Wigan Album

That's a lovely portrait David..I bet his parents were very pleased with it.

A little blared, don't you think!

Is that ali khan and Margaret razaq's son? they lived on wigan lane near ashfield park

To answer two questtion, first the purpose of a softar is to soften (blur) the image controllably to give in the painterly look, "Photographic sharpness was much too crisp when images were put on canvas so it made them look out of place.
Second the late Margaret Razaq was never married to Ali Khan, she was married to Ghulam Qader, the couple had no children.

You very often still see this softening effect in the most up-to-date photography effects, done with filters, gives a feeling of "reflectedness" or "wistfullness". Especially effective in single portraits, such as brides on their wedding days, and particularly young children, putting them in a calmer looking perspective, a nice alternative to the usual phrenetic process of getting kids to sit still, often resulting in very "stilted" looking portraits. Definitely not a "new" thing, and still ALWAYS effective.

Nowadays we add filtering effect in post production, it is certainly more predictable seeing where the image is going an a computer screen, than using DOF preview butting on camera, nonetheless back in the seventies and eighties, I would say that almost 90% of my work would be shot through Softars or an home made version depending on which camera/film combination I had elected to shoot with.

Shot through Softarse?? int that swearing?

my my, Irene will have a fit she used to live next door to a church an all