Bride-to-be...what can you do?

[carseasoncity]

Here is a candid shot from a wedding I did a few weeks ago. When I showed her this shot on the lcd screen she loved it. I included the original (straight from camera) and a version that I played around with. I would love to see what you guys come up with. I think it could look really cool as a painting...minus the tree in the background. But I have about 300 more pics to edit, and my painting skills are void at the moment though I am trying to learn.
Let me see what you can come up with.
Brandi

[ThePhotoFixer]

Here is my quick study. Comments Welcome. I love the photo by the way!

[Cassidy]

Brandi, I really love your sketch. Would you care to share your technique?

[lkroll]

A little sparkle and glow.

[Alison]

Hi Brandi,

I don't do much painting, so I just played around with the image till I liked it.

I kinda like the idea of the jaded bride taking a breather on her wedding day.

Levels adjustment layer - flatten image - dup b/ground twice (3 layers) - leave the b/ground as is - on the second layer desaturate the image - third layer, change blend mode to soft light and reduce the opacity to suit ... I used about 50% - curves adjustment layer - curves adjustment layer, invert mask, use to bring out the head dress - colour balance adjustment layer, midtones, boost reds about 20%, desat yellows about 20%. Snapshot, flatten image - neat image to smooth, mask to bring back out the pattern on the dress, her eyes, lips and hair.

The look - the bride is a little washed out after her big day but the shrubbery and the yellow flowers are not jaded.

[carseasoncity]

Originally Posted by Cassidy

Brandi, I really love your sketch. Would you care to share your technique?

Well, being on the RetouchPro forum I'm almost a little embarassed to say, but it's an action. (blush, blush). I've got to get going this morning, but I'll look for it when I get home. It's free and it's just called "high key", though the one I used was called "more sketch than high key". I'll post the link when I find it.
Brandi

[Cassidy]

Brandi, don't be embarassed, there are so many actions and plugins out there it is hard to know what is what

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Cassidy

Brandi, don't be embarassed, there are so many actions and plugins out there it is hard to know what is what

Agreed...

FWIW when I started with this hobby many years ago, using actions was my method of choice. In fact I've written literally hundreds of "arty actions" myself which helped me learn a lot about Photoshop as well as action writing.

There's no shame in using whatever tools you have at hand that render the results you want. It's like going to the store for a loaf of bread vs. baking a loaf from scratch. Both result in the ability to make a sandwich. Each has pros / cons. Until I learn to "do it myself," I'm perfectly OK with store bought!

[DannyRaphael]

Just a classic photo... Thanks for the play opportunity.

On this interpretation I used various Impressionist plugin settings applied to separate layers and layer masks on the individual layers to enable selective effect application. I thought it would look better without the tree, so I painted over that beforehand.

I think the trick with this type of thing is to not mess "too much" with facial features and skin, but manipulate the rest.

In retrospect I should have "done less manipulation" with her face and skin tone on this one.

[palms]

A absolutely great photo, and my favorite sort of wedding photo's (not formal or posed )

As you said paint i have attempted just that with the ah brush, but with two finishes hopefully you will like one of them



Palms

[Swampy]

I don't often paint portraits, but this is a wonderful candid shot so I had to have a go.

PST with a watercolor brush.

[palms]

Sorry couldn't resist another one, using the history brush and a sketch layer (done with a action ! )

Palms

[carseasoncity]

You guys are so talented. Maybe one day I will get good at painting. I'm still mostly at the "actions" level though. I'm glad everyone likes the shot. I will post a few more later as I work through the 800 pictures that I took.

Here is the link to the sketch action that I used. Hope you find it useful.

http://www.inframe.co.uk/html/download.shtml

Thanks for all the ideas and hope to see more.
Brandi

[DannyRaphael]

Palms... you nailed it on AHB #1. The only nit is loss of detail in dress; otherwise simply wonderful.

B: thanks for link. I can always use another action.

