Creating a Depth of Field effect in PaintShop Pro

Using your camera to add depth effects can be a daunting and complex task. The Depth of Field tool in PaintShop Pro is used to create an area of focus and also de-focus the rest of the photo in order to draw attention to a particular subject. Let me show you how and allow you to follow along.

Here is the photo I will be working with in this tutorial.

In PaintShop Pro, make sure you are working in the Essentials or Complete workspace (go to File > Workspace to change workspace). Open your photo on the Edit tab.

It’s okay if your interface looks different from the screenshot, as we’ll be doing all of our work in a separate area. Go to Adjust > Depth of Field.

Here we see a Before window and an After window. Currently, both images look exactly the same.

Over on the right is our collection of Depth of Field tools. Watch the video tutorial to learn more about their functions.

Click on the Circular Selection tool.

Draw a circle (from the center) that surrounds your object.

To edit your selection, grab anywhere inside your selection to reposition it. Grab any of the small nodes around the circle to resize your selection. 

Using the slider or numerical input, try a couple settings. For this image I chose a Blur setting of 25.

To adjust the blur transition between the foreground and background, choose a setting from the Feather edge setting (in this example I used 50).

To adjust the amount of focus on the background, choose a setting from the Focus range slider (in this example I used 40).

Once you’re pleased with your choice, click OK to return to the main window and view your results!