How to create a “soft detail” photo

This artistic Adobe Photoshop tutorial balances between the impression of color against distinct edges of shapes with a little blur and creative blend modes.

Highlights and midtones become suggestions of light, while dark points define the details. It works best with high-contrast photos that have lots of tiny organic details such as leaves, grass and hair.

Step by step guide

1. Open a photo in Photoshop. The best images have plenty of contrast and color.

2. Duplicate the background layer (Mac: cmd-J, Win: ctrl-J, both: Layer > Duplicate Layer). Rename this layer “blur.”

3. Set the new “blur” layer’s blend mode to “darken.” You won’t see any change to the image yet.

4. Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. The amount of blur you use depends on the size of your photo and how much of the effect you want. I suggest starting with 10-30 pixels.

Optional: To punch up the colors, duplicate the “blur” layer and set its blend mode to “Vivid Light.” Then set its opacity to about 20%.

And here’s the final result.

Samples

Here are some examples of this technique applied to various photos.