Create a Dreamy Photo Effect with Photoshop Elements

By Sue Chastain, About.com Guide

At the top of the layers palette, locate the "New adjustment layer" button. Hold down the Alt Key (Option on Mac) as you press this button and choose "Brightness/Contrast" from the menu. From the new layer dialog check the box for "Group With Previous Layer" and press OK. This makes it so the Brightness/Contrast adjustment is only affecting the "Soften" layer and not all layers below it.

Next you should see the controls for the Brightness/Contrast adjustment. This is subjective, so feel free to experiment with these values to get a "dreamy" quality that you like. I've boosted the brightness up to +15 and the contrast to +25. When you're happy with the values, click OK.

Essentially this is all there is to it for the dreamy effect, but I'm going to go on to show you how to give the picture a softly fading edge effect.