The Complete Beginner’s Guide To Soft Focus Photography
Learn all about Soft Focus Photography
This blog will be divided into three areas:
Soft focus
Photographic process of taking soft-focus pictures
Edit an image and include soft focus effects
SOFT FOCUS
The soft-focus technique is a way of photographing things so that the edges of the objects in the photograph are relatively not sharp or clear. The soft-focus technique is used for reducing the local contrast in an image, and also for adding a kind of dreamy glow. this technique is used in portrait photography to reduce the appearance of fine detail such as skin pores, giving a smoother effect.
When to use the soft focus technique
Portraits
Nature Shots
an extra option is to buy a soft-focus lens so that you can take these types of pictures -
Use a soft-focus lens - There are various soft-focus lenses available that can give you soft images without the use of a soft-focus filter. Many of these lenses allow you to control the degree of softness in an image.
Use a Soft Focus Filter - Probably the easiest and most obvious way to achieve this effect is to purchase a soft-focus filter. You may find these filters marketed as Soft, Diffusion, Mist, or Hollywood filters.
2. Photographic process of taking soft-focus pictures
The process of soft focus is really simple. you will set up your camera for either a portrait or when shooting a nature shot. Make sure that you use the correct exposure settings for the lighting.
If you are taking blurred pictures, try and make sure that you have the correct speed and you don’t have any motion blur.
REMEMBER THAT FINE ART IS CREATIVE SO BE CREATIVE DURING THIS PROCESS.
what you need: petroleum jelly, nylon, translucent material, rubber band, and camera.
During each process, I would suggest that you attach your camera to a tripod
Use autofocus when shooting a person
Once you have your subject in focus for either type of picture
Turn the camera to manual focus
Position the soft-focus material in front of the lens
Take the photograph
Some key tips to consider in your process:
When using nylons, the more you stretch the fabric will less intense the softening effect. You can also control the soft-focus effect with the thickness of the material you put over the lens.
wATCH MY VIDEO ON HOW TO COMPLETE THIS PROCESS
IMAGE EXAMPLES FROM USING THE NYLON MATERIAL
3. Edit an image and include soft focus effects
Editing this effect is very simple and it gives you the chance to learn about the effects of the blur filters that Photoshop offers
This is a YouTube video on how to make a portrait dreamy
The filters used in the YouTube video are perfect for forming a soft-focus portrait image.
When I am editing images and wish to create soft-focus I mainly use the filter Gaussian Blur, which is a different filter from what is used within the YouTube video shown above.
EDITING PROCESS FOR USING GAUSSIAN BLUR FILTER & BLEND MODES
these images are the end edited results per blend option that I have used.
Image 1 is the original - Image 2 has used overlay blend mode - Image 3 has used screen blend mode
I do hope that this technique is something you may wish to use for your own camera processes. The next blog will be all about this technique - Zoom Burst
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