How to create soft images

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im stuck in my ways, mainly because its the only thing i know. My PP mainly consists of importing everything into lightroom, and editing for vibrant colours and sharp images, but I need to learn other options

like how do you create soft looking images? Ive seen tons of examples in portraits of people, wedding shots etc...

i think it would help for those shots where the colour doesnt jump like i normally want it to

thanks :)

[tim]

Smear vaseline on the lens ;) Or apply a gaussian blur in photoshop. Select an area to keep it sharp, feather the selection, invert the selection, copy to a layer, and apply the blur to that layer - use a layer mask if you like. That's one of many ways to do it.

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thanks, its the feather the selection part that I didnt know about, I was trying to play around in photoshop with selecting certain things, but it never worked out because there was an obvious difference where the effect ended and the selected area began

[tim]

It takes a while to learn the little tricks :)

[Sleemans]

Ron Bigelow's site, lot's of Photoshop stuff.
http://ronbigelow.com/articles/soft-focus/soft-focus.htm

Hope this helps.

[lostdoggy]

A simple way would be to copy the background layer. On the copy layer apply gaussient Blur then create a vector mask on the copy layer. Select a soft brush, reduce the opacity to 50% or so set FG color to black and then stroke the areas you want to be sharper. If you make a mistake just brush over the mask with white as the FG color and will slowly blur. The more you stroke the area w/ the brush the more you reveal/hide. This a more controlable way the feather the blur.

[PhotosGuy]

Airbrush Tutorial: Instant Cosmetic Procedure (http://photography.qj.net/Airbrush-Tutorial-Instant-Cosmetic-Procedure/pg/49/aid/56578)

Tutorial-Soft filfter-High Key (NO 56K!!!)
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=277390

[Picture North Carolina]

Ron Bigelow's site, lot's of Photoshop stuff.
http://ronbigelow.com/articles/soft-focus/soft-focus.htm

Hope this helps.

I'm ashamed to admit I had forgotten about Ron's site and have not been there in months. Ron is a member of potn and his in-depth tutorials of photoshop, especially the basics such as curves, etc., are among the best around. I strongly recommend that anybody who is learning photoshop read every tutorial on Ron's site. /Dan

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thanks alot guys, will give some of those a try

what kind of effect would this be? I dont wanna call it "soft" but it definitely doesn't look like it was just colour adjusted during pp

any ideas

http://www.bethsmithphoto.com/portfolio/portrait2/portrait8.jpg

[donboyfisher]

it doesn't look like much more than standard depth of field which is applying the blur / bokeh, where the near girl is the focal point.

other than that, it looks like its been cooled down a little colourwise and a vignette effectr applied.

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umph, weird maybe your right, maybe its just cooler then what I normally try and get