I used some vitamin E oil on an old lens. However, I had to hand hold it so it didn't touch my camera. That worked but a little too well. I then started exhaling on the lens. That worked but I had to hurry before the lens would cool and the condensation cleared. LOL Fun challenge and not easy.
Nice composition, background and foreground. clouring and lighting but the soft focus doesn't do much for me in this case - perhaps if the effect was lessened?
Think you went a little overboard with the soft focus and unfortunately this just looks very blurry. Composition is good, the red is fairly vibrant, and the reflection on the apple is minimum (which I found to be the hardest part of photographing apples). There is a little browness of the apple flesh, and I've found putting a little lemon juice on the exposed areas can lessen the time it takes for the apple to brown. The image is ok, it just looks like a very heavy fog is distorting the view.