As any Hollywood cinematographer can tell you, soft focus is a powerful, beautiful effect that can greatly enhance photographs of people.
Of course, when I say soft focus, I don't mean "out of focus." Soft focus is not the same thing as a blurry picture. Indeed, if you look closely at a soft-focus photograph, you'll see that there are sharp details in the image--but the picture has an overall glow to it that takes the edge off of the hard edges.
So how do you get a soft-focus effect in your photos? The old-fashioned way is to apply some gel to the front of your camera lens. Or you could use a special soft-focus lens designed for just that purpose. This is the 21st century, though; let's do it the digital way.
Open a portrait photo into your favorite image editing program; I'll demonstrate with Corel's Paint Shop Pro. If you don't have a photo handy, feel free to use this picture of my niece and her daughter. It's not a bad photo, but it's marred by some weird blurriness at the bottom. I don't know what caused that, but I originally thought I should crop the bottom away to eliminate that distraction. Later, I decided that I could obscure it by applying a soft-focus effect.
The first step is to apply a generous layer of blur. There's nothing better than the Gaussian Blur tool for this kind of job, so choose
Since this is fairly small, try setting the radius to 10. If you were working with a much larger image (say, a 6-megapixel picture) you might need to set the radius to about 25. When you are satisfied with the blur, click OK. You'll have something that looks like this.
Remember how I mentioned that a good soft-focus picture still retains sharp, focused details? We'll achieve that effect by combining the two images--the sharp and the blurry--using layers. Copy the blurry image to the clipboard by choosing
Now it's time to combine the two images. Choose
Finally, to finish the image, reduce the opacity of the top, blurry, layer until just the right amount of sharpness peeks through. To do that, make sure you can see the Layers Palette. If you can't, toggle it on by choosing
If you can, drag the slider until your picture looks good. If not, double-click on the top layer (it's probably called Raster 1) and use the opacity control in the Layer Properties dialog box to make the adjustment. For my final picture, I used an opacity level of 62 percent.
In the past few newsletters, I've mentioned how the RAW file format is getting quite popular these days, and how it is becoming almost as convenient to use as JPEG--only with better image quality. Now that Microsoft has released a RAW viewer for Windows, using this format is easier than ever.
The Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP may be a mouthful, but it's a great addition to any digital photographer's PC. The software is free via a download from the Microsoft Web site. This program is a PowerToy--a program that adds cool new capabilities to Windows XP, but isn't officially supported by the company. So if you have any trouble with this RAW viewer, you can't expect to call Microsoft tech support. And you'll need a current PC to take advantage of it, too: It won't install unless you have Windows XP SP2.
That said, the Microsoft RAW Image Thumbnailer and Viewer for Windows XP updates Windows to take advantage of RAW files from most Canon and Nikon cameras (presumably, support for other variations of RAW will come later). Now you can see thumbnails of your RAW images, and double-clicking the pictures opens a special version of the Picture and Fax viewer that is specially modified to preview RAW images. You can even run a slideshow of RAW images.
There are some things Windows still can't do with RAW. If your folder is set to "filmstrip" view, RAW images won't show a large preview, for instance. And the Picture Tasks pane in photo folders doesn't work with RAW images. But overall, it's a big step forward and a worthy download for any RAW photographer.
Q&A: Controlling the Flash in Macro PhotosThanks for your June article on macro photography. When I use my external flash with macro shots, though, I sometimes get too much light on the subject. What can I do to get the right exposure?
For very close work, Bill, you might try taking the external flash off entirely. Most flash units aren't designed for macro photography, and they can either overpower the scene or create harsh shadows--especially if the flash is blocked in part by the lens itself. If you have a digital SLR, you might look into getting an attachment known as a ring light, which is a special kind of flash that screws onto the front of the lens and evenly illuminates the subject all the way around.
If you do need to use your external flash, though, there are a few easy work-arounds to try. You can hunt around in the camera's menu for a way to reduce the intensity of the flash. Try making the flash fire at 50 percent power, for instance. Or do it the hacker's way: Put a layer of tissue paper over the flash, so it's automatically diffused. That's an old trick I've used many times.
Hot Pic of the WeekGet published, get famous! Each week, we select our favorite reader-submitted photo based on creativity, originality, and technique. Every month, the best of the weekly winners gets a prize valued at between $15 and $50.
Here's how to enter: Send us your photograph in JPEG format, at a resolution no higher than 640 by 480 pixels. Entries at higher resolutions will be immediately disqualified. If necessary, use an image editing program to reduce the file size of your image before e-mailing it to us. Include the title of your photo along with a short description and how you photographed it. Don't forget to send your name, e-mail address, and postal address. Before entering, please read the full description of the contest rules and regulations.
Dave Johnson
