4 Approaches to Soft Focus Explained

Soft-focus techniques and gadgetry date back to photography’s origins, and today the art of soft focus has made quantum leaps in simplicity due to digital imaging. “Soft focus” is not necessarily the same as “out of focus.” In fact, lenses have been created for the express purpose of degrading sharpness in designated areas of an image. 

The most illustrious of these lenses was the Rodenstock Imagon, developed in the 1920s to preserve what its inventor called “romantic softness without sugariness.” Canon, Nikon and other manufacturers still include similar adjustable soft-focus lenses in their inventories—specifically for portraiture.

There are dozens of ways to selectively reduce sharpness. Soft focus can just as readily enhance an image as impair it. Lens-mounted diffusion filters, bits of translucent fabric and a little smear of Vaseline are all important additions to every shooter’s creative toolbox, and along with them, software developers have brought to the table easy-to-use but powerful innovations that take “the soft touch” into the realm of after-capture. What follows is a look at a few versatile, accessible approaches for using soft-focus tools both in-camera and in your digital darkroom.

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