Try getting away from gaussian blur and experiment a little with the lens blur filter. I'm just starting to see what it can do, so am far from being able to comment on it for portraiture, but it might be worth looking into. There are some toots for the filter available on the web. I may have one or two on disk if you'd like a copy.
Funny thing about sharpness - after striving for it for so long I've (re)discovered old lenses with lower contrast and sharpness that produce some excellent results if one wants an older, softer look to their photos. I'm now kicking myself because I sold some older Leica glass that I later discovered to be wonderful for some types of photography. Get yourself some el cheapo Jupiter and Industar lenses, use 'em on a shoot in conjunction with your newer glass, and see if you like 'em. Juan introduced me to a couple of Jupiter lenses that were quite satisfactory for some things, but really, older formulas seem to work even better - well, differently ;-)) Shel > [Original Message] > From: William Robb > Anyway, I've had enough comments about the sharpness that I will put the > same shots up in another gallery, but will take the files and discard the > gaussian blur layer prior to resizing them for the web. > The 77mm at the stop I was using is a very sharp lens indeed. > > I might be falling into a bit of a manipulation trap with the softening > stuff. When I shoot film, I will put a Softar on the lens and hope for the > best (not quite, but close). > I find that I am doing more image massaging with the digital files than I > was in the habit of doing with film, perhaps to the detriment of the images. > > Of course, I may just be in the company of a bunch of people who like their > pictures overly sharp looking as well...... > > William Robb >
