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Applying a Soft Focus Effect

Just like a diffusion lens filter on a camera, the Soft Focus tool gives your photos a dreamy-soft blur by reducing harsh lines and intensifying colors.

You can use the Soft Focus tool to minimize wrinkles and create a glamour-effect, and you can target the soft focus effect to different tonal areas. For example, you can apply the softening effect without affecting contrast and brightness. The Tonal Width slider allows you to narrowly target the mid-tones, or widely target the entire tonal range.

You can save your settings as a preset for future use.

To Give Your Image a Soft Focus:

In Develop mode, select the Tune tab.
In the Soft Focus group, make adjustments as described below.

Soft Focus Options

Strength	Drag the slider to the right to increase the blurring in each tonal band.
Brightness	Drag the slider to the right for a soft focus effect, while simultaneously brightening the image.
Contrast	Drag the slider to the right for a soft focus effect, while simultaneously increasing contrast and saturation.
Tonal Width	Drag the slider to the right to apply the soft focus effect to a greater tonal range. Control where the soft brightness and contrast are applied; lower values apply the soft focus narrowly to mid-tones, while higher values apply the soft focus to widely to include highlights and shadows.

You can also type a number into the number box and incrementally make precise adjustments.