Gaussian blue + overlay - help needed for wedding images

[jessica_patterson]

Ok. I am trying to master the "dreamy/halo" effect in photoshop and I keep

running into problems. The threads I have read say to create a new or

duplicate layer, run gaussian blue, then use overlay or soft light, and change

the opacity to acheive look. The problems I encounter is that the blur

completely disappears when I add overlay or soft light. It just turns really

dark and doesn't have the soft look to it. Also, I try to use the eraser tool

to sharpen the face, and sometimes you can see the strokes from the eraser.

Any advice?

[vlad khavin]

Jessica, instead of using the erase tool, create a mask for the blur layer, and paint black onto it with a soft brush. This will hide the blur where you paint black on the mask. You want to set the flow of your brush down to something small like 2 or 3%, and build up the areas. That means you will have to brush over the same area multiple times to get the blur totally hidden. This will let you make smoother transitions. I would start with a larger brush, and paint black over larger areas that you want less blur on, then decrease the brush size and put some more black on more specific areas. If you are using a mask and you make a mistake, you can just paint white over your mistake on the mask and fix it; if you delete on the actual layer, if it's gone... it's gone unless you still have it in your History.

 

As far as the blending mode, Overlay will darken the image and do interesting things with colors and saturation. So will Multiply (at least with the darkening, I don't think it does the same thing with colors). Soft Light... I guess does to some extent too. Try just leaving the blending mode as Normal, and reduce the opacity for the whole blur layer to something like 20%, and go from there. Want more blur? Bump up the opacity... Less? Knock it down a little more.

 

You can use Screen and Multiply (which lighten the image and darken it respectively), but you will want to increase the amount of blur you apply to the layer quite substantially to get that dreamy look back.

[rm_pierce]

Here is a tutorial I ran across that I really like.

 

http://www.photoshoptalent.com/photoshop-tutorials/soft-glow-in-photo.php

 

It's several steps but I've used it so much that I can do it in 20 seconds now. I really like the way it looks. You do have to pick and choose the right picture though- not every picture looks good with the soft glow. This is at least what I think you are wanting but I may be off base- just trying to help! Let me know if it works.

[paul_sokal___dallas__tx]

Check this out:

http://www.rangefindermag.com/magazine/jun06/showpage.taf?page=88

 

Paul