So, you got the shot.

But, there’s not enough separation between the subject and the background, and it’s too busy…

No problem, since iiiiiit’s two-minute Tuesday with me…

…Chris Parker with Parker Photographic dot com, and I’m here to help you elevate your photographic skills…

And I’m going to show you how to make your image better by reducing the Depth of field in Lightroom.

Usually, I’d say reshoot it and get the shallow depth-of-field you wanted in-camera.

But you can’t because it was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Or, true story, the person you photographed passed away.

Or maybe you had a chance encounter with a beaver.

Well, it’s too late to reshoot it. Right?

So, here’s a trick for fixing it in Lightroom.

Press the letter “M” to activate the Linear Mask, click, and drag over your subject.

Now, we need to remove that mask from your subject by clicking on “subtract,” select “subject,” and to apply the custom depth of field, scroll down to Sharpness and adjust between minus fifty to minus one hundred.

How. Cool. Is. That? I love. It!

But we’re not done yet. Let’s make it even better.

To increase the intensity, right-click on the Mask and Duplicate. If needed, adjust accordingly.

Let’s reduce the depth-of-field for the foreground as well.

Let’s duplicate again, click on the middle line, rotate with your mouse, click in the center, and drag down to blur out the foreground.

If you do not see these lines, press the letter “H” to show and then hide again if needed, and to see the red overlay, press “O.”

And to increase or decrease the length of the blur, drag out the top line to be taller or shorter.

For more Lightroom quick tips, check out this playlist.