Soft Focus
Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2010 9:58 am
In the current issue of one of my photo magazines Rick Sammon shows a very fast and simple way to create a soft-focus look. We all aim for properly exposed and tack sharp images but, in portraits a softer focus is usually more pleasing. Studio photographers have used special lenses or filters for years to do this.
Here is an example:
1. Make all of your PSE adjustments. I ended with a B&W conversion. Flatten the image.
2. Ctrl-J to duplicate the background layer and run the High Pass Filter (Filter > Other > High Pass). The higher the resolution of your imager, the bigger the number you want for radius. My image was a 5x7 at 500ppi and my High Pass strength was 10 -- much higher than I use when using High Pass for sharpening. It's better to go "too much" rather than "too little" because you can always lower the opacity of that layer to lessen the effect but you can't do anything to increase it.
3. Change the blend mode of that High Pass layer to Overlay. It looks very sharp and contrasty doesn't it. Ctrl-I to invert the image; shazam! Now it is soft.
4. Add a mask to that layer. You can hijack an adjustment layer or use an add-in as I did (Graffi's Handy Actions). If you don't wand to use a mask, you can simply use the Eraser Tool. The Eraser is destructive; if you screw up you'll have to delete that High Pass layer and start over. You want to bring back sharpness detail to parts of the now soft layer. I worked on the eyes, mouth and a few other spots. Here is what your layer stack looks like:
You will probably need to tweak the image with a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer.
Here is my finished product.
This is not just for repair of skin wrinkles or blemishes. You can get some nice effects on young, beautiful skin as well ... a nice glow:
There are plug-ins that will do this in one click (Nik Color Efex Pro or Topaz Adjust) but using a masked High Pass filter in this way gives you individual control over what's soft and what's sharp.
Rusty
Here is an example:
1. Make all of your PSE adjustments. I ended with a B&W conversion. Flatten the image.
2. Ctrl-J to duplicate the background layer and run the High Pass Filter (Filter > Other > High Pass). The higher the resolution of your imager, the bigger the number you want for radius. My image was a 5x7 at 500ppi and my High Pass strength was 10 -- much higher than I use when using High Pass for sharpening. It's better to go "too much" rather than "too little" because you can always lower the opacity of that layer to lessen the effect but you can't do anything to increase it.
3. Change the blend mode of that High Pass layer to Overlay. It looks very sharp and contrasty doesn't it. Ctrl-I to invert the image; shazam! Now it is soft.
4. Add a mask to that layer. You can hijack an adjustment layer or use an add-in as I did (Graffi's Handy Actions). If you don't wand to use a mask, you can simply use the Eraser Tool. The Eraser is destructive; if you screw up you'll have to delete that High Pass layer and start over. You want to bring back sharpness detail to parts of the now soft layer. I worked on the eyes, mouth and a few other spots. Here is what your layer stack looks like:
You will probably need to tweak the image with a Brightness/Contrast adjustment layer.
Here is my finished product.
This is not just for repair of skin wrinkles or blemishes. You can get some nice effects on young, beautiful skin as well ... a nice glow:
There are plug-ins that will do this in one click (Nik Color Efex Pro or Topaz Adjust) but using a masked High Pass filter in this way gives you individual control over what's soft and what's sharp.
Rusty