PBase

Does any one know how to get that very fine romantic effect. In analogue film you used to pull a stocking over the lens.

The effect is still sharp, yet a little bit dreamy.

Any ideas appreciated

You could try Virtual Photographer which is a whole set of effects. There is a dreamy effect that you can ajust to your liking. It's a photoshop plugin that works with other software and I would think it would work with Elements.

You can get it here :

http://www.optikvervelabs.com/download.asp

Graylady

Graylady:

Thanks for the tip on Virtual Photographer. I downloaded it today and will have a lot of fun playing with it. It looks very useful for a freebee.

I also checked out your galleries. You have some very, very good photos there. Way too many for me to comment on individually.

This works in photoshop cs2.

Duplicate the image layer. Soften the top most layer using gaussian blur and then mix it with the layer beneath by adjusting blending modes or just plain old opacity until desired effect.

What do you think is an adequate number of Gaussian Blur ... about 5

The amount of gaussian blur depends on the subject and size of your photo. With an 8 MP photo I start with 10, but often I use even 15...

Mostly I use layer blend mode 'screen' (don't forget to add a levels adjustment layer to touch up some contrast.

Good luck,

Try Dave Beaman's "Ethereal Glow" action. You can find the download for the action at the link below. (There is also a rollover demo image). Not sure if it will work in PSE4.0, but it works great in PSE3.0. I use it on occasion...

http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm

–Dave