Creative Portraits: Smiling Eyes

[DannyRaphael]

Photo courtesy of A. Yang.

I like opportunities afforded by the pink / green contrast.

~Danny~

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by DannyRaphael

Photo courtesy of A. Yang.

I like opportunities afforded by the pink / green contrast.

~Danny~

Well, after I got done playing with this, I decided to jettison the color. So much for pink and green contrast!

First I cropped the image to 10" tall and resized to 150 ppi for printing purpose.

This is another multiple layer concoction using Photoshop filters (Colored Pencil, Find Edges) and Impressionist styles (Charcoal-Default, Pencil Sketch-Soft Detailed, Pencil Sketch-Detailed Monochrome)... on copies of the Background. The individual layers were blended together using Layer Masks, where I could selectively apply the various effects.

Rather than specifying the exact layer and filter sequence, I will leave it to your own judgment to generate layers using various filters and styles and imagination when it comes to combining them with layer masks. That's the best way to develop your style.

For what it's worth I normally develop foreground to background (face, head detail first), then try to generate a background that fits the image and does not detract from the foreground.

As is almost always the case, once the image is complete, there's a need to restore some detail around the mouth and eyes, to "undo" the effects of the filters and styles.

This was done by duplicating the original background, desaturating the duplicate and dragging the duplicated layer to the top of the layer stack. Then, Layer > Add Layer Mask... > Hide all created the layer mask. This was followed by airbrushing lightly with white to reveal facial detail that the filters had destroyed.

A new layer was created and Alt+Ctrl+Shift+E entered to merge visible layers without collapsing the individual layers. This allows one to "backup and start over" if things don't go well going forward.

I decided to try something new I hadn't done before, in an attempt to "unify" the image.

The merged layer was duplicated and the Trimoon custom Impressionist Chalk style was applied. (See post #19 in this thread.) Way too much obliteration, but the textures looked promising.

So opacity was lowered to about 40% and blend mode set to Overlay. A layer mask was added and black was airbrushed onto the face and parts of the hair to reveal detail from the layer below.

Another new layer created and Alt+Ctrl+Shift+E to merge visible without collapsing. Almost done... But there were some blobs and areas that looked a bit out of place. One more new layer was created.

The Clone (Stamp) tool was selected, option "use all layers" clicked on. With a chalk brush selected, I proceeded to clone over areas that I thought needed it.

~Danny~

[Cheryl H]

That came out nice Danny. The background was really nice (sounds like a dumb point, but cruddy backgrounds are a plague for me). Cropping in close to the face was a good choice.

This used 4 layers with my impressionist charcoal presets 1, 2, 4, and 5. On each one I went to color and changed both drop downs to gray scale image. Each preset was run on a different duplicate layer from the original. Opacity on each layer was reduced (100, 66, 44, 32).

Topped with a gaussian blur sketch in soft light at 36.

Put a copy of the original on top in color mode at 40.

tweaked a little with adjustment layers.

[Andrew B.]

This is based on my India Ink method, that I've described here.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Andrew B.

This is based on my India Ink method, that I've described here.

This one turned out very nice, Andrew. I added the link to your method.

~Danny~

[Andrew B.]

Thanks, Danny. It is a very nice image to work on. Very responsive.

[Joy_CA]

Done by hand....PSP8

Smudge brush
Push brush
Lighten/Darken brush

Joy

[ahutton]

I desaturated and guassian blurred the heck out of the background, then ran Buzz, then PSP8 Trace Contours. Cleaned it up a bit and sepia toned it.

AmyHutton

[CJ Swartz]

Nice renditions by all, and a nice variety of styles!

Started by using Color Range to select most of the colors in the background so that I could work with the background - made the selection a separate layer -- blurred, adjusted Hue/Saturation and ran a glass distortion over it -- generally trying to minimize the background as a distraction and/or increase it as an enhancement to the subject. I used Dry Brush on one copy of the subject (lovely girl!) and Graphic Pen on another layer copy with a layer blend of Multiply and a layer mask to reduce the blurred effect around the eyes and mouth. Selected a frame area from the background layer and set to overlay with bevel/emboss.

