Add Soft Focus

Whereas there are certainly parts of this image that are in focus, the very shallow depth of field and lighting make the nature of this image a little soft. I find it is usually better to go with the flow and not try to force a softer image to pretend to be tack sharp. There are ways to make this image look sharper, and we’ll look at that a bit later. Enhancing the soft focus may be more natural and helpful in making this particular image look its best.

Soft-focus effects are achieved photographically by scattering light. Soft-focus filters and soft-focus lenses help achieve the effect, and similar effects can be had by using a UV filter and smearing the outer edge with Vaseline (leaving the center of the lens clear). The latter may seem like quite a sloppy solution, but the reasoning is all the same: disburse some of the light passing into the lens and diffuse it.