# November '06 Photo Challenge - "Soft Focus" - Sponsored by Lensbabies.com



## TwistMyArm (Nov 1, 2006)

Hey everyone,

Seeing as though lensbabies.com is once again generously sponsoring another challenge we thought "Soft Focus" would make for a great theme. The winner of the November "Soft Focus" challenge will win a Lensbaby 2.0.

Thanks again to lensbabies.com. For all those who don't know what a Lensbaby is you can check it out here: http://www.lensbabies.com/

For all those who wish to participate please take a moment to read through the following: 

- The deadline for submissions is November 30
- *The image can be no larger then 150KB
- Include your forum username when submitting
- The submitted photo must be in the form of a jpeg
- Please keep your photo anonymous (no distinguishing watermarks, and no photos that have been posted previously on the forum)
- Submit no more than one photo
- If you wish you may include a title when submitting your photo (please use no special characters)
- The form must also be included when submitting the photo
- The forum Admins and Moderators reserve the right to exclude or remove any photo solely at their discretion

.........Copy and Paste this into your submission email...........................*
ThePhotoForum.com Username:
*Photo Title (optional):
Is the photo 150KB or less? Y/N
Is the photo a jpeg? Y/N
Has this photo been posted before? Y/N
Please submit only one photo per challenge.*
*Please ensure that the attached photo is named the title you wish it to have otherwise the title will not be used.
.......................................................................................................

Please email your photo to photochallenge@thephotoforum.com.

All photos must include the form when submitted. Just copy and paste it into your email. This will ensure that no mistakes are made when photos are submitted and therefore, hopefully, no photos are excluded. If the form is not included in the submission email the photo will not be included in the challenge gallery and voting process. 

If there are any other questions regarding the challenge you can also check out the FAQs 
Good luck to everyone and have fun with this challenge!

*150KB will be taken as the size on disk and not the actual file size. Also some email programs consider 1KB=1000Bytes as oppposed to 1KB=1024Bytes. When these programs calculate attachment size they will often read larger then they actually are. To be safe we recommend a target size of about 140KB so that once sent it does not go over 150KB.


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## thebeginning (Nov 1, 2006)

very cool idea.


we probably should ban lensbaby users from entering because they'd have an advantage and they already own one  

(i'm kidding).


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## oldnavy170 (Nov 1, 2006)

hummm, soft focus?! I really would have to think about this one........

I really do want to enter one of these months!


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## Funky (Nov 1, 2006)

soft focus...........hmmm yeah im going to have to think about this one also. sounds fun, i better get out there. by the way what exactly do you mean by soft focus, i mean is there some kind of cut off?


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## Mohain (Nov 2, 2006)

Great! I have so many to choose from already


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## ngirly1991 (Nov 2, 2006)

what do you mean by saying soft focus?
sounds like fun but i gotta know what it means first lol.


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## TwistMyArm (Nov 2, 2006)

Soft focus basically means an image that is purposefully slightly out of focus. 

A Lensbaby can be used to ensure that your subject is in focus while other objects on the same focal plane are left out of focus. 
I don't want to ban anyone from using a lensbaby on this challenge. If we did that we would also need to ban sf filters or even PS as all of these tools allow an individual to more easily create this effect.


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## birdstrike (Nov 4, 2006)

TwistMyArm said:
			
		

> Soft focus basically means an image that is purposefully slightly out of focus.
> 
> A Lensbaby can be used to ensure that your subject is in focus while other objects on the same focal plane are left out of focus. <snip>.



So a sharp image with good bokeh would count as "soft focus" for the purpose of this months theme?  Even though bokeh isn't technically in the same focal plane. . .?

I'm not going to smear petroleum jelly on my UV filter!  :mrgreen:


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## TwistMyArm (Nov 6, 2006)

You can submit any image you want. However I'll put my vote to the image I believe best represented the challenge and an image with good bokeh is probably not going to be it.


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## ngirly1991 (Nov 7, 2006)

how do i take pictures like that on purpose never tried doing this before...it could be really cool if you had told me how to.


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## uberben (Nov 7, 2006)

there are a lot of ways to get soft focus...Try using google and just do some searching. You have lots of time to figure something out.


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## Funky (Nov 7, 2006)

here take your camera off AF for once and play with it untill you get something nice....you know people without Dslr's are screwed here though, i mean everything about those little point and shoot cameras is automatic. and from my knowlage the last time i used a point and shoot which was like a year ago, they dont have a soft focus mode.


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## doenoe (Nov 8, 2006)

and thats why photoshop is a great program


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## spencer2004 (Nov 8, 2006)

well that sucks, you can take any old photo and just add a slight blur to it with photoshop.

Also could you have the next topic as flowers or trees please so i can have a chance .


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## neogfx (Nov 21, 2006)

Funky said:
			
		

> here take your camera off AF for once and play with it untill you get something nice....you know people without Dslr's are screwed here though, i mean everything about those little point and shoot cameras is automatic. and from my knowlage the last time i used a point and shoot which was like a year ago, they dont have a soft focus mode.


 
That's nonsense. You mean compact camera users are screwed. Non-slr digitals still have manual focus modes and a creative zone. The Fuji S9500 is not an SLR for instance.


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## mentos_007 (Nov 25, 2006)

Funky said:
			
		

> here take your camera off AF for once and play with it untill you get something nice....you know people without Dslr's are screwed here though, i mean everything about those little point and shoot cameras is automatic. and from my knowlage the last time i used a point and shoot which was like a year ago, they dont have a soft focus mode.




or... there's always an option to blow on a lens... your breath/air created a moisture there which gives an appaling effect sometimes


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## Alex_B (Nov 30, 2006)

Hmmmm.... Soft focus does not mean out of focus, so I am really curiosu what people submitted 

I hope we won't see too many out of focus pictures which are just accidents, but to see images where the effect adds some value to the image!


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## kulakova (Dec 1, 2006)

Alex_B said:
			
		

> Hmmmm.... Soft focus does not mean out of focus, so I am really curiosu what people submitted
> 
> I hope we won't see too many out of focus pictures which are just accidents, but to see images where the effect adds some value to the image!


 
well, me too.. .i`m really interested what people will submit....
what could be soft focus without the sponsors lens? +)


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