Creative Portraits: Lady with a Rose

[ahutton]

One of my favorite passtimes is to take antique photos and turn them into modern portraits, with an artistic flare. Here's an old pic of a lady with a rose. And what I did with it. See what you can do to turn this into something a litle more exciting.

I did mine with buzz, a heavy canvas texture, and VP impasto, and played with the tones and colors.

Can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!
AmyHutton

[Duv]

What a lovely lady. Sorry. Must be an old guy thing. One of the few times I got so distracted I forgot to note my steps. Anyhow, Amy, thanks for posting!

Cheers
Dave

[Xaran]

I love these old photos too - thanks for posting this one Amy.

Couple of layers of Xero Line Art - one sketch - one drawing.
sketch on top in soft light mode, duplicated to lighten more.

New layer in overlay mode painted on to bring back eyes, lips, hair and rose.

Sandstone texture.

I felt this was too smooth so ran paint engine and clicked randomize til I found one I liked.

Christine

[DannyRaphael]

Amy:

Wonderful pic with which to experiment. A+.

- - - - - -

jaykita: Thanks for sharing your creativity and welcome. Hope to see more of your handiwork in the future.

- - - - - -

Here's the basic how-to on mine:
1. Cloned out the watermark in the right/bottom foreground.
2. Added Levels adjustment layer. Lightened image considerably; then CTRL + I to invert the mask (effectively turning off the effect).
3. Airbrushed white in areas that looked too dark, like around eyes and some portions of hair.
4. Created a new layer on the top of the layer stack.
5. Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E to merge visible without collapsing individual layers.
6. Named this merged layer "Base."
7. Dupicated "Base" and applied Impressionist custom style "#djroil24" which can be downloaded HERE
8. Duplicated "Base" again; dragged duplicate to top of layer stack. Applied Photoshop Dry Brush filter. This renders an arty effect, but retains a lot of detail.
9. Added a hide all layer mask to the Dry Brush layer. Airbrushed white around eyes, nose, mouth and the rose to restore detail that Impressionist blasted.
10. Duplicated "Base" again; dragged duplicate to top of layer stack.
11. Added a hide all layer mask. Airbrushed white around eyes and mouth to bring back even a little more detail.
12. Selected the Eye Dropper tool and clicked on a sepia colored portion of the image to set the foreground color.
13. Added a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to the top of the layer stack and clicked the "colorize" option, which colorizes according to the current foreground color. Convenient, huh? Tweaked the controls until I liked the overall adjusted sepia effect.
14. Clicked the foreground color swatch and, from the color picker dialog, selected a bright red color.
15. Added a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer to the top of the layer stack and clicked the "colorize" option, giving the image a very red look.
16. Ctrl + I to invert the adjustment layer.
17. With a relatively small brush, I airbrushed white again this time on the rose, colorizing it.
18. Fiddled with opacity of H/S layer, as well as the H, S, L controls.
19. Added new layer on top of layer stack.
20. Alt + Ctrl + Shift + E to merge visible without collapsing individual layers.
21. Applied some Unsharp Mask to bring out some detail.
22. Finally, applied Levels adjustment layer to add some contrast.

[shariwb]

Great antique photo and wonderful renditions. I colorized the photo and used the impressionist paint filter to give an oil painted effect.

[Neve]

I've thoroughly enjoyed viewing all the creative submissions, well done! Thank you for the lovely picture to work with...I desaturated then colourised (tentatively...)using PSP8.01. Duped and added a soft light layer. Applied Buzz filter and a canvas texture.

[DannyRaphael]

Greetings, Neve:

It's an honor to be joined by new members from Down Under. Welcome aboard!

This is a very nice interpretation. I hope we'll be seeing more of your work in the future.

~Danny~

[jaykita]

i have struggled long and hard with this one. Please dont ask me how i did it..lol...i want desperately to learn how to watercolor digitally.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by jaykita

i have struggled long and hard with this one. Please dont ask me how i did it..lol...i want desperately to learn how to watercolor digitally.

OK, so how did you do it? (just kidding...) I like this one even more than your 1st version.

re: "i want desperately to learn how to watercolor digitally."

Corel Painter has an ocean of creative effects among which WC is highly touted. From what I've seen it is about the best program on the planet for rendering very realistic looking digital watercolors.

If you aspire to literally learn to paint in WC style, there's no reason why Painter could not serve this purpose. If you already have some traditional art skills (painting, drawing/sketching, etc.), so much the better.

