Meadow 1

[Anita Bower]

I took two photos of the same scene, one in focus at f.6.3 ("relative") and the other out of focus. In post processing, I stacked them and blended using "Overlay." Added small curves. I loved the result! I got the idea from the book "Photo Impressionism and the Subjective Image" by Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallant. As a comparison, I copied the in-focus image and blurred it using Gaussian Blur, then stacked and blended as I had before. The result was quite different and unsatisfying. I found this interesting.
Comments and critiques welcome.

[denise ippolito]

Anita, I love the result and thank you so much for sharing your work flow. I even like the soft specular highlights. Very nice soft focus effect!

[Dave Woeller]

Hi Anita, I really like the end result of your effort on this. As Denise said, thanks for sharing the work flow. I have never tried the stacking and blending techniques and this may get me started. The tones and feel are just lovely.

[Julie Kenward]

Great idea, Anita! I, too, would have tried to in-focus images so knowing how you did this really helps. What a lovely image!

[Cindy Cone]

I like the effect here a lot, Anita. It is very impressionistic and artistic. Thanks for sharing the process.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Thanks for the WF Anita. I might try a desaturated version just for fun, to see what it looks like. Nice dreamy, surreal feel to it. Must give it a try!

[Christopher Miller]

Very lovely soft feel and colors, Anita. I like the spectral highlights on the right, they look like bubbles to me! I've frequently done blur overlays using gaussian blur but never thought to try taking an OOF photo in camera instead.

[Anita Bower]

Very lovely soft feel and colors, Anita. I like the spectral highlights on the right, they look like bubbles to me! I've frequently done blur overlays using gaussian blur but never thought to try taking an OOF photo in camera instead.

Thank you. I, too, have done the blur overlays, and was surprised to discover how different that looks from this method.

[Anita Bower]

Thank you all! I'm glad you like it. I'm always happy to share WF when I think it will be instructive to others, as I've learned so much on this site from the WF of others.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Anita, I love the results:) The flowers look like their bathed in sunlight. Thanks for the WF and the book title.

[Anita Bower]

Anita, I love the results:) The flowers look like their bathed in sunlight. Thanks for the WF and the book title.

You are most welcome. Glad you like it.

[Lance Peters]

Hi Anita - I can nearly smell the soft summer scents of this scene.
Like it a lot and very creative.
:)

[Kerry Perkins]

Anita, I love the results you got with the WF - thanks again for sharing! The combination of soft and sharp elements is a real treat for the eye. Nice colors and sense of place!

[Anita Bower]

Thank you, Kerry and Lance. :-)