How to get that sort of soft, dreamy look to pictures with 35mm film?

How to get that sort of soft, dreamy look to pictures with 35mm film?

DrHoe,

This is a sought after look but can be interpreted many different ways. Early uncoated and single coated lenses (pre-1960's) often feature a soft, dreamy look. A cheap 35mm camera with such a lens is the Argus C3. If you want dreamy bokeh and sharp focus though, early Leica lenses of the same era are known for this. I'm using a Leica 50mm Summarit at it's widest 1.5 aperture for this look currently:

In the 1980's, Pentax released a portrait lens specifically for soft focus:

http://www.northcoastphotographer.net/blog/files/a21469478b88f1794b538ecf91bcc626-30.html

The current Petzval lenses by Lomo which are available in Nikon and Canon mount are also very dreamy and feature heavy swirlios:

http://shop.lomography.com/us/lenses/art-lenses/petzval-nikon-mount-brass

What camera/lenses are you currently using? Simply opening to the widest aperture and/or deliberately shooting slightly out of focus or with a slow shutter can do the trick.

OR you can buy a dedicated soft focus diffusion filter (no vaseline required!):

http://www.cs.mtu.edu/~shene/DigiCam/User-Guide/filter/filter-diffusion.html

You can certainly smear a UV filter with vaseline but I think that in use, you'll find this annoying and troublesome as well as a waste of a perfectly good UV filter since you'll never be able to use that thing normally again. For one or the occasional shoot it's fine but try swapping lenses and containing the smeary mess of a filter without getting gunk on the rest of your equipment etc. Plus, the look of the lens will keep changing based on gravity and other forces of nature. This technique was used in the early days of cinema when cameras were big heavy things sitting atop big, heavy, motionless tripods. This method is not really that practical for on-the-go small format photography. However, if you are in a more controlled environment and don't want to buy the correct lens or filter for the job this low budget trick will be fine with ample experimenting before the shoot.

Also, by using expired film or expired developer, one can get a soft dreamy look on the film itself. You might find that Impossible Project Instant Film can have this look.

Anyway, so there are a ton of different ways to make your 35mm film look soft and dreamy. You have to research other photogs' examples on Flickr, Google, etc and see what specifically you want and how to go about it. In photography, and art, there are seldom just one or two ways of doing a thing! Enjoy the exploration!

Please don't forget to vote for a Best Answer! You can spray the lens with a little hairspray or stretch nylon panty hose over it. Put a cheap UV filter on your lens, and smear some petroleum jelly/vaseline around the edges of the glass.

Don't spray or put anything directly on your lens, you'll never get it off again. Vaseline / saran wrap / spray etc on a cheap UV filter is certainly a good way to go, but if you have deep pockets and want a filter made to give you the look you want, you can buy the Singh Ray Tony Sweet Diffusion Filter.

http://www.singh-ray.com/specialty-filters/ The cellophane wrapper from a cigarette pack will diffuse the light and give a soft dreamy look without making the filter useless. If you are using black and white film, printing with Selectol soft developer can also enhance the effect. Dodging with the cigarette wrapper also works.

You can spray the lens with a little hairspray or stretch nylon panty hose over it.

Put a cheap UV filter on your lens, and smear some petroleum jelly/vaseline around the edges of the glass.

Don't spray or put anything directly on your lens, you'll never get it off again.

Vaseline / saran wrap / spray etc on a cheap UV filter is certainly a good way to go, but if you have deep pockets and want a filter made to give you the look you want, you can buy the Singh Ray Tony Sweet Diffusion Filter.

http://www.singh-ray.com/specialty-filters/

The cellophane wrapper from a cigarette pack will diffuse the light and give a soft dreamy look without making the filter useless. If you are using black and white film, printing with Selectol soft developer can also enhance the effect. Dodging with the cigarette wrapper also works.