Best way to soften up a portrait?

[BEGM83]

Ok i have a few photos of my daughter that i really like but i'd like to get them looking a bit (alright, a LOT) softer.

I have photoshop elements 6.

Any ideas on how to go about it? Thanks!

[delmiaco]

If you are looking to soften the skin a bit, I have used this tutorial in the past and it has worked!

Photoshop Tutorials: Easily Smooth and Soften Skin

Good Luck!

[teaking]

Does photoshop have a wavelet decompose plugin like GIMP? I have played around a bit and read tutorials for GIMP ( I know its not photoshop but a lot of things are transferable) it bassicaly breaks the image into layers of detail you can selectively delete fine detail or medium detail from the specific layer and it works great for skin softening.

[Samanax]

Originally Posted by BEGM83

Ok i have a few photos of my daughter that i really like but i'd like to get them looking a bit (alright, a LOT) softer.

I have photoshop elements 6.

Any ideas on how to go about it? Thanks!

Do you want to make the whole image softer or just selected parts?

If you want the entire image to be softer you could use Gaussian Blur (Filter> Blur> Gaussian Blur). Set the radius to 0.1 and then use the right up key to increase the blur in 0.1 increments. Observe the image after each increment.

Just found this video tutorial: Photoshop Elements 6 – Professional Soft Focus Portraits

[ChrisPhilip]

I like using Adobe Camera Raw, or more recently Lightroom and lower the clarity. I find most of the time it focuses on the skin very well. Or you can be more specific and use an adjustment brush, lower the clarity and brush over the parts you want to soften.