Soft Focus

[essence]

I am trying to use find a way to give my photos a beautiful glow (I am not sure of any actual terminology).

The glow I am trying to achieve, I found in Jodi Frye's Gallery. There is an image of girl (your daughter??) with a caption "...she 'just' turned seven". This image has the glow, as does the one where you used what you called "Jodi's Soft Sepia". I have experimented with several filters and layers, but I can't achieve the look.

I would love some direction.

By the way, Jodi, I absolutely love your work. It is amazing!!
:D

[Wendy]

Hi Tiffany,

... and welcome to the forum :)

Jodi work is beautiful and she is so talented, she should be along later and I'm sure that she will pick up this thread and help you.


Wendy

[Jodi Frye]

Well it's really all about the look of my daughter...she 'glows' ;) and of course a little elements help

Duplicate image, apply gaussian blur..around 22, set blend mode to overlay. Apply a hue/saturation adjustment layer and reduce saturation to around -10 (you'll have to eyeball this depending on your image ) OR you can choose to select the 'colorize' option as i did with my images to give in a monotoned look. Afterwards apply a levels adjustment layer if need to lighten it up a bit. Just play around. Nothing is ever set in stone when it comes to following other people's steps.

[Wendy]

Jodi ..

I didn't know that one ... just tried it out and it gives a wonderful effect. I have put it in my tips book :)

Thank you ...

Wendy

[essence]

Thank you very much. I already tried it and it looks fantastic. :D :D :D

This is a great forum!! I am so glad that I stumbled across it today!!

[Jodi Frye]

Hey, glad it worked for you ! Ya it's always fun to play with the gaussian blur...my most favoritist filter of all ;)

[Jodi Frye]

Wendy, it's amazing how many plug-ins are for sale for Photoshop...most of the stuff we can do in Elements !

We should go into business :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Patricia Heere]

Thank you Jodi. I have a couple of old photos I want to try to get that effect on.

Pat

[JennB]

Hi Jodi,

I wish you can do one of the tutorials on the site sometimes! Is there any way we can suggest that to someone? Maybe Dave Cross will come across this thread and make one credited to you...I think that would be the coolest thing! :D

[Jodi Frye]

Jenn, I would need the screen recording software to do this. At the moment we are trying to figure out how we are going to get fuel oil to heat this house for the winter. :roll: But thanks for the encouragement !

[Kathy]

Jodi,

Another one to add to my ever growing list of "Jodi's Effects". Thank you for sharing your wonderful techniques.

I agree with Jenn ....... and they should provide you with the screen recording software to do this ..... in the meantime, they should pay you and Wendy and Mike and Gary and etc. (you know who you are) ...... for all the advice you guys give on this site. At least they should consider giving you FREE subscriptions !!!! :)

Will deserves a Free One too for all the time he spends on the "Fun" projects. :)

Kathy

[JennB]

Jodi, I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles. I will pray that everything will be fine for you and your family.http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/consoling1.gif (http://www.millan.net) I'm sure you would appreciate one of these: http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/grouphugg.gif (http://www.millan.net)

As for the screen recording software, maybe the goodhearted folks from this forum will provide you with one. :)

[Jodi Frye]

no no no...they have done enough for me already ! I feel as tho i owe them now... !!!! They spoil me.

[CarolLHB]

HI Jodi,
Wow...I just tried your tip out on a photo of my niece that was going to be a black and white series for her Mom for Christmas-not any more!! That effect is beautiful! I use the G Blur for soft focus, at about 12.5 then lower the opacity, but changing the blend mode to overlay just put the image right over the top. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge-we all appreciate it so much. :D

[essence]

Jodi,

I've been working on some photos using your technique and I found that when I use the Overlay for the Gaussian blur layer, it makes my already very high contrast photos, have even more contrast and it is making the black look too dark and some of the detail is being lost. I had to do a whole bunch of adjustments layers to fix the problem.

I changed the overlay option to lighten and it fixed the problem that I was having. I don't even have to create a hue/saturation adjustment layer.

