How do photographers get that soft dreamy feel to their photos..? Everytime I try it seems like my colors are dull and there's just no magic. A couple of my friends are photographers and their pictures are just so soft and beautiful yet gorgeous colors at the same time! I'm at a loss and I'm not very good at editing, but I have adobe Elements 10. Any advice would be amazing thank you in advance!
Playing with and fiddling with picmonkey can do a lot. Try some of the filters and then drop them back a bit.
This was done in picmonkey (I have photoshop, but this is easier)
@meagang The lens you use makes a huge difference, both in terms of colours and in terms of softness... try a wide-aperture lens, like a f/1.8 or f/1.4
Hi, if the look your after is what I think you are referring to, check out @Liz (fotomama). I think she is a master at it, I'd love to know, but I'm not sure of the protocol and asking others there secrets :)
Is it maybe achieved by desaturating the colors and or with the use of filters?
Hi I have photoshop E10 too. You can go to the guided edits section and try out the Orton effect. That brightens colors and gives that dreamy effect. Also Pic Monkey has the Orton effect and soften filters. That might be what you are looking for but I am not sure. As Amanda F. said post a pic of what you had in mind and that might help.
@mandyj92@pocketmouse@vorka@newbie@shutterbugger Thank you guys... let me see if I can find what I'm talking about and I'll show you one of mine that I have tried and maybe you guys can see what I did wrong lol.
.. I don't know if that link will work or not but I just love her pictures...
Also this is a great before and after but my editing skills are not up to par so I don't understand how she really got there but this after picture is just amazing to me..
Granted I know the lighting wasn't very good so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it but I just couldn't get this picture soft without losing color...
@katsamste that's it ha ha! So will that make it blurry..? That's the only problem I had with the orton effect I want my subject to be clear but I don't care if the rest is blurry.. I'll have to try it thank you!
@pocketmouse oh man, excuse my ignorance but I don't understand lol. I feel like this is the dumbest question but is that how you buy lenses..? If I wanted another lens I would need to look at the f1.8 setting? I feel stupid I'm sorry!
@vorka I checked her out.. oh man she's amazing thank you I shall follow :) And I know what you mean.. I don't want to copy everything they do but I just want some magic in my photos that's all lol. Not sure if it's my settings, editing, lighting, or I just don't have it. Want to know if i'm doing something wrong without being a total copy cat so I hear ya! Thank you!
Please forgive if this is too risque but I wanted to give you an example of some softening, I would say this is the most extreme I have gone. I have not lost any detail, it is not 'blury'...just soft :-)
@meagang no probs! I'm not sure which camera you have, but with a DSLR camera you can buy and interchange lenses. Lenses with an f number closer to 1 give you really soft photos with gorgeous depth of field - they make what you've focused on stand out against a dreamy blurry background :)
I use my f/1.4 lens in pretty much all my photos - have a look to see what I mean :)
@meagang I had a look through your album and lot of your shots are fine for bokeh not sure if you are cropping tight or standing in close when you take the images, maybe just work on your distance to subject with lowest F stop ie; f3.5( I know its hard with kids, the run around like crazy :P) you will get nice blown out backgrounds just fine with what seems to be the kit lens.
As for softening Clarity as mentioned above will soften without loss of colours.
@flagged Thank you so much!! Thanks for taking the time to look at them as well! Yes.. my kids tend to put their faces right into the camera lol. And I also have a habit of getting too close.. so I will definitely practice further away, thank you so much for your help!!
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This was done in picmonkey (I have photoshop, but this is easier)
Is it maybe achieved by desaturating the colors and or with the use of filters?
www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=368801406502273&set=a.119876191394797.13630.119820358067047&type=3&theater
.. I don't know if that link will work or not but I just love her pictures...
Also this is a great before and after but my editing skills are not up to par so I don't understand how she really got there but this after picture is just amazing to me..
www.mcpactions.com/blog/2011/09/16/beginners-to-photoshop-photo-editing-is-easier-than-you-think/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+mcpactions+%28MCP+Actions+Blog%29
And then here's my silly rendition lol
Granted I know the lighting wasn't very good so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it but I just couldn't get this picture soft without losing color...
I use my f/1.4 lens in pretty much all my photos - have a look to see what I mean :)
As for softening Clarity as mentioned above will soften without loss of colours.