~Danny~

[Neve]

Thanks Danny, I'm happy to be here.

Jaykita - you're trying hard. Keep right on experimenting, the pieces will eventually gel. I found that by writing/typing notes on steps I take was the way to go as I'd often forget steps and wished I'd written it down. I keep a folder now of procedures/steps that are favourites which I can update whenever I wish quite easily.

[ahutton]

This time I greyscaled the original, then buzzed it, did xero lineart. Then back to the original greyscaled and added VP color Pencil, mirrored it and added color pencil again. Then desaturated the colors so it was less purple and softened it significantly.

AmyHutton

[Neve]

Good effort again Jaykita and good luck with Painter 8, I've seen some stunning results from folks using that program. Amy - I like what you did, especially the coloured pencil but I think finer black lines would improve your result.

[jaykita]

Guess I went overboard with this one, huh?
-- converted hotchpotch to greyscale- used a impressionist pencil sketch filter from danny's collection - ran it thro painter with water tool - back to PS7 with paint daub filter, watercolor, and multiplied with another pencil sketch (my own)

[Janet Petty]

OK, so it isn't so artsy. But what is art but subjective.

I thoroughly enjoyed colorizing his pretty young 1920s girl. And that's all I did. Colorize her. I used one layer for each color then used hue and saturation and blending modes to tweak each of them. When I was finished I flattened it and again used hue/sat to bring up the punch. I wanted a slightly overblown/overdone effect in the colorizing, one that would tell the viewer that this old photo had been hand colored in the 1920's. I hope that this posts (with small file formats it is difficult to tell sometimes how it will turn out) the way I intended.

Carefree giggle,
Janet

[dslinger]

Danny- Wow! Not only is your rendition impressive, but the detail and time you took to tell us not only the steps but WHY you chose them is marvelous

Let me ask you- what is the difference between the way you merge layers and the regular way? Does the normal way to flatten an image detract from it's quality?

Donna

[kiska]

About merging. When you create a new blank layer and merge visible the layers you want to combine into the blank, it gives you a 'flat' image AND keeps the individual layers intact. Actual flattening is the LAST thing you do, only when the image is complete. If you're working for a client, it is best to keep one copy with all the layers, in case of changes. Hope this is clear.
kiska

[dslinger]

OH! I see what you're saying about layers...yeah, I understand that completely. I think everyone here has probably banged his or her head against the desk a time or two due to not saving particular layers. Especially in the old Photoshop days when there was no History! I thought he was saying there was a process to flattening an image that was better or worse. I guess I'm more old school- I tend to save versions of my work in seperate documents rather than on layers, but I'm with ya now.

[Janet Petty]

Danny, I'm impressed. Nice work. And who says you don't have any artistic talent? Not you I hope. Your description is the best. Clean, concise, thorough. You did what I only dream about doing with photos into art.

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Janet Petty

Danny, I'm impressed. Nice work. And who says you don't have any artistic talent? Not you I hope. Your description is the best. Clean, concise, thorough. You did what I only dream about doing with photos into art.

Janet:

I'm just now getting back into "forum mode" after being off the net for a few days. Your kind words are sincerely appreciated.

Believe me. If I can learn to do this stuff, you can too. It just takes practice, lots of experimenting and the willingness to ask "how" if you see an effect you'd like to know more about. Most folks are glad to share "how."

Donna:

Looks like the lightbulb went on for you regarding the merging of layers. Merging layers (vs. flattening) does not change the overall result. It's just a different way to skin the cat.

You can definitely save physical versions of a file, e.g., painting stage 1.psd, painting stage 2.psd, etc. as you go along. Nothing wrong with that.

I prefer to do the functional equivalent of periodically merging visible layers into a single layer via the Alt + ctrl + shift + E command. (You can do the same thing by creating a new layer, then holding down Alt and selecting Layer > Merge Visible.) Creating periodic "merged layers snapshots" allows me the flexiblity of stepping backwards and starting over if I start going down a path and really hose things up -- not an uncommon occurrance, I might add!

By maintaining the individual layers and, as I go, assigning names to them that indicate (to me) what I did to create that layer, e.g., "Pencil Sketch (2,6,50) + Unsharp Mask (200,5,0)", I'm able to go back at a later time and "decode" the how-to steps for a given pic. Getting into the habit of assiging