		Site Navigation
	Home
	Products
	Tags
	Levels
	Dates
	Authors

		5 MOST RECENT
	Click to view Braintrove article: Create Shared Rules Written by Gregory Scot Collins Monday, 15 March 2010, 12:41 PM Products: InfoPath and Office Avoid the maintenance nightmare of having multiple controls with the same set of rules with this simple trick that allows you to share rules between controls. Create Shared Rules
	Click to view Braintrove article: Perform a Case-Insensitive String Comparison without Using Translate() Written by Gregory Scot Collins Thursday, 20 August 2009, 7:21 PM Products: InfoPath and Office Hidden in undocumented optional parameters of an extended function, there is a way to perform a case-insensitive string comparison without the need for the translate() function. Perform a Case-Insensitive String Comparison without Using Translate()
	Click to view Braintrove article: Force a Field Value to a Boolean Using Rules Written by Gregory Scot Collins Wednesday, 29 July 2009, 9:42 AM Products: InfoPath and Office Custom data validation is not available for fields bound to a secondary data source making it a challenge to validate to a specific data type. Using rules you can force a field value to a Boolean. This is especially useful when standardizing unconventional Boolean values copyied from a secondary data source. Force a Field Value to a Boolean Using Rules
	Click to view Braintrove article: Quickly Crop to a Shadow Written by Gregory Scot Collins Friday, 29 May 2009, 8:55 AM Product: Photoshop Learn how to crop to a shadow perfectly in a few seconds without the need to fuss with zoom and look for slight color variations. Quickly Crop to a Shadow
	Click to view Braintrove article: Sum Repeating Time Values Written by Gregory Scot Collins Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 2:33 PM Products: InfoPath and Office Sum time values in a repeating structure by converting them to seconds, and then display the results as seconds, minutes or hours. Sum Repeating Time Values

		5 MOST POPULAR
	Click to view Braintrove article: Pass Query String Parameters to an ASP.NET Xml Control Written by Gregory Scot Collins Friday, 19 May 2006, 5:19 PM Product: ASP.NET Use the Page_Load method of your ASPX page to attach a list of parameters to your asp:Xml control that will be passed through to your XSL transform. Pass Query String Parameters to an ASP.NET Xml Control
	Click to view Braintrove article: Access a Method in a Master Page with Code-Behind Written by Gregory Scot Collins Friday, 16 June 2006, 7:09 AM Product: ASP.NET Write code for pages with code-behind to access a method in an immediate or parent master page from a content page. Access a Method in a Master Page with Code-Behind
	Click to view Braintrove article: Prevent Namespace Prefixes from Being Copied to the Output Written by Gregory Scot Collins Monday, 1 May 2006, 7:18 AM Products: HTML, JavaScript, XML, XPath and XSLT The extra namespace prefixes required to transform XML are not always desirable on the output. This article describes a technique for excluding specific namespace prefixes from the output. Prevent Namespace Prefixes from Being Copied to the Output
	Click to view Braintrove article: Create Groups in a Drop-Down List Box Written by Gregory Scot Collins Saturday, 17 June 2006, 5:57 AM Products: CSS, FireFox, HTML and Internet Explorer Create grouped option-sets in your drop-down list boxes, each with its own non-selectable header. Create Groups in a Drop-Down List Box
	Click to view Braintrove article: Change the Default Action of the Power Button on the Windows Vista Start Menu Written by Gregory Scot Collins Friday, 8 December 2006, 5:30 AM Product: Windows In Windows Vista, you can change the default action for the power button on the Start menu, as well as for other power events, in the advanced power settings. Change the Default Action of the Power Button on the Windows Vista Start Menu

		5 MOST FORGOTTEN
	Click to view Braintrove article: Recover a Dark Picture with a Heavy Color Cast Written by Gregory Scot Collins Wednesday, 30 April 2008, 10:41 PM Product: Photoshop Even a picture that seems hopelessly lost has a chance to be recovered. Here we take a picture that is too dark and has a heavy yellow cast and revive it to an acceptable state. Recover a Dark Picture with a Heavy Color Cast
	Click to view Braintrove article: Hide Deleted Items in the Source Control Explorer Written by Gregory Scot Collins Friday, 21 December 2007, 12:04 PM Products: Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio When deleted items hinder your view of valid source control items, change the visibility option to hide them. This option can also be reversed to show deleted items when needed. Hide Deleted Items in the Source Control Explorer
	Click to view Braintrove article: Prevent Windows Vista from Requesting Your Permission to Continue Written by Gregory Scot Collins Monday, 11 December 2006, 4:15 AM Products: Group Policy Object Editor and Windows Windows Vista touts a new security feature that is frequently complained about. Find out how you can disable the dialog box that says Windows needs your permission to continue. Prevent Windows Vista from Requesting Your Permission to Continue
	Click to view Braintrove article: Create a Variable with a Unique Sorted Node-Set Written by Gregory Scot Collins Tuesday, 2 May 2006, 10:27 AM Products: XML, XPath and XSLT Easily create and use a variable with a unique sorted node-set. Create a Variable with a Unique Sorted Node-Set
	Click to view Braintrove article: Get the Oldest or Newest Date Value of a List Node Written by Gregory Scot Collins Thursday, 24 August 2006, 9:40 AM Products: HTML, XML, XPath and XSLT Use variables and XSLT constructs to get the oldest or newest date values. Get the Oldest or Newest Date Value of a List Node

