# Changing Background in LR



## SarasotaSunshine (Mar 2, 2014)

Is it possible and/or worthwhile to make major changes to an image's background using LR?  For instance, I have a bird shot where my f/stop was at 8 and the leaves behind the bird are too in focus and distracting.  I'd like to blur out the background or maybe even make it black.   However, the bird's feathers are spread out and very fine, with leaves showing behind them.  I tried using the radial filter, but it left the leaves at the very edges of each feather still sharp and the light reflecting from some of the "un-blurred" leaves made it look like white "ruffles" around the bird's feathers.

I freely admit I'm just learning LR and the radial filter, so maybe I just need some technique pointers?  In my effort to get the bokeh background look I wanted, I had to add MULTIPLE radial filters all over the picture, some of which overlapped (causing extra blur) while some areas were too close to the feathers (and got no blur at all).

Would a tool like Photoshop (which I don't have) or GIMP (which I do have) be an easier or more successful way to do this?  Note that I am also new to GIMP (the on-line, free alternative to Photoshop).  GIMP has most (if not all) the features of Photoshop and the tools in it work very much like Photoshop.  If Photoshop/GIMP (or LR) have an easier way to do this, can someone tell me how it's done in those tools?  If you don't have GIMP, you can describe how you'd do it in Photoshop, and I'll be able to translate it to GIMP.

Thanks for any help anybody can offer!


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## clee01l (Mar 3, 2014)

Using LR only. The radial filter works the best  Apply negative sharpness and negative clarity.  If that does not get you what you  want, you will need to use an external editor that can work with layers.  Defocus or blur the background layer and combine that with the sharp foreground. Paintshop Pro has a tool called DoF that will let you paint an area to be in focus and defocus/blur the rest.


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## SarasotaSunshine (Mar 3, 2014)

clee01l said:


> Using LR only. The radial filter works the best  Apply negative sharpness and negative clarity.  If that does not get you what you  want, you will need to use an external editor that can work with layers.  Defocus or blur the background layer and combine that with the sharp foreground. Paintshop Pro has a tool called DoF that will let you paint an area to be in focus and defocus/blur the rest.



Ah, that's what I was afraid of.  So, first I'll start over and try again with the radial filter (now that I've had a bit of practice).  If I still can't get the look I want, then I'll try using layers in GIMP (to which I'm also new, so more learning!).   Thanks!


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