Fake depth of field in post? CAN it be done?

[Graham Bernard]

Any chance of getting a still from each camera? Good and the Flat?

Cheers

G

Video Content Creator and Potter
PC 7 64-bit 16gb * Intel® Core™i7-2600k Quad Core 3.40GHz * 2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 560 Ti
Cameras: Canon XF300 + PowerShot SX50HS Bridge

[Kelly Griffin]

Hey Jess, I’ve got a slick trick for you, depending on a “yes” answer to this question: Do you have any footage (even one frame) of the background only that’s behind the talking head (without the camera having been moved)?

Or, could that background be created by any shifts your talking head may have made in their position during the shoot?

–Kelly

[Roger Bansemer]

Kelly, I’m eager to hear what you have in mind.
What about a soft focus look just by creating a mask with a soft edge and doing a bit of a blur.

Roger Bansemer – PaintingAndTravel.com

[Kelly Griffin]

I did this very successfully in the days pre-DSLR:

(1) Shoot the talking head

(2) Without touching the camera, shoot a couple seconds of same scene, minus talking head.

(3) With compositing software (Fusion or AE), comp “scene with” over “scene without”, and tell it to make a “difference key”; the software will analyze the two clips and make a matte from the difference between the two, which, of course, is the talking head.

(4) Then, just use that generated difference key to comp your talking head over the “blank” background, adding a defocus or blur to the background. I’ve found you can even key the scene over itself sometimes if you don’t get a perfect key, and any troublesome spots won’t look like a seam (because the only thing showing through is the scene itself).

NOTE: If it’s not obvious, this only works with no motion in the background, or at least none where the subject overlaps.

Make sense?

–KG

ps: Even if you didn’t intentionally shoot the background (or forgot to), I’ve been saved by reviewing my footage and either found a moment or two of stuff I was rolling on and didn’t know it, or I was able to comp the background from doing a couple of frame grabs where my talking head shifted enough in their chair to create it after the fact.

[Mike Kujbida]

This isn’t a DOF look, rather I had to blur out the background behind the interviewee because he was way too close to the TV set and there was no room to move him further away from it. I created a mask around him, feathered the edge and adjusted it whenever I changed the shot. Once I got the original mask made, it was very easy to zoom it in or out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyaQ-eAIOmM

[Roger Bansemer]

Can this be done with Vegas? Using some of the settings in track motion? I’ve never really understood those “overlay, subtract, multiply” etc. settings.

Roger Bansemer – PaintingAndTravel.com

[Kelly Griffin]

That would be a better question for one of the Vegas veterans…

[Eddie Macarthur]

another approach; newblue fx has a plugin called rack focus in one of the video essentials series. very easy to create a horizontal or vertical area of sharpness with definable blur outside the range. kind of thing you could do manually but the plugin is very quick and easy to use. personally, I would try masks unless the clip is long. ed

System; intel i72600k 3.4GHZ, 16GB RAM, Win 7 64 bit. Vegas Pro 11 latest build, Neat Video 3.01. EVGA GTX460 SC graphics

Stealth Recording Studio, Glasgow, Scotland UK
http://www.stealthrecordingstudio.com

[Al Bergstein]

Yes, the masking seems to be the way to go, or using something like After Effects you can actually set up layers that create that “New Ken Burns” affect, which is a traveling 3D background behind a foreground figure. If I had 98 hours in each day, I might be doing a lot more of that, but …(G)

I wasn’t aware of the NB effect. I’ll have to look into it, if it doesn’t crash my install.. thx for that tip. If it works that would be great, because it’s likely easier than mastering AE. That’s a career in and of itself.

Al

[Jonathan Thomas]

Very simple you can create a mask or use the Soft Contrast FX in Vegas. It’s already have all the masks features build inside, with color change and blur background with film look.