Dreamy Photo Effects yes, done only with the plug-ins included with Photoshop; no other plug-ins with clunky, memory-eating interfaces required. It’s a fairly simple process so here we go…
Start off by opening your picture of choice in Photoshop. Make a copy of the background layer, then label it something like “Blur 1″.
Then go to Image > Adjustments > Desaturate. At this point, if you wish, you can adjust the Brightness/Contrast to something more to your liking by going to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast.
Go to Filter > Blur > Guassian Blur and start off with a Radius of 3.0. You can adjust the radius to your liking. Click OK when you’re finished.
This part is a little more tricky only because you’re deciding what looks the best.
Start off by changing the blend mode of Blur 1 to Screen. If you like it the way it is, you can stop here. If not, keep going. Since this part is complicated, I’ll finish with a list of suggested blend modes and opacity/fill settings to get you started.
Suggested Blend modes and Fill settings
Normal / Fill 75%
Lighten / Fill 1oo%
Luminosity / Fill (adjust to desired percentage)
For additional effect, create a copy of Blur 1 then set to Normal / Fill 75% set the original Blur 1 to Luminosity / Fill 50%.