My try II: BW, which seems to work on many wedding shots.

[palms]

Thank you Danny I agree about the detail on the dress, I tried using the history brush to try and bring some of it back but sadly it didnt work, Great black and white conversion, but why didn't i think of a vignette

Swampy great painting, hope you dont mind but as soon as i looked at yours i thought "This would look great in Sepia " so i have had a bit of a play and yep i think it looks great as well give it a try and see what you think ( i know it could just be me )

Palms

[Steve Conway]

Why isn't she smiling?

Steve C.

[carseasoncity]

Originally Posted by Steve Conway

Why isn't she smiling?

Steve C.

Because she was being forced to marry against her will by her evil parents who were only concerned with the wealth that the arrogant groom possessed...oh...wait...wrong bride. Just kiddin'.

As I mentioned in the original post this was a candid shot. She wasn't aware of me at this point as she was deep in conversation with her maid of honor, and probably trying to calm her nerves as this was right before the wedding.

Nice work.
Brandi

[jch71566]

I really like the shot! I was inspired by Palms and Danny.

I used impressionist, paint engine, and a few other tricks.

Enjoy!

[0lBaldy]

HDR_tonemapped
Painted out tree on original
Moved tone mapped on top of original with a hide all mask
Let dress of tone mapped show through by painting with white
Merged all layers then used the "More sketch than HighKey" action
Lightened the sketch with levels
Layed it on top of the merged layers as a soft light layer

[Peter S]

Just had to have a go at such a great pic.

Peter

[Peter S]

And another, a little lighter and more attention paid to the detail in the posh frock.

Peter

[cindy fuller]

Here's my go at it. She's a lovely bride. I love her dress! Thanks for the great practice! I may have gone a little far with it. I tend to lose the world and get lost in the painting.

Cindy

[carseasoncity]

Originally Posted by cindy fuller

Here's my go at it. She's a lovely bride. I love her dress! Thanks for the great practice! I may have gone a little far with it. I tend to lose the world and get lost in the painting.

Cindy

AWESOME!!! Great work! Any tips on how you achieved it? Thanks!
Brandi

[lilysharon]

I really like the last one posted.
I went the other direction and lightened it.

[Steve Conway]

Originally Posted by carseasoncity

Because she was being forced to marry against her will by her evil parents who were only concerned with the wealth that the arrogant groom possessed...oh...wait...wrong bride. Just kiddin'.

As I mentioned in the original post this was a candid shot. She wasn't aware of me at this point as she was deep in conversation with her maid of honor, and probably trying to calm her nerves as this was right before the wedding.

Nice work.
Brandi

Yeah, I thought so. She's thinking, "Do I really want to marry this bum?"

Kidding also...it's a nice study of a bride that you seldom see. Most wedding pics are all smiles, sweetness, and light. This is a prize. And I'll bet she likes it best as the years go by.

Steve C.

[Ziaphra]

Some lovely renditions here...one from me!

[cindy fuller]

Originally Posted by carseasoncity

AWESOME!!! Great work! Any tips on how you achieved it? Thanks!
Brandi

Thanks, Brandi!

In Photoshop:
I started out duplicating the image (never work on the original). I like to work on bigger photos, so I resized by upping the resolution. I usually set the resolution to 300 pixels/inch, because most of the time the photos posted online are at 72 pixels/inch. Yours was posted at 350, so I just doubled it to 700. I'm sure that's not the proper way to resize, but it works for me, and it's easy.

I knew I wanted to have some of the texture on the dress, so I selected a bit of the dress and saved it as a brush to use later.I duped the background layer. Then I went into levels and brightened the photo a bit. Used a layer mask to bring out the brighter colors where I wanted them by painting on the mask with black. Did the same for the for the darks. Flattened the photo. Added a 1-2 inch border of white by resizing the canvas.

