How to get "soft" portraits rather than sharply defined? (Page 2): Check to see if your camera has a Portrait or a Baby scene mode. They usually give a softer look. If that doesn't...

repleo Loc: Boston

hj wrote:

My Daughter-In-Law wants me to shoot our grand daughter with a "soft" look similar to the attached photo of my other granddaughter taken by someone else. I have always gone for the sharper image. Any thoughts how I can get the soft look? I shoot with a Canon 70D. I'm not referring to photography bokeh in the background but the over-all soft look. I have a fog filter and that was way too much.

Check to see if your camera has a Portrait or a Baby scene mode. They usually give a softer look. If that doesn't work, try a little (-) value in Clarity in PP. Not too much or you will get an eerie ghost look. If you have NIX Color Efex, play around with Classical Soft Focus, Glamor Glow or Dynamic Skin Softner.

User ID

hj wrote:

User ID, I have only one fog filter and the effect
is much to strong. However I think I'll try your
suggestion of taut food wrap as an experiment.
I am willing to buy a soft focus filter but am
confused by the numeric designation of 1, 2, 3
etc. Guessing that maybe it signifies the degree
weak to strong of the softening effect?

Every set I've seen #1 is weakest, least effect.

I had the impression that you want an in-camera
solution, but really the replies recommending PP
are excellent recommendations. On-lens effects
are mostly hold-overs from the film days. Back
then I had the thing seen below. It hinged open
and any thin material [gel filter, gauze, window
screen, cellophane etc etc] could be held flat by
this holder.

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

hj wrote:

My Daughter-In-Law wants me to shoot our grand daughter with a "soft" look similar to the attached photo of my other granddaughter taken by someone else. I have always gone for the sharper image. Any thoughts how I can get the soft look? I shoot with a Canon 70D. I'm not referring to photography bokeh in the background but the over-all soft look. I have a fog filter and that was way too much.

Canon makes a nice soft focusing lens (135/2.8), which lets you adjust the amount of softness!

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

hj wrote:

robertjerl, I really like the example you have given. Unfortunately I use only Apples Photo software which doesn't have a clarity slider. Am coming to the conclusion I need a soft focus filter.

An old trick from the film days. Take a clear glass filter and cover it with a very thin film of something like Vasoline jelly. Some also used to swirl the jelly or make it thicker toward the outer edges of the frame.

baygolf Loc: DMV

hj wrote:

My Daughter-In-Law wants me to shoot our grand daughter with a "soft" look similar to the attached photo of my other granddaughter taken by someone else. I have always gone for the sharper image. Any thoughts how I can get the soft look? I shoot with a Canon 70D. I'm not referring to photography bokeh in the background but the over-all soft look. I have a fog filter and that was way too much.

If you have Photoshop give this a try:

https://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/soft-focus-lens/

Good Luck!

StanMac Loc: Tennessee

The old school method was to smear some Vaseline on a UV filter or stretch a piece of neutral colored nylon hose fabric (if you can find some - seems ladies don’t wear nylons anymore) over the front of the lens. Down and dirty but worth a try.

Stan

Oops! Sorry Robert - didn’t read all the posts before posting mine!

A10 Loc: Southern Indiana

Your example is a beautiful portrait of a lovely young lady. No extra softening need IMHO.

polonois Loc: Lancaster County,PA.

Try stretching a piece of white or black pantyhose over the lens. You have to stretch it quite a bit. I secured it with a rubber band. It always worked for me in film days when I didn't have a softar 1 filter available.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

StanMac wrote:

The old school method was to smear some Vaseline on a UV filter or stretch a piece of neutral colored nylon hose fabric (if you can find some - seems ladies don’t wear nylons anymore) over the front of the lens. Down and dirty but worth a try.

Stan

Oops! Sorry Robert - didn’t read all the posts before posting mine!

Great minds think alike, and old guys remember the "way things used to be done".

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

robertjerl wrote:

An old trick from the film days. Take a clear glass filter and cover it with a very thin film of something like Vasoline jelly. Some also used to swirl the jelly or make it thicker toward the outer edges of the frame.

👍🏻👍🏻 Besides the vasoline. Another trick was window screen or stretch nylon panty hose over the lens or filter. I have a variable soft focus lens for my mamiya 645. But I have used the window screen and pantyhose trick quite often

Alafoto Loc: Montgomery, AL

ORpilot wrote:

👍🏻👍🏻 Besides the vasoline. Another trick was window screen or stretch nylon panty hose over the lens or filter. I have a variable soft focus lens for my mamiya 645. But I have used the window screen and pantyhose trick quite often

I also, used this trick a lot in my wedding photography days. I made cardboard frames that could be dropped into the filter slot on my Lindahl lens shade to hold my filter material taut. Had several made with both light and dark panty hose material for low key or high key effects.

marty wild Loc: England

hj wrote:

My Daughter-In-Law wants me to shoot our grand daughter with a "soft" look similar to the attached photo of my other granddaughter taken by someone else. I have always gone for the sharper image. Any thoughts how I can get the soft look? I shoot with a Canon 70D. I'm not referring to photography bokeh in the background but the over-all soft look. I have a fog filter and that was way too much.

You can add a softer feel to your work in any reasonable photo editing program some cameras have built in options check set up in camera settings

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Where PP is concerned, try applying sharpening to just the eyes, and if that isn't soft enough, apply denoise to everything except the eyes. A little bit of negative Clarity will also help, and you could slightly desaturate all of the colours except the skin tones (red, orange, yellow). If the negative Clarity gives you the softness that you want but it ends up looking a bit wishy-washy you could add a touch of positive Contrast. And keeping the overall light level a bit on the bright side will help.

User ID

A10 wrote:

Your example is a beautiful portrait of a lovely
young lady. No extra softening need IMHO.

Right you are ... cuz thaz the already soft-look
example not shot by the OP, which sets the bar
for shots soon to be made by the OP. I got this
info by reading the OP, so I believe it's correct.

.

boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander

hj wrote:

robertjerl, I really like the example you have given. Unfortunately I use only Apples Photo software which doesn't have a clarity slider. Am coming to the conclusion I need a soft focus filter.

Faststone is a free PP program with a blur slider. I don't mean that you should do the following- but an old film photo trick is thinly spread a little vaseline on a clear filter to get a softer look.