[billglaw]

It is hard to beat really good picture. To get this variation:

Create three layers above the background by select all and copy the original image
1. top layer is Sketch effect B/w with subject erased. set at transparency of 40 as ADD. Diffuses the picture background and makes it lighter.
2. second layer is Water Color effect transparency set at 72 Normal
3. Third layer is original set to transparency of 55 Normal. Use this layer to adjust the brightness and color values
4. Using a little clone tool work and a little smudge work on the second layer to get a more realistic face image.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by billglaw

It is hard to beat really good picture. To get this variation:

Create three layers above the background by select all and copy the original image
1. top layer is Sketch effect B/w with subject erased. set at transparency of 40 as ADD. Diffuses the picture background and makes it lighter.
2. second layer is Water Color effect transparency set at 72 Normal
3. Third layer is original set to transparency of 55 Normal. Use this layer to adjust the brightness and color values
4. Using a little clone tool work and a little smudge work on the second layer to get a more realistic face image.

Hey, Bill:

Welcome back.

re: your watercolor effect
You're really onto something, here. Would you elaborate on your method/steps to achieve that look? It's one of the better WC-looking results I've seen.

Well done.

~Danny~

[Manjumena]

Trying the WC!

[FrannyMae]

Thought I would give this one a shot. I used a Fresco filter on both the girl and the background, but with more texture and a bigger brush on the background. I added a gaussian blur to the original pic of the girl, and added an adjustment layer and posterized the entire picture to 8 tones. I don't really know what I am doing but sure have fun trying!

[billglaw]

Mixing Effects at various combinations transparency and method ( normal, add, subtract, if lighter, etc....) Is always interesting in trying to either simulate the real effect or create a new one. In the rendition posted here the WC effect is shown as first conversion. Then as modified. I use the smudge tool at less than 10 pixels like a dry brush to soften the color areas. Then bleed through the original to get more detail. The initial raw effect does not have WC "feel". The original picture definition (lines/inch) has an influence on the original conversion.

[LQQKER]

Very attractive subject.

Ran levels.
Digital sho
Hue & Sat adjustment.
Impressionist.
Light simplification.
Virtual painter.
Embossed.
Lightened center.
Nik midnight (gradient layer), skylight, and contrast.
Color adjustment.

[DannyRaphael]

An especially effective combination of effects. Well done.

Do you recall which Impressionist setting(s) you used?

~Danny~

[LQQKER]

Danny - It originated in the watercolor section (I know, not much help).

It's one that I made on the fly to help create a more appropriate background for what I had in mind before blending and using VP.
Sorry I cannot be more specific.

Jaymis

[JustChecking]

i'm not sure whether i really turned the portrait into some real technique, but still

btw, among all these great submissions, i've been surprised by the "liveness" of Manjumena's result... can you spill some beans on the technique, please?

[jaykita]

Here's another one from me!

[jaykita]

Outlining with diffuse-anisotropic, and unsharp mask.

[jaykita]

Came across a GREAT tutorial by Jay Arraich on outlining and used it for my image. Can be used for ps7.
The website is http://www.arraich.com/elements/pse_ooutline1.htm
What i did here was color outline layer normal, background copy find edges and blend linear dodge. (too lazy to write out entire tut for u!)

Play around with the various blends. Its GOOD FUN!

[Manjumena]

Originally Posted by JustChecking

i'm not sure whether i really turned the portrait into some real technique, but still

btw, among all these great submissions, i've been surprised by the "liveness" of Manjumena's result... can you spill some beans on the technique, please?

I tried my best here to recall the steps. I have given these steps in a another thread. But It's the same what I have done
http://www.pbase.com/manjulasiriwardena/image/33769990
Manju

[JustChecking]

thanks a lot, Manju!!!

[DannyRaphael]

Rendered mostly with the Xenofex 2 Classic Mosaic filter...
* A layer with fairly large pieces
* A layer with smaller pieces on top, and blended with a layer mask with the layer below.
* Merged both onto a separate layer, which was duplicated, embossed and set to Overlay.

[Peter S]

Heres mine, not totally satisfied but could not think what more to do.

Peter

[mrwho]

Same with me, but I tried a different filter in PaintEngine, and adjusted the colors a bit.

EDIT:fixed it

[CathyH]

I did a smudge painting technique.

[Steve Conway]

Very pretty girl. Nice photo.

Steve