I started working on this image as an exercise to learn about EnvSphere, IDL and some new props. I did NOT like the way it came out, but it does raise a question for me.

I loaded the EnvSphere prop

I loaded the EnvPanaromicEffects material. No changes made to the material except:

I set the gamma in and out both to 1 because I was using gamma correction in the render.

I put the HDRVFX Pond in the Panoramic Image node

I used Poser Pro 2012. I use inches. The camera settings and the render settings are shown in my next post. I tried indirect light but it made such a mess of things that I turned it off.

When I started out, I wondered whether DOF was going to affect the EnvSphere image visible through the window at all. What I did not expect was the effect that I got. The effect on the far wall and the image on the Sphere were blurred exactly the same amount. Or at least it looked that way to me. There is no glass in the windows.

I know that the image on the sphere is much farther away than the back wall of the room. Why is it not blurred more than the wall? Is there a maximum amount of blurring created by DOF?

I’m sure I have forgotten something, but I will answer any questions you have.

Here is the camera and render data.

maybe my eyes are bad... to me everything at the back of the scene is blurred so much I couldnt honestly say if it looks blurred more or less than the window.  I think at that point its blurred to the point nobody is really going to be examining the background at all

The envsphere is very large ( 5000 feets if i remember correctly), your props are very close, knowing that the envsphere is more blured.

Example ( fast render ) scene without DOF

Fast render with the focus on the flagon

Same scene with focus on the goblet

As you can see on the two lasts renders, the blur on the envsphere is the same.

Now i add walls and put the focus on the flagon

Same with focus on the goblet

Look at the blur on the picture frame ...

 

Envsphere is really good to add light on a scene, not for backgroung ;)

As said by BB, if I remember correctly (if was stated by some one else, please excuse me BB...), the blurred effect is caused by a different focus from Poser's camera versus the real camera who has taken the picture, to avoid that blur effect you have to lower the Poser's camera focal from 20 to 25, higher values are giving that result.

Thanks Anthanasius. That helps. Your examples allow me to actually "see" the differences in the images. I think you are right about the Sphere being more blurred. It has to be. There is a level of subtlety in the blurr of my image's windows that my eyes just don’t see.

Anthanasius was right. I ran several test and the blurring does increase out to the EnvSphere. It is a great tool for lighting, but it has limits as a background image. I did this render with indirect lighting on, DOF and SSS. I will post it in the gallery tomorrow after I take some time to work on it in photoshop.