How can I create the subtle soft detail seen in landscape photos with moving grass and trees?
Asked 5/12/2014
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I’m trying to understand the soft, slightly wiped-out detail in some landscape photos, especially in grass, trees, and distant mountains. It doesn’t look like simple Gaussian blur in Photoshop. I tried blur filters but they don’t match the effect. Some examples appear to have longer exposures, and I’m wondering if this softness is caused by motion during the exposure rather than a post-processing technique. How would you achieve or simulate this look?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
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This is a photo of Rodney Lough Jr. from the Wilderness Collection, called "Day Dreaming". You have to select the image at the bottom of the page for more info and the high resolution version.
It says:
- Camera: Toyo 4x5 AII Field Camera
- Lens: 210mm
- Aperture: f64
- Exposure: 45 Seconds
- Film: Professional Fuji Velvia
The softness is coming from the long exposure time. It is not a blur, in the optical sense, it is a motion blur of the grass as the wind blows it.
The closest to reproduce the effect is to use motion blur, masked, and controlled very heavily, yet still, it would be quite a task to mimic this effect.
Originally by user24785. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user24785
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This look is most likely caused by long exposure, not a Photoshop blur filter. In the example discussed, the image metadata shows a 45-second exposure at f/64 on 4x5 film. That’s long enough for wind-driven grass, foliage, and other fine detail to move during the exposure, creating soft, smeared detail while static elements remain sharp.
So the effect is essentially motion blur from subject movement, not lens softness or ordinary defocus blur.
To create it in-camera:
- Use a tripod
- Shoot a long exposure
- Let wind move grass, leaves, etc.
- Keep static subjects like rocks or trunks still for contrast
To imitate it in Photoshop, the closest approach would be selective motion blur applied with careful masking, but it’s difficult to make it look natural because real movement is irregular and varies across the frame.
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