I will use your technique of clicking on overlay to create monotone look though. It looks great. :D

Thank you for your help. Just thought I would add this info for anyone with the same problem that I had.

[Jodi Frye]

Tiffany, that's great ! You don't know how pleased i am that you found a way to suit your needs with this...that's why I said ' Just play around. Nothing is ever set in stone when it comes to following other people's steps.'...this was why i said it. Everyone's images and tastes are different :) Thank goodness for that ! :D

[KimC]

Hi Jodi,
I was going through the forum and found your steps for your pictures (which by the way are beautiful). I'm very new to Photoshop, in fact I just purchased Photo Shop Elements 4. When you say to set the blend mode to 22, where do I do this at. Thanks in advance for any help, I've learned so much already on this site. . .

Kim

[Wendy]

Hi Kim ...

Jodi's instructions say:

apply gaussian blur..around 22, set blend mode to overlay

For Gaussain Blur ... Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur
then to change the blend mode go to the layers palette, click on the layer you want to change then look at the top of the layers palette to where you see a box marked normal. That where you change the blend mode to overlay.

Hope this helps :)

Wendy

[Jodi Frye]

Thanks Wendy, I feel badly that I have not been around and able to keep up...life seems to get in the way of that lately. Thanks for your help in responding, I truly appreciate it. I hope to be back on track by the end of the week...after all the gold glitter settles ;)

[Wendy]

Jodi ...

Oh thats OK ... I knew you were busy with the Anniversary Party.

Hope it all goes well and save a piece of cake for me :)

Wendy

[kevq]

Hi Jodi,
Just tried your tip and it is great.
In both colour and monotone the images look so much better.
Thanks,
Kev.

ps - I think you and Wendy should get together somehow and write a book of tips. A lot of your tips and explanations aren't covered in the books that I have.

[NMarti]

Jodi,
Thanks SOOOO much for your tip. I was working with a photo of my daughter all day and just couldn't get the look I was hoping for. The color seemed flat and dull. I tried about a million adjustments and always cames back to the original with no satisfaction. I was just reading through the forum and found your technique posted. I tried it and it is really gorgeous on her! Just what I was looking for! Thanks to all of you and I agree - the powers that be here need to get you on board with tutorials!
Nancy Marti

http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/gallery/view_img.php?id=2072

[skbohanon]

Hello everyone!!

I've been working on Jodi's tip and I just know I'll love it when I figure it out! :D

I've been very challenged with this picture and can not get the lightness and contrast to work on it.

http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1KqIJPTNphg6n31jAfnYX5erCNBt

I've been working with it for a while now and have created more adjustment layers than I know what to do with.

Any suggestions?!
Thanks everyone! I appreciate what everyone has to offer!

[Jodi Frye]

Hi ! Hey listen i think it looks pretty darn good. There are only two things that I can see that disrupt a bit...the first would be mom's knees...I think they need to be darkened down a bit as they stand out too much and then there is the one side of dad's face that has a bright sun glare right of his right eye that needs to be covered up....other than that I thinks it's really kind of cool. Well done !

[skbohanon]

Hey Jodi!

Thanks for the tips!
I put them to use and here is the result...
http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1SqN0aY6txfVyXiytmtoKaGEeMhufQ0

And I don't know what I did, but I like the brightness and contrast of the picture much better now too.
Maybe I just needed to go to bed and get some rest. :D

Thanks so much!

[Wendy]

That looks great ... I bet you are so please with it :)


Wendy

[Jodi Frye]

WOW !! Than is fanfreekintastic !!! Bravo !! I'm so happy for you ! :D

[skbohanon]

Thanks ladies!!

Couldn't have done it without you! :D

[RonH]

Sk, Looks great better than any action could create.

[Anonymous]

Yeah im 12 years old and i need some ideas so email me on....

pelayhudsonio@msn.com

[Wendy]

Hi there ...

... and welcome to the forum :)

For ideas all you need to do is browse the threads in the forum ... but if you have any specific queries then just ask :)


Wendy