The Gift

[slejhamer]

I made a soft focus / diffusion action for Photoshop and gave this image the Hallmark treatment. What do you think?


http://members.cox.net/mschlesinger/family/the%20gift_std.jpg



The action retains a good amount edge detail and the soft focus option does not produce significant haloing, making it very good for portraits when applied in small doses. The diffusion option will halo a bit, but not as much as the standard diffusion filter in PS, which I found very frustrating. The action has variable controls using layer opacity sliders; in the above picture the settings were very high. If you would like to test the action and suggest improvements, drop me an email and I'd be happy to send it to you.

P.S. Gotta love the striped sock!

[Conk]

Very nice Mitch. However At first glance I thought it was cropped a bit tight to the right cutting off her arm a bit.

[slejhamer]

conk wrote:
Very nice Mitch. However At first glance I thought it was cropped a bit tight to the right cutting off her arm a bit.

Yes; my bad. That was an unfortunate in-camera crop on that side, but I didn't have time to reshoot. The flash batteries were low and it wasn't recharging quickly; by the time it did, the package was open and the moment gone. :(

Thanks for the comment.

[Conk]

Well in that case it is perfect! :D

[Leighow]

MITCH

Maybe just a tad soft. i.e.I might liked to have seen the option of just a bit more sharpness beyond the face.

Otherwise another fairy-like picture of your favourite subject. She's a beauty and the wonder of the day pervades the scene.

HOWIE

[dewmuw]

Mitch

I love the effect, but I was wondering the the ginger-bread man with your name on it is a good likeness? :o)

Damian

[slejhamer]

Howie - thanks. Yes, it's very soft, thus the "Hallmark" reference above. Now, if I had it printed on high-gloss paper, that would really be overboard... :) Actually the print (Epson 4x6 photo paper) was a bit crisper. I probably didn't sharpen enough after resizing for the web.



Damian - no; my eyes aren't blue. :p

[jasenh7]

I like the shot and the effect. The only thing that bothers me, aside from the aforementioned cropping, is that the girl and dress seem a tad overexposed. Perhaps some dodging to bring out a little contrast to show the flowing of the dress a little more.

Otherwise, it's ready for a Christmas card.

[slejhamer]

jasenh7 - you are correct about the seeming overexposure, which in this case is a result of using a diffusion filter (with layer masks) on top of the soft-focus filter. I did that to make it more "high key" but I see your point about the dress details. Or rather, I don't... well, you know what I mean. :)

Thanks for commenting!