Portrait Texture

[Murray Harkavy]

Hi ... I'm always searching for new textures in photo painting portraits. At a recent art exhibit, I captured this subject at 640 x 480 on a floppy disk in my Sony FD-95. In an experiment, I worked up this effect and I'd like to hear your comments ..... MH

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Murray Harkavy

Hi ... I'm always searching for new textures in photo painting portraits. At a recent art exhibit, I captured this subject at 640 x 480 on a floppy disk in my Sony FD-95. In an experiment, I worked up this effect and I'd like to hear your comments ..... MH

Murray... From what I can see of the shirt (shoulder) it looks pleasingly "painted," but the example is too small to assess overall.

You can click Edit on your post, then Manage Attachments again to delete the current image and replace with a larger version if you like. If you do, send me Private Mail (or E-mail) and I'll take another look.

New subject, but kind of related: Have you downloaded "Art Class 101" from www.Trimoon.com? I really like it as a background texture.

[WendyW]

Hi,

I downloaded the Art Paper 101 but could do with a little help on how to use it as a background texture ...


Wendy

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by WendyW

Hi,

I downloaded the Art Paper 101 but could do with a little help on how to use it as a background texture ...

Wendy

Hi Wendy:

Great question. Thanks for asking.

I don't recall the format of the original file. In order to use it through the Texturize > Texturizer command (that's how I use it), the file must be (a) in .psd format and (b) have been saved as Grayscale.

So, just to be safe:
* File > Open (the downloaded Art Paper 101 file)
* Image > Mode > Grayscale
* File > Save as... (Format: .psd) ##
* File > Close

## Where you put this file is up to you. Here's where I put mine (Photoshop 7):

C:\Program Files\Adobe\Photoshop 7.0\Presets\Textures\Downloads

...This location keeps them near the ones installed with Photoshop. The separate folder will make it easy to identify and move them with the next Photoshop upgrade.

To apply a custom texture file:
* New layer
* Edit > Fill > 50% gray
* Change layer blend mode from Normal to Overlay
* Filter > Texture > Texturizer
* Display the Texture menu and choose "Load Texture..."
* Navigate to the texture file you want to use, click the file name and OK
* Adjust settings as needed and apply the effect.

Fine tuning...
* Adjust opacity as needed.
* Also try Hard light or Soft light as alternatives to Overlay.

Applying the texture to a separate layer = flexibility in altering the blend mode and/or opacity after the fact. If you apply the texture directly to a layer, what you see is what you get.

Hope this gets you moving.

~Danny~

[WendyW]

Danny,

Thank you very much for all the information .. it has been a great help. I have now tried it out on several things and it does give a really good background effect

Wendy

[Murray Harkavy]

Danny ... Sorry about the delay in responding ... My area of interest is the skin texture. so I included the original for comparison in results ... Thanks for your interest .....MH

[plewis6]

Murray, I think your skin texture is a little on the photographic side and needs some of the magenta areas color corrected before the painting effects as that seemed to heighten their noticeability.

I did a quick one to try and illustrate what I meant. Mine is also probably a little too photographic and my background too distracting.

Hope that helps,

-paul

[hpycmpr]

Originally Posted by Murray Harkavy

Danny ... Sorry about the delay in responding ... My area of interest is the skin texture. so I included the original for comparison in results ... Thanks for your interest .....MH

For subjects such as this one, I would try to *preserve* the wrinkles as part of his character. But that's a very subjective comment. I am new at retouching portraits, and find the following thread very helpful on smoothing skin textures:

http://photoshoptechniques.com/forum...&threadid=2018

While you only asked for comments on skin texture, I would suggest getting a good skin tone is equally important. On my monitor, the skin tones are quite red. Check out this recent thread and see how different skin tones can make a difference:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/image-help/9859-flesh-tone-experts-help.html