Fuzzing out the background and getting rid of unwanted items

Ok...

So I'm just playing about as have never learned to use photoshop and decided it was time I did.

This certainly isn't the finished image but for experimentation purposes I am saving it at different stages.

I will be making the whole face of Rowdy the dog in colour with the background desaturised but was after knowing two things.

First, when you see photos that are taken focusing on the subject and the background is all out of focus... is that how the picture's taken? Or is there a trick to do that?

Also - how can I get rid of the white line on the tennis court? I used the eye dropper tool in a previous attempt but you could still see a grey line where the white used to be. Is there anyway of copying a section of the tennis court and pasting it back over?

Thanks! This is how far I've got so far:

The photo is taken like that. Its called Depth of Field or DoF. The wider your aperture (lower F number) the more blurry AKA shallow you background/DoF. The Narrower your aperture (higher F Number) the more it is in focus

These make some helpful reading....
http://www.yophotographer.com/page.php?t=27
http://www.yophotographer.com/page.php?t=4504

Use the clone tool

Thanks for that.
I thought it would be the settings on the picture... where's the clone tool?

Edit: Found it!

Erm- im not in my office comp so can tell you but it should be halfway down your tools on the left and it looks like a stamp...

Id use the healing tool to get rid of the lines, and use the clone tool near the dog to stop it softening. But I'd do it on a separate layer then mask it back in to keep it accurate.

I've just *borrowed* your picture, and in photoshop you can clone out the lines on the court fairly easily...
Also, if you layer the image, remove the dog with the magic selection tool, you can then use filters to blur the background, and then post the dog back for instant reduced *depth of field*

Ooh thanks for that...

Think it may take me some time to learn how to do that!!

Good luck - it's not too hard to learn when you get the hang of it!

xx

I'm quite enjoying it now actually!