Techie Tip of the Week: Photoshop – Adding Soft Focus to Portraits

Have a portrait or a photograph of a person or object you want to emphasize without overdoing it? Adding a soft-focus to the photo can be the difference between a flat, boring photo, and one that evokes warmth and interest.

Soft Focus

Example of Adding Soft Focus to a Portrait

To add soft focus in Photoshop:

1. Open the photograph in Photoshop.
2. Create a duplicate layer by using the keyboard shortcut CTRL-J (Windows) / Command-J (Mac).
3. In Layers, click Layer 1.
4. On the Filter menu, point to Blur, and select Lens Blur. Click OK.
5. In Layers, change the Opacity of Layer 1 to the desired amount of soft focus (e.g., 50%).
6. On the Image menu, point to Adjustments, and select Hue/Saturation. Increase the Saturation to make the colors “pop” (e.g., +50). Click OK.

Note the soft focus on your photo!

Want to learn more great Photoshop tips? Come take our class Photoshop 101 on February 18, 2011.

For more information on the class, watch the course preview video , or visit http://techtraining.stanford.edu/.

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Tags: adobe, image, image editing, photoshop

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