Photoshop How To

Back in the “old days” of film photography, soft-focus portraits were either achieved using lenses that were not nearly as sharp as those we have today, or with more invasive measures like scratching the front element of a lens.

If neither of those options appeals to you, and you’d rather not smear Vaseline on your lens or cover it with a nylon stocking, watch this tutorial by photographer Chris Gampat who demonstrates a post-capture method for softening images in Lightroom.

Gampat (AKA The Phoblographer) says he created this approach to achieve a “colloquial look” that retains a bit of sharpness in the image. Hence, the softening process he demonstrates is less heavy-handed than others one could employ. It’s all pretty straightforward, so watch the video and soften-up your act.

Here’s a link for downloading Gampat’s free presets (at the bottom of the page). You can and find more creative tips on his YouTube channel, and be sure to watch the tutorial we posted yesterday with a streamlined retouching workflow in Photoshop.