		Books
	Photoshop CS2 for Windows and Macintosh
	Photoshop for Nature Photographers: A Workshop in a Book
	Photoshop CS2 For Dummies
	Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching (3rd Edition)
	The Photoshop Elements 4 Book for Digital Photographers

		Magazines
	Photoshop Creative
	Photoshop Elements Techniques
	Photoshop Fundamentals
	Inside Photoshop
	Advanced Photoshop

		DVDs
	Professional Photoshop Tone, Exposure & Color Correction
	Get into Photoshop CS
	Advanced Photoshop Texturing
	The Best of Photoshop User: the 7th YearSet!
	Photoshop Fundamentals

		Microsoft MVP

This article has been viewed 2281 times.

Apply a Soft Glow Effect to Pictures

Page 1 of 2

Written by Gregory Scot Collins

Thursday, 16 August 2007, 8:23 PM

This article has been tested to work with the following products and versions. No guarantee of compatibility, with or without modification, is offered for products or versions other than those listed.

Photoshop CS1 and CS3 (Adobe)

IN THIS ARTICLE:

Most pictures can benifit from some minor editing—some in a major way. Applying a soft glow effect will alter the mood of a picture in subtle or dramatic ways. The effect can be quite stunning, and might give a feeling of elegance, romance, or dreaminess.

Apply a soft glow effect

Applying a soft glow effect to your pictures is very simple. It requires only a couple of blurred layers with different blending options. It is achieved using the following steps:

Launch Photoshop.
Open a source picture.
Duplicate the background layer.
On the duplicate layer, choose Blur | Gaussian Blur from the Filter menu.
Set the radius to 30.0 pixels, and then click OK.
Duplicate the blurred layer.
In the Layers pallette, change the Blending Mode to Soft Light.
Select the middle layer, and change the Blending Mode to Lighten and the Opacity to 50%, as shown in Screenshot 1.

Screenshot 1. The Layers pallete showing application of the soft glow effect.

To alter the mood of the soft glow effect you can choose a different opacity and/or blending option for either blurred layer, or you can reordering the blurred layers.

Following are some examples of the soft glow effect applied to pictures I took with various digital cameras. Other than a size reduction, the only manipulation done to the original picture was to apply the soft glow effect, as described above. Certainly one would take other steps, such as color correction, before applying this effect.

Example 1: Wedding photography

The first example is a candid picture of a bride on her wedding day, taken with a flash in the dim indoor lighting. Note how the background becomes darker—washing out unnecessary detail. The subject of focus, the bride, glows (as she should on her wedding day). A very subtle smoothing has also occurred in her skin.

Picture 1. The soft glow effect applied to a wedding photo gives an air of elegance. Hover over this picture to compare against the original.

CONTINUED: Example 2: Flowers

1 | 2 | Next >

		Bookmark this Article
	Stumble It!
	Digg It!
	del.icio.us

		List of Figures
	Screenshot 1 - The Layers pallete showing application of the soft glow effect.
	Picture 1 - The soft glow effect applied to a wedding photo gives an air of elegance.
	Picture 2 - The soft glow effect applied to a red rose give a feeling of romance.
	Picture 3 - The soft glow effect applied to a woman in the setting sun emphasizes the beauty of the sunset.

		See Also
	Click to view Braintrove article: Blend Pictures Shot with Various Light Sources Written by Gregory Scot Collins Friday, 27 October 2006, 4:10 PM Product: Photoshop Dramatically improve lighting of a scene by using screen blending to combine multiple pictures shot with various suboptimal light sources. Blend Pictures Shot with Various Light Sources

		Article Tags
	Blending Dream Effects Layers Lighting Overlay Photos Photoshop Pictures Screen

		Great Deals
	TigerDirect Exclusive Deals, Limited Time Offers, Act Now And Save!
	Find all current special offers on Adobe products.

Copyright © 2006-2010 Braintrove. All rights reserved. Braintrove, braintrove.com, and the Braintrove logo are trademarks of Gregory Scot Collins in the United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.