"Diffuse Glow" filter effect in Paintshop Pro
by Emma Powell

A popular style to give a soft glowing effect to make a dreamy or glamour photo is very easy to get with a combination of a few native Effects in Paintshop Pro. Each of the settings can be adjusted to achieve varying amounts of glow, diffusing the light, and soft focus, so try with several variations to achieve the desired look from subtle to dramatic!

1. Open a photo, portraits often are the best candidates. Make a duplicate layer of the original photo by going to Layer>Duplicate, or click the Duplicate Layer icon at the top of the Layers Palette.

fig 1

2. To define the light areas for the soft glow effect, go to Adjust>Brightness and Contrast>Brightness/Contrast. Increase brightness to blow out the highlights where the "glow" will appear, and increase contrast to darken the areas to exclude from the glow effect. The more brightness and contrast, the more glow effect created. The example will create a more subtle glow, so try more brightness and contrast for more dramatic glamour effects!

fig 2

3. To soften the glow effect, blur the top layer. Go to Adjust>Blur>Gaussian Blur and increase to about 3-10 depending on the specific photo and the amount of diffusing desired.

fig 3

4. To blend the two layers, change the Layer Bledning Mode in the Layers Palette to Screen. The Blending Mode is accessed in the Layers Palette by scrolling to the right and clicking on the Arrow for the drop down menu

fig 4

5. Lower the layer Opacity to customize how much of the top glow layer is visible. The Layer Opacity slider is located next to the Eye Icon and the 100%. In the example the Opacity is set at 60%:

fig 5

6. Also try other Blending Modes like Luminance to decrease the color saturation, or Overlay to increase it.

fig 6

7. Optional steps to further customize the effect include adjusting the Saturation on either the base photo or the glow layer by going to Adjust>Hue/Saturation>Hue/Saturation. Also try sharpening the focus on the base photo by going to Adjust>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask.

based on original tutorials for Photoshop Elements by Matt Urmenyhazi

For a printable version of this Quick Class, click here