Not bad. The effect is pretty good, but not exactly like a soft focus lens. I have seen many attempts with PS to duplicate and have yet to see the same thing. I suspect one issue is that when the picture is taken, the actual depth of the image comes into play with the lens effect. When in PS, you are really working on a 2 dimensional image so have a difficult time simulating the depth.
-- Bruce Sunday, January 29, 2006, 7:49:05 PM, you wrote: G> I dont have a soft portrait lens. I've been looking for one for a G> while, but I keep missing them. Well, I figured I would try to use PS G> to aproximate the effect. Its hard. Those lenses are quite special. G> Here is an attempt using an older portrait I took some time back: G> http://www.g0nz.com/images/ksoftaprox.jpg G> I did the usual channel mix + desaturated layer for the black and white G> till I got it where I wanted. Then I made a copy of this, upsized it G> about 1%, then trimmed it to the original size. Next, I applied a G> gaussian blur to it plus a little levels adjustment to make it more high G> key. I then took this image and made it a layer on top of the original, G> varying the opacity till I got what looked pretty decent G> My thinking behind this is: its not just a blur that the soft lens G> appear to make, its like adding oof images on top of an actual sharp G> image somehow. It also appears to add like a halo around everything, G> hence the upsizing of the blurry layer. G> Comments welcome. G> Thanks, G> rg
