[Michael Macalincag]

Didn’t think I had to state the obvious but no, DO NOT put vaseline directly on your glass- use a filter for that!

Of course, as technology progresses as well as the seemingly hundreds of plugins & overlays that are coming out everyday, most of these older tricks and techniques are rarely implemented, especially with the younger generations. Doesn’t mean they should be discounted, though. I still know people who enjoy the “hands-on” process of in-camera effects as well as going out of their way to experiment and conjure up different looks. Why? Because it’s fun.

But since you’re still not exactly sure what effect you want to achieve (you did say lens blur), I’m very confident you can find a plugin or overlay to suit your needs- even if you don’t know what it is you want right now, you’ll most likely know once you lay your eyes on it.

I’m not going to start naming plugins & overlays as there’s so many to choose from, but a simple search for your criteria (lens blur) will generate substantial results. Most NLEs (or other applications) have default effects that may deliver what you need as well…

[Michael Macalincag]

There are lots of old tricks DPs still use for this such as vaseline or (women’s) stockings to soften up an image a bit or to simply get the light to react differently.

Of course nowadays it’s very possible to do things like this in post, so it’s really hard to say in your situation. As time goes on there’s will always be more, yet different methods to reach a destination.

I would suggest Googling some of the keywords I suggested, it’ll lead you to a lot of good reads.

Hope that helps.

[Michael Macalincag]

Care to add a bit more details about the file asides from the container? Codec, etc.

Also what troubleshooting steps have you gone through thus far?