Added a layer, painted with the backgound color on the photo, behind the bride to cover the tree, so when I flattened the image the tree was gone. Again, I know this probably wasn't the proper way to do it, but it worked and it was easy. And I knew I was going to smudge it anyway.

In Painter:
I added a layer, "pick up underlying color" selected on that layer. I started sampling different colors from the bride and painting "squiggly" lines all over the background. Used the grainy water blender brush at different opacity and sizes to smudge out the "squigglies" and the white border that I had added in Photoshop.

I used a small chalk brush to add color to the flowers and the veil. And still using the grainy water blender, I smudged them slightly. Did the same for the skin and the dress. When it was the way I wanted it, I saved it and brought it back into Photoshop.

In Photoshop, I added a new layer, picked a color that was darker than the dress, and got that brush I had saved earlier and brushed on some of that dress texture. I believe I set the layer to multipy at a low number.Sorry I can't remember exactly because I played with the layer settings until I got it the way I liked it.

I also decided I didn't like the colors of the painting, They were too muted for me, so I used Color Balance to bring out some brighter colors. I posted the muted painting below. After I changed the color balance, I did smudge here and there because I couldn't stop myself!

When I finished painting, I resized back down to 350ppi and saved.

I hope I helped you some! And sorry if I rambled on too much!

Cindy

[carseasoncity]

Originally Posted by cindy fuller

Thanks, Brandi!

In Photoshop:
I started out duplicating the image (never work on the original). I like to work on bigger photos, so I resized by upping the resolution. I usually set the resolution to 300 pixels/inch, because most of the time the photos posted online are at 72 pixels/inch. Yours was posted at 350, so I just doubled it to 700. I'm sure that's not the proper way to resize, but it works for me, and it's easy.

I knew I wanted to have some of the texture on the dress, so I selected a bit of the dress and saved it as a brush to use later.I duped the background layer. Then I went into levels and brightened the photo a bit. Used a layer mask to bring out the brighter colors where I wanted them by painting on the mask with black. Did the same for the for the darks. Flattened the photo. Added a 1-2 inch border of white by resizing the canvas.

Added a layer, painted with the backgound color on the photo, behind the bride to cover the tree, so when I flattened the image the tree was gone. Again, I know this probably wasn't the proper way to do it, but it worked and it was easy. And I knew I was going to smudge it anyway.

In Painter:
I added a layer, "pick up underlying color" selected on that layer. I started sampling different colors from the bride and painting "squiggly" lines all over the background. Used the grainy water blender brush at different opacity and sizes to smudge out the "squigglies" and the white border that I had added in Photoshop.

I used a small chalk brush to add color to the flowers and the veil. And still using the grainy water blender, I smudged them slightly. Did the same for the skin and the dress. When it was the way I wanted it, I saved it and brought it back into Photoshop.

In Photoshop, I added a new layer, picked a color that was darker than the dress, and got that brush I had saved earlier and brushed on some of that dress texture. I believe I set the layer to multipy at a low number.Sorry I can't remember exactly because I played with the layer settings until I got it the way I liked it.

I also decided I didn't like the colors of the painting, They were too muted for me, so I used Color Balance to bring out some brighter colors. I posted the muted painting below. After I changed the color balance, I did smudge here and there because I couldn't stop myself!

When I finished painting, I resized back down to 350ppi and saved.

I hope I helped you some! And sorry if I rambled on too much!

Cindy

Great! I'll try to do this myself when I'm finished editing the rest of the pictures. Thanks for the info.
Brandi

[byRo]

Many thanks to Brandi, for such a great image.

A big Welcome to RetouchPRO to Cindy.
What a way to start!! Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

I got sortta detoured and did an almost straight retouch.
The other is AHB, very sharpened and hard-light blended onto a coloured background.

Rô

[palms]

Originally Posted by byRo

I got sortta detoured and did an almost straight retouch.

Rô

how did you do the skin please? was it your de grunge technique? I really like how it turned out almost a painting in itself

Palms