How to achieve this feel

[nas-matko]

I came across this picture and I like the dreamy feeling of it.
How an you achieve this in terms of lightning, lens etc?

Mentioned picture

 

[wfooshee]

There is a LOT of light in front of the subject, as seen in the catchlights in her eyes. very shallow depth of field, focused on her eyes. Shallow enough that even her earrings are out of focus. Lens is reasonably long, at least 85mm, maybe even into the 100s.

That wide light source helps soften the light, some would say wraps the light around her ( but I hate that term, because it implies that light can bend.) There's also a vignette applied to the corners.

 

[Strodav]

It's not just lighting and lens, it's hair, makeup choice of backdrop and a model with dreamy features (see the soft smile) as well. Notice the shallow DOF with her nose and eyes in focus, but a soft background starting with the ears and shoulders. Probably tried a few different f stops and focus points like focusing in several places from the tip of the nose to the eyes and picked the best one. The shallow DOF helps isolate the face from the rest of the frame. It looks like the photographer went for a slightly bluish or cooler color cast to enhance the effect he/she was looking for. Look at the background. See the dark vertical on the left and the almost white vertical near the right side of the frame. It provides contrast and balance. Nice image.

 

[nas-matko]

Thanks for tips, I’ll try them, although my longer lenses are max f/2.8

 

[wfooshee]

2.8 is a very large aperture for a long lens, that should do fine.

 

[SunriseAvenue]

Besides the lightning and the background I feel like a lot of this results actually has something to do with editing. More or less the same effect could be achieved through the glamour photo effect or aesthetic photo editors like Photoworks do have effects of the same kind. Also previous posters are absolutely correct about the model's facial features, so if you're planning on re-creating this shot try to find a model with similar features.

 

[EduardoZepeda]

I think that the overall effect is accomplished via editing, considering the depth of field of the picture, the eyes shouldn't be as sharp, and also the skin looks super smooth, almost to the point of looking artificial. I don't know if there is an special filter that produces that outcome, but you can get similar results just by using a sharpening tool on the eyes, and then maybe a blur filter to the rest of the picture, with some light tweaking to get that dreamy effect.

 

[greybeard]

Looks like very broad defused front light. Maybe using a nikon 135mm f/2 with defocus control for that creamy look.

 

[Golem]

I think that the overall effect is accomplished via editing, considering the depth of field of the picture, the eyes shouldn't be as sharp, and also the skin looks super smooth, almost to the point of looking artificial. I don't know if there is an special filter that produces that outcome, but you can get similar results just by using a sharpening tool on the eyes, and then maybe a blur filter to the rest of the picture, with some light tweaking to get that dreamy effect.

Some cameras have a built in "smooth skin" filter, which means the effect is surely available in some PP editors.