I went to Hengistbury Head yesterday with my family and took the Z8 with me. I posted a few pictures online that I’d edited in Lightroom, and was asked if I’d used a mist filter.

For those that don’t know, a mist filter is a camera filter that slightly softens an image by diffusing highlights, giving bright areas a gentle glow while keeping most detail intact. It takes the digital edge off, smooths contrast, and can make skin tones look more flattering — especially in harsh light. You’ll often see them used in portraits, weddings, and video to add a subtle, cinematic, dreamy feel without making the photo look out of focus.

I often use a mist filter on my X100VI in order to take the digital edge off and to try and help create that filmic look.

However, I dislike using a mist filter on my Z8 and accompanying lenses – I’ve spent a good deal of time ensuring that my kit is both sharp and as technically perfect as possible, (also a good deal of money); therefore, I dislike ‘baking in’ a diffused look at the point of capture. It means I cannot undo the look further down the line.

However, I really wanted an ethereal look to yesterday’s photos – the weather was sublime and the light really beautiful, so wanted to lean into this. So, if I haven’t used a mist filter, how can I achieve this in Lightroom afterwards?

The quickest and easiest way to achieve it is by using the clarity and dehaze sliders – when dragged to the right, they increase contrast and punch, but when they’re dragged to the left they have the reverse effect, and give the image a ‘bloom’ look. When combined with an increase in exposure and raising the whites, it gives the following look:

If you’re more of a Photoshop person, you can get a very similar (and arguably more controllable) effect there too. The idea is still the same: soften contrast, lift the highlights slightly, and introduce a bit of glow — just in a more hands-on way.

I usually start by duplicating the background layer, then applying a Gaussian Blur until the image starts to bloom very slightly. Don’t panic when it looks too much — this part is meant to be subtle once it’s blended back in. I’ll then change the blend mode of that blurred layer to Screen or Soft Light, depending on how strong I want the effect, and lower the opacity until it feels natural rather than obvious.

To keep things feeling intentional (and not hazy everywhere), I’ll often add a layer mask and paint the effect in mainly over the highlights — backlight, sky, or areas where light naturally spills. This helps mimic the way a real mist filter blooms light rather than flattening the whole image.

Sometimes I’ll finish by adding a very gentle Curves adjustment, lifting the shadows just a touch to soften contrast further. The goal isn’t to make the image look blurry or “Photoshopped”, but to introduce that soft, airy, slightly dreamy quality you’d normally associate with shooting through a mist filter in-camera.

Done carefully, this approach gives you loads of control and lets you dial in exactly how ethereal you want the final image to feel — even if you forgot to screw a filter on at the time.