Gaussian Blur: Adding a touch of soft romance with the Photoshop Gaussian blur filter.
Soften Details with the Gaussian Blur
Softening Images with the Photoshop Gaussian Blur Filter
Most
of the time I try to make my photos as sharp as possible and go to
considerable pains to be sure that they are sharp. Occasionally though
I like to intentionally soften an image just to give it a somewhat
romantic and gentler look. In the photo of two men fishing, for
example, I liked the sharp version, but was doodling around late one night and experimented with a blur filter
and ended up liking the new look.
If you're selling your images, you might try creating both sharp and soft versions of some images since certain types of publishers (calendars, greeting cards, etc.) often have a use for softer images. Soft images also look nice on self-produced cards, scrapbook images, etc.
If you're editing in Photoshop, the simplest way to soften an image is to use the Gaussian Blur filter (though I'm sure that other programs also offer similar softening filters).
Using
Gaussian Blur is very simple: you just apply it to the image and adjust
the degree of softness that you want. But there is a more sophisticated
way to control the balance between sharpness and blur:
1. Call up the original image and do all of your color and exposure corrections.
2. Using "Command J" (Mac; Option J in Windows), duplicate that layer.
3. Go to the filters menu and apply the Gaussian Blur to the duplicate layer.
4.
Go to the "Opacity" slider (top right of the layers panel) and adjust
the opacity of the blur layer until you get just the degree of softness
you're after. The opacity slider lets you reveal the original image and
blend it with the soft image according to the degree of opacity you're
using. At 100% opacity, none of the original sharp image is showing
through. At 50% opacity, the image is an even mix of soft and sharp
files. In this case the opacity was around 40%, meaning that the image
was a mix of 60% sharp and 40% blur layers.
5. Optionally,
experiment with some of the "Layer Blending Modes" (top left of the
layers panel) and see if a different blending mode produces an effect
you like more.
6. Save the file with layers open in case you
want to play with the image again later, then using a different file
name, save a flattened version.
The use of a duplicate layer
allows you to bring up some of the sharpness from the original image
layer and have much more control over the degree of blur in the final
image. In fact, I often use duplicate layers for adjustments so that I
can blend them more precisely with original image.
Chateau Chenonceau in sharp focus. I like the image, but the sharpness is a bit harsh for such a romantic subject.
Chateau Chenonceau shown with a slight Gaussian Blur added to the image. I think the softer focus lends itself more to the romance of the setting. Knowing that some buyers have requested the sharper version, however, I keep both sharp and soft files on hand.
Monarch Butterfly. To create this image I selected the butterfly and then inverted the selection and applied the blur only to the background.
Entire Site Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Wignall
An Ambitious Dogs Production In Association with Boo Boo & Mama Cat Films Please also visit my Photo Tip of the Day blog.
