My new favorite effect: Diffuse Glow

[lakemonster11]

[F.Gordon]

1. Very nice effect

Is this a screw on type filter.... or a digital one? Looks like it'd be great for portraits. Can you share your "secret"?

[lakemonster11]

2. It's a Photoshop filter called "Diffuse Glow."

It is good for portraits:





I especially like it when the background is white/very light (not the best pic, but it works as an example):



(edit to add another example)

[alkaline9]

3. very nice ... i wonder if there is a PSP filter similar to this?

I especially like the pears because it seems like with the others you lose a little detail... but the example with the pears shows that detail level is still good, it just helps to soften.

[alkaline9]

5. actually I did a little research and found some free filters...

at this link: http://www.optikvervelabs.com/

They offer a pack that works with either Photoshop or Paintshop Pro and simply needs to be put in the PSP\plugins folder and then offers about 50 different filters (some really nice, others not so nice).

If you like to tinker with photos its worth the download (about 220KB).

Edit to include samples:

First one was original B & W


Next is with "diffuse" filter (included in pack, not standard for PSP)

[F.Gordon]

7. Hey. Thanks!!!!

Just slapped that in PSPX and played with it for 5-10 minutes. I like the more subtle filters... kewl stuff.

Thanks for the linkie!!

[alkaline9]

8. no problem!

it helps me out too.... I never touch photoshop and sometimes I get jealous of what people can do with it... so any way to spice up PSP works for me :D

[lakemonster11]

6. Well, you have a lot of control over how much detail you lose.

So, in most cases, the loss of detail is really what I was going for. The difference with the pears is that the detail is lost in the background rather than in subject. I like both effects.

You can also control the graininess of the picture within this filter. I didn't use any grain in the first portrait, but I made most of the others pretty grainy (they were almost all taken with a low ISO on my Nikon D70, so they're not naturally grainy at all).

[China_cat]

10. If it's a third party filter it will work with Paint Shop Pro

I run most of the Andromeda filters, digital film tools, Eye Candy, etc. with no problems.

[NV Whino]

4. Nice.

A lot cleaner than the old vaseline on the lens.

[priller]

9. Someone has been practicing their macro shots

Very nice pictures!

[lakemonster11]

11. Thanks.