Make your photograph look like a long exposure photograph taken with a soft focus filter. Lighter areas are softened and darker areas remain sharp.
 |
1. Open the image for editing. |
 |
2. Duplicate the layer "Background" (Ctrl+J) and apply an image mask to the new layer (Layer> Add Layer Mask> Reveal All). |
 |
3. Select the new layer's layer mask and use the "Apply Image" tool to apply the following properties:
Source: filename
Click OK. |
 |
4. Set the current layer's blending mode to "Screen" and duplicate the layer (Ctrl+J). |
 |
5. Select the middle layer's layer mask and open the "Levels" tool (Ctrl+L). Move the black input slider under the white input slider. Click OK. |
 |
6. Apply a "Gaussian Blur" (Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur") with a radius that will soften the edges. Click OK. |
 |
7. Select the top layer and apply a "Brightness" of "50" and a "Contrast" of "50 using the "Brightness/Contrast" tool (Image> Adjustment> Brightness/Contrast). |
 |
8. Duplicate the layer "Background" and move it to the top layer. Set the new layer's blending mode to "Overlay". |
|
9. Adjust the opacity of the middle layers to reduce the strength of the effect. Rollover the image on the left of this step to see the original image before this technique was applied. |
