Quick question...what makes you consider using DoF in a picture? I'd love to hear your insights so I can maybe start using that feature to hopefully better my images. MD

Depends on the effect I want. If I am trying to give the viewer an idea of how I see things when I first wake up, I first render everything at premium quality(all the bells & whistles) at 256 rays per pixel, then I take the render into PhotoShop and set gaussian blur at say 50.(extremely myopic, sorry)

I use dof way too much, lol. But, I like how it can give more depth to a picture. I like depth, depth, depth. But, I'm taking it easier on the dof these days, being more subtle about it. About the only times I don't use dof, is when the picture just doesn't look good with it, or just doesn't need it at all. AgentSmith

I don't use DOF, when...i've never used it in a finished image...my july image too 4:30.02 to render as it was.. (64rpp, soft shadows) DOF just kills my p3 800...

I have almost completely stopped using dof within Bryce, I do it all in Photoshop. Way faster, way more control.

I agree with AS he uses it way too much LOL. JK, Agent. Scale is always an important reason DOF tends to make things in a render look smaller.

Yeah, I used to use too much and it made some of the robots I rendered look like toys, etc. AS

MadDog: you should browse through some National Geographics or some stock-photo websites and look at the way photographers use this and the kind of effects it can create. learn from the best, right?

oh... the only tip I can give is that if you are rendering a small object very close to the camera, dof will help give your image some scale

Aye, I agree. DOF should be used mainly for composition, to set scale or bring up a focal point. Slakker, it's not necessary to use Bryce 5's internal DOF. You can never achieve the same results that simple post-DOF will produce. It's just not time-effective. Imagine : a ten hour DOF render. OR : you could spend maybe 10 minutes in Photoshop getting it right? Economics...

Yup. Or, even if you dont have Photoshop, even some of the free 2D editors can copy/paste your distance render as an alpha selection and blur your render (which is all it is) And, another thing about doing your dof in a 2d editor, no grain in your dof. Someimes even at max rays per pixel, the resulting dof render can look slightly grainy/blotchy in the blurred areas. Not so, in doing dof as post-work. Unless you want it to have grain, which you then can add exactly as much or little as you want. AS

I use DOF when I want to focus on a single object or if I want to get a great feel of depth. For instance when rendering an insect sitting a floor or plant or a poolball on a pooltable. In such cases you can use DOF to focus on the insect and ball and create a great feel of the huge size the surroundings have compared to the key-subject. And sometimes it's just cool to use some dof in landscapes with a branch hanging in front of the main landscape it creates a more photographic feel. If you would take a photo of a landascape like that you would focus on the landscape and have the branch blurred.

DOF? of course! for focus and for use in scale... if the picture is in larger scale, DOF still exist but in smaller scale... now you should also consider distance... in the real world, the nearest to the camera is also blurred, if your focus is in the center, and your farthest is also blurred. that is where the focus should be. a little tip on DOF on bryce DOF. place obljects parrallel to each other in a straight line perpindicular to the camera. the fewer the objects the better (this should be untextured) with a minimum of 3 objects. one nearest, the other center and the farthest. now settle for your focus... RENDER with DOF on. this will be the basis for your DOF postwork in photoshop.... i usually do this before.. but not anymore... it helps you understand DOF and makes you understand on faking it. hope i helped... eric

This thread came at a great time. I am using DOF as sort of the focus (no pun intended)for my challenge entry this month and there are some good points here. Although I fear I may not have it completed in time because I'm having a hell of a time with the DTE. Just cant seem to wrap my head around it.

You still have about a week to finish and if neccesary AS can call out one or two extra days. He did that for me (and others) once on my matrix entry for the thingy challenge.

Yeah, having the contest space speeds things up for us. You don't have to wait on me making the html vote page, the pics are already there to look at. Even if I'm away from home (which seems to happen at the end of every month), it's still not a big deal to bring up the vote thread and just count votes. Very big deal to try and make an html vote page while away from my cable modem, lol. AgentSmith

Contest space. Does that mean there's a special site where I have to upload my entry? (sorry, I've been away for a while so I could have missed it)

See the Forum header for the "Challenge Upload" link

Okay. I'll upload there.

Well, I personally just do Depth of Field in post, (and if you're going to do that, let me suggest rendering a mask of some of the main objects, so you can blur things indeviduallly, or the background only behind the main character). But in a real camera, the DOF really depends on how much the aperature is open. basically what that means is that usually, in a dark environment, it opens up more, to let more light onto the film, but that makes it more blurry, so if you're going for the photo realism thing, usually I think it's more DOF in dark. But it's not only based on darkness! As someone else says, if what you are looking at is really small, then give it DOF. Things like cityscapes shouldn't really have it, (unless there's an antenna or something really close in the foreground, or you're going for some type of "visual style".