Soft lower contrast and sharp

[rocklaneeast]

"When I look at the images on websites like 500px, I always find them soft yet very sharp. They look very beautiful and don't feel harsh on your eyes. How to get this contrast which looks soft and at the same time makes the image look sharp too? Is this effect called as "Soft Contrast"? What's the procedure to get that effect using Photoshop" An OP posted this on another site about 6 years ago. In the intervening time I've never been able to answer his question. Responders called for examples but in fashion photography they're all over the www. Sites such as Fashionography, Fashion gone rogue and Market Place Lookbooks all feature photos with this look which appears to be a general technique rather than an individual style. It seems to be a way of retouching that bypasses many retouching enthusiasts.

[Doug Nelson]

It sounds like you're talking about simply not using filters or "techniques" and retouching "the hard way", by zooming in and working pixel by pixel. Fixing each problem without introducing overall blur. Of course it also helps to begin with the highest-resolution image available.

[voidsource]

pretty much sounds like they did all their edits in the high res then scaled it down. It just looks like smooth contrast bc its at a much lower scale

[Sabrina81]

Responders called for examples but in fashion photography they're all over the www.

Then it should be easy to post (or just link to) some examples. "Soft yet very sharp" isn't an adequate description. SHOW what you're talking about, please.

[rocklaneeast]

The original poster did'nt post examples so I tried to guess what he might mean. I also wasnt sure whether posting links to other peoples work was allowed. Any way anyone could follow the suggestions to view the work on the sites mentioned Fasionography, Fashion Gone rogue, Market place Lookbooks to get an idea what the OP was getting at. Although the OP did'nt specifically use these, heres a guess at what he might be referring to . G