangar at 1:38 PM on December 5, 2009

Response by poster: Thanks for all the replies, Mefites.

Each one proved helpful, actually.

Having read up a bit about "depth cues," and experimenting with some of the techniques in the links, I'm convinced: I need to swap out the background for something more defined in order to get the effect I'm looking for.

Thanks!
posted by patnasty at 2:06 PM on December 5, 2009