How to Edit a Photo for an Ethereal Effect

Ethereal refers to something that is light or tenuous --- what you might imagine an angel or a ghost would look like. It describes an image that has the quality of being not quite of this world. A way to create this kind of effect is to give your photo a soft focus effect, but you can't just take a blurry picture. The trick is to make a separate layer with a copy of the photo, make it blurry and then blend it with the original so it has the right look.

• 1

  Open the original photo in your image-editing software.

• 2

  Make a copy of the image and close the original. You can do this by selecting "Save as" from the "File" menu and typing a new file name. Or you can choose the "Duplicate" command from the "Image" menu, if your image-editing software has that feature. Working with a duplicate image preserves the original in case you need it for something later.

• 3

  Duplicate the layer. There are a couple ways to do this, depending on your software. You might have to select "promote background layer" from the "Layer" menu first, if it won't let you duplicate the background layer. Select "Duplicate Layer" from the "Layer" menu, or click on the "Duplicate Layer" button on the layer palette.

• 4

  Select the new layer. Do this by clicking on it in the Layers palette.

• 5

  Apply a "Gaussian Blur" effect to the new layer. The location of this effect will vary. It may be in the "Filter" menu or the "Effects" menu. If there is a submenu that groups various "Blur" effects together, it may be under that. Set the blur radius at somewhere between 4 and 10 pixels, depending on the size of your photo and your preference.

• 6

  Reduce the opacity of the new layer or choose a special blend mode for this layer. Both of these options will be in the Layer palette. Make sure the new layer is selected and look for a slider or numerical setting for the layer's "Opacity," which will start out at the default of 100%. Reduce it to between 40 and 60 percent, watching the preview to see what value works best. Or click on a drop-down menu to select from a list of layer "Blend Modes" and choose "Screen."

• 7

  Save the image. You may need to merge the layers first, depending on what image format you want to use.