How was this done (Stacking)?

Hi Alex,

this tool is usually called the Blur or soft-focus effect (translated from my German PS). Many programs offer this brush for applying to the effect. Often you can select the photo, create a soft edge selection and then make the selection using filter blurred or you yourself blur some of the image areas.

And we have the tool "Unsharp Mask". For this purpose, only the original image and a blurred version are required. The layer structure, however, shows good results only if your program supports 32-bit color depth, like Photoshop.

On the other hand, I'm sure you will get better explanations, by asking Riccardo Magherini himself at http://www.riccardomagherini.com/fine_art/contact/. I'm sure you will get answers marked of a professional competence and responsibility.

Hans-Günter

I'm not sure I'm looking at the right image... are you talking about the one of Time Square in the background?  I agree, I wouldn't use unsharp mask for that.  "Stacking" actually has a different meaning when it comes to Photoshop/digital manipulation, but I think your assumption is correct that it's just a bunch of layers stacked on top of each other, with various transparencies.  What makes it different from most times you see this effect, is that he didn't keep the background static either.  Usually you put your camera on a tripod, take a bunch of shots, then load them into layers and adjust the transparency and/or mask to get the effect you want.  This one you can see he moved images around wherever he wanted (for example, the Disney sign in the middle isn't really there).

I would argue two things:

a) that you would save yourself some time by not posting a question that you obviously know the answer to.

b) that hans-g is correct, I can't see one hard edge in the picture.

Dsarchy wrote:

 

I would argue two things:

a) that you would save yourself some time by not posting a question that you obviously know the answer to.

b) that hans-g is correct, I can't see one hard edge in the picture.

If point b) is correct, then he didn't know the answer to it, which is why he asked in the first place.  The very fact that there is a conversation as to what effects he used demonstrates that it's the very kind of thing that you discuss in a chat forum, to see what different opinions are.

It's hard to tell what is sharp and what's not, given the layout and transparencies.  The person dressed as a statue of liberty looks relatively sharp to me.  It also gives no indication as to what the photographer was focusing on, so it's hard to say if the background fuzziness is due to filters, or simply depth of field. Regardless, I wouldn't use an unsharp mask for that effect.  Which, again, is why we have this post.  There are many ways to do things in Photoshop.

Hello Alex, hello Dsarchy and rkelly0137,

as already stated, it's certainly not so easy and it takes a lot of experience to get a satisfactory result. So in my eyes, the best would be as I wrote above: "On the other hand, I'm sure you will get better explanations, by asking Riccardo Magherini himself at http://www.riccardomagherini.com/fine_art/contact/. I'm sure you will get answers marked of a professional competence and responsibility." Despite the fact that it would cause costs for you Alex, it might be worth.

I eagerly await the next steps.

Hans-Günter