How do you get this effect?

http://a375.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/25/l_653daacfd37b9966f0214bad40a4e07e.png

what effect are you referring to?

its really clear, and sharp, and i like how its kind of glowing.

I don't mean this in any kind of sarcastic way ... but use the right flash in just the right lighting with a good camera. Gets all three effects together. Might be how that photo got that way.

yes it looks like just straight proper photography work and i doubt there was any post production work done to it. if there were i'm sure efforts would have been made to bring out the invisible detail in the shadow areas.

that's the biggest problem i face as a retoucher. i constantly get the crappiest photos from people expecting Photoshop to be some sort of magic solution. someone gets a digital cam and they automatically think they're a pro photographer. they have no concept of lighting, exposure, white balance, image noise, etc. starting off with a well done photo like this makes a world of difference in the end result.

Another giveaway is the blown out face and hair on the woman on the left. Obviously no post production work used on this area. I say photo straight out of the camera.

I do think there was a very slight bit of smoothing done. The girl on the right shows it. If the image were larger it would be easier to detect. Something looks like it was done beyond straight out of the camera.

I see the same smoothing on all their faces. A diffusion filter on your lense will do that as easily as Photoshop. It only seems so prevalent on the right subject because she got the best exposure. The left subject is a little overexposed. The subject in the center is a little underexposed (too orange in the shadows). If you look carefully, they all have that smoothed skin tone, though. It's just more obvious with the correct white balance on the right subject.
That's my opinion.

Im thinking someone used the Diffused Glow a little

Or maby duplicate your layer. Some Gausian Blur on the top layer and set the layer to overlay.

hpa

Looks to me as though the figures have been cut out and juxtaposed on the background.
The edges look unnaturally sharp.
Just a guess.

Gaussian blur overlay

I had the greatest urge to start by saying:

Take two pretty girls and etc, etc.

But that would not be very helpful, would it? Sorry. I will let everyone get back to being helpful again!

i also think, copy the original layer, use gaussian blur and as layer mask "soft light". then play with the opacity.
good luck

cengiz

hey, its my first post here :) regards to all

Why would want to???

Why would want to???

Why not? It is an interesting look and if you would like to reproduce it keep watching this thread, If not. . . . . your choice.

To each his own.

The simplest answer is often the one most likely to be right. To me it looks straight out of camera, minimal post, if any, and that would only be curves, colour balance etc.

There are hardly any shadows indicating a very defuse light, so it could be shot under an overcast sky. Possibly a balanced softbox camera left, but its hard to say.

- Mike

it looks to me like the person made a background copy, set it to overlay or soft light, and then added gaussian blur. maybe they changed the opacity to make it no so contrasty. also, they might have used diffuse glow. but it doesnt look clear OR sharp to me.

i thinks she want to make a picture with blending effect, or how to make a picture really sharp, and soft

Photography: Strobist stuff at work maybe? There is an off camera hard light at low camera left which looks to be at about the same level as the ambient at the guys distance (brighter for the girls as they are closer). The direction is up and right to avoid casting shadows on the left wall or the floor. There may also be off camera flash above and to the rear of the subjects helping to fill the floor behind and give the hair lighting - but this could just be bright overhead ambient.

PP: I suspect - duplicate layer > invert > add diffuse glow > Invert > change blend mode to overlay/softlight or multiply and adjust opacity. (very low level orton effect?)