Forums > Digital Art and Retouching > softening an image
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Photographer

Dibuho Photography

Posts: 27

Washington, District of Columbia, US

Sometimes I find my images to be too sharp for the look that I'm going for. I really don't do any sharpening other than the default LR sharpening. How do you soften your images? I'm very interested to learn on how to soften images like the ones below:

https://s14.postimg.org/nrxfnc5ml/header.jpg

https://s29.postimg.org/cel9rrf1f/header4.jpg

Jul 06 14 11:10 am Link

Photographer

SEI Photos

Posts: 314

Kalispell, Montana, US

If you're using LR, first thing to do is remove the default sharpening.  Just slide that control to the left.  Then I suggest playing with the clarity slider.  Moving it left declarifies the entire image and something around -25 to -35 on the scale might produce a bit of the effect you desire. 

For more control over the areas you want to soften, use the adjustment brush on the right side just under the histogram.  When you click on it, you'll have option to set up all sorts of options, including reducing sharpness and clarity (and size and density of the brush).  With the brush tool, you can soften just the part of the image you want to soften.  Easy to undo if you don't like the results or if you make a mistake.

Jul 06 14 11:22 am Link

Photographer

Tulack

Posts: 836

Albuquerque, New Mexico, US

You are mistaking contrast for sharpening. Images are sharp, specially first one. Looking at the histogram would solve 99% of similar questions.  Lift up the black point.

Jul 06 14 01:01 pm Link

Photographer

Leonard Gee Photography

Posts: 18096

Sacramento, California, US

101Clicks wrote:
Sometimes I find my images to be too sharp for the look that I'm going for. I really don't do any sharpening other than the default LR sharpening. How do you soften your images? I'm very interested to learn on how to soften images like the ones below:

Those two images are very sharp. They are low contrast and low saturation:

Contrast = difference between light and dark
Saturation = vibrance of the color, a combination of light intensity and how much it is distributed across the spectrum of different wavelengths

there is a difference. you can't reproduce an image if you don't understand the concept and know what you are looking at.  to make images less sharp, use blur tools or diffusion filters. filters on camera and post processing don't always produce the same results.

Jul 06 14 01:39 pm Link

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