Soft Focus

Steelafan

Greeting,

I had just very recently started( 2 weeks) working with photoshop and I have a technical question. How or where is the soft focus option to add onto photos?? :dunno You know, the white halo around the photograph.
Not being able to find or create it is driving me nuts!!:huh

Any answer would be very helpful. :help

Tim Kamppinen

Soft focus, however it is achieved, is a soft, dreamy quality to the whole image that is used mostly on portraits... what you're describing sounds like a white vignette around the edges of your photo. If that's what you're looking for, go to filters-distort-lens correction and play with the lens vignetting. Drag the slider to the right to get a white vignette, drag it to the left to get a black vignette. Adjust the midpoint slider to control how far it encroaches on your image.

You can also do this in camera raw or lightroom and have much more control over it, as there are more sliders to control different aspects of the vignette. Look under the lens corrections tab and adjust the sliders for "post crop vignette".

Steelafan

Thanks

Steelafan

wait.......its not working.

Tim Kamppinen

Steelafan wrote:

wait.......its not working.

Uh, could you be more specific?

Steelafan

Ok, I followed your instruction but I can’t get the white vignette effect I’m looking for. It comes out black and even that was hardly noticeable. I was playing around with it but it doesn’t seem to want to work.

Let me tell you , this program is a lot different the other programs I have used.

By the way, you do great work!

Nikolai

There are tons of ways to achieve that effect in PS

One of the simplest is to create a duplicate layer, apply a relatively small amount of Gaussian Blur or Surface Blur, switch Blending mode to Screen, Lighten or one of the "X light" modes, and then adjust opacity to get the effect you want. Some masking may be needed in key areas (e.g. eyes, lips, etc.)

HTH

Tim Kamppinen

Steelafan wrote:

Ok, I followed your instruction but I can’t get the white vignette effect I’m looking for. It comes out black and even that was hardly noticeable. I was playing around with it but it doesn’t seem to want to work.

Let me tell you , this program is a lot different the other programs I have used.

By the way, you do great work!

Thanks. I was wrong about the lens correction in photoshop. It will lighten the edges of the images if you drag it to the right but it doesn't actually make them go white. The "post crop vignette" sliders in camera raw will make it go white, however, so the easiest way would be to do it in camera raw, if you have it.

To do it in photoshop, just off the top of my head you could create a new layer and fill it with white. Now you photo will look pure white. Now create a layer mask on that layer (it's the button that looks like a square with a circle in it) and get a big, soft, black brush. Now, with the layer mask (not the actual layer) selected, paint with the black brush to reveal your original photo. Once you have the vignette how you want it you can reduce the opacity of the whole layer to lessen the intensity if you wish.

One thing you'll learn quickly is that there are many different ways to do anything in PS. This is just one way, and it may not be the best way either. If you search for something like "photoshop white vignette tutorial" on google you'll probably find lots of other ways to do it as well.

Have fun!

Steelafan

Yeah that seems to be a better technique. Thanks for all your help. I reallly like your work with the Colt pistol. Good processing. I have been trying to get that effect for years using various other programs. I'm hoping to finally figure it out with Photoshop.

Thunder Rabbit

Howdy.

Here’s another simple way to make a vignette. It’s variation on Tim’s suggestion, using the Marquee tool to create a feathered selection, and deleting it, revealing the image underneath.

Make a new layer.

Fill it with white. (Or any color you want.)

Select the Oval Marquee tool. (M) ,(Shift+M to toggle between Oval and Rectangular Marquee tool.)

Drag to create a selection in the shape you want for your vignette. (You can drag it around to center it.)

Click on “Refine Edge” on toolbar at top. The dialog box opens. At the bottom, select the “On Black” view (third from left). You will see your selection in white, and the outside will be black. (You won’t be able to see your original image yet.)

Now, drag the Feather slider to the right. The feathering will be visible as you drag. (Make sure the “Preview” box is checked.) Adjust to taste. You can also change the size of the selection by dragging the Contract/Expand slider left or right. You can also adjust the contrast. When you’re happy, click on OK .

Now you’ll see marching ants on white. It looks like nothing happened, but it did. It’s just that marching ants can’t indicate feathering too well. It’s there. You’ll see in the next step.

Hit “Delete”. This will chop a feathered hole in your white layer, revealing the image underneath. You can now adjust the opacity and blending mode to suit your taste. You can also apply filters and effects to the vignette layer.

Doing this is a lot simpler than explaining it. Check it out, and you’ll see what I mean.