how do you get this fantasy/dreamy effect?

[shingfan]

i guess i posted in the wrong section before.....now reposting this here hoping i can get some replies.

how do you get effect like the second photo in this thread......i know the original poster already post his method....but i'm posting this thread to see if there are other alternative method to acheive the same effect......i believe learning is endless

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/s...ad.php?t=71806

 

[newrmdmike]

read up on effects with gaussian blur! its all about the blend mode

that and a local contrast adjustment + lowering color sateration of the background is all the post there was.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Vignettes and gaussian blurs.

 

[shingfan]

Vignettes and gaussian blurs.

can you give a bit of explanation as to what each does?....i'm very green

 

[Garbz]

vignetting is the dark circle that is evident towards the borders, gausian blur is just that, a blur. When you combine the blured image with the original image and blend them together you get a similar result to what you see in that second image. It was called soft focusing before photoshop came out

 

[newrmdmike]

actually the vignetting is in camera, the angle was a little too wide, so the dark corners are actually from my ringlight being partially in the frame.

and vignetting has nothing to do with soft focus . . . soft focus is well, soft focus.

 

[blooper]

Vignettes and gaussian blurs.

i would have said that too.
vignette is the darkness around the edges. in this case, the corners. the blur renders some depth if the photo so you get a good sense of depth kinda. and as far as lighting, id say it was shot on a day with overcast (the sky was covered completely by clouds) and the color balance was tampered with so that the colors in her skin and hair pop more, probably a boost in red. thats what i got from the pics.

 

[harkain]

You can create many effects with rich color or softing by using duplicate layers with various blending modes and then setting the layers to lower opacities.

It's important to remember if trying blending modes for the first time to keep a solid image on a lower layer.

Applying a Gaussian blur and changing the blend mode to Overlay or Soft Light can create interesting soft effects, especially combined with other blended layers.

I find that you can do some very strong blending modes set at a layer Opacity of 3% to 10% and tweak your image.

Of course, everything you do depends on the image you are working on. They all require different processes to some degree to get them just right and a lot of it is personal preference. Just be subtle and you probably won't be wrong.

A very simple trick with blend modes for quick results is to make a duplicate layer, set the blend mode to Overlay and adjust the opacity to between about 5% and 20% (lower is usually better). This adds more contrast and makes your image more vibrant. I recommend it for images you are placing on the web, but not so much for printing.

Something I do for objects, but not so much for people is similar. I make the top layer a High Pass filter set to Overlay or Soft Light and low opacity. The next layer is simply set to Overlay or Soft Light and sometimes another layer with Gaussian Blur and set to Overlay or Soft Light. Maybe add a layer set to Screen blend mode to lighten it a bit, and again at a low Opacity. Then I play with the sliders, maybe add a Saturation layer mask or two to add more color or take it away to specific objects. It's easy to play around and oversharpen the image or make it too saturated. However, doing wedding photography, this type of effect looks very good on wine glasses and things of that nature.

For most other detail shots, I use an Overlay or Soft Light layer and a Gaussian blur layer with Overlay. It's good to keep the opacity very low and fine it. Then I use a High Pass filter set to Overlay and possibly layer mask that layer to put the slight sharpen effect on the focal point or whatever really needs it (usually anything metal or glass for sure). This makes the image really pop. If Overlay adds any funky colors, like yellow, I try to blend it out with an adjustment layer or reduce the opacity of the Overlay layer.

There are probably 1000's of things you could do with blend modes. I'm always experimenting. Usually reading a tutorial to do one thing, I stumble onto something else midway through.