One tip I learned from the shot clips a few months ago... and I will apply that to my entry is that using Vaseline, very light layer on your filter. Probably a UV filter, clear. That should give a soft look to your photo. I actually used it on one of my challenges.
and to add to this, if you have a nice UV, go out and buy a shitty skylight or uv to put vaseline on. dont put it on your $80+ UV filter so you can spend 20 minutes getting it off and polishing scratches into it
i used hair styling gel and a layer of thin plastic foil over my cheap uv filter.
the hair styling gel alone works great as long as it is wet, but when it dries out the soft focus effect disappears alittle and changes it appearance. anyways nice to experiment with ;)
Soft focus is one of my favorite things and very much a favorite of some of my mentors. They got me into two different SF pieces of equipment: Canon 135mm f/2.8 SF and an old time Sima lens. I shoot with them all of the time, specifically when shooting certain kinds of events. Tonight and Thursday I will again be shooting ballerinas and those items will definitely be in my bag. These require lots of practice to get good results, but it is worth it when it works.
There are plenty of tutorials and PS actions out there on the wab if you would rather do this is post. The one listed above I believe is legal in basic, but some of the ones that produce better results aren't. The main reason is that after you apply a SF treatment, you proably will want to apply a layer mask and remove the treatment or at least lessen the treatment on certain areas of the photo, like the eyes for example.
Different lighting conditions also have a lot to do with your results. Typically lots of contrast in the shot will produce a better result. Just turning any shot into a SF doens't always make sense or work out the best. Shots of kids or females with a bright sky or window behind them work nicely. Also, low light with black behind the subject can produce a dreamy effect.
I have a feeling that this is going to be one hard challenge. Comments ranging from, too soft, too blurry, not enough softness, what is it, never pick up a camera again, out of focus.
Good Luck to each and everyone of you, I will look forward to voting in this one as I think it will be interesting
1) Add gaussian blur....then go to edit-->fade gaussian blur-->and set blend mode to soft light. legal in basic 2) create a duplicate layer -- hide background layer -- erase lips and eyes (or whatever you want to remain somewhat sharp --- unhide background layer --- set blend mode to soft light legal in advanced.
My method for soft focus stuff is to use a small piece of glass (eg. from a 5x7 picture frame) hand held in front
of the camera. For the blur, I use gel deodorant. No need to smear up your filters or camera equipment at all! Works great!
Qualifies for basic editing.
I wasn't going to try to shoot this but with all these tips, I am starting to reconsider because I want to try them out. It will be fun in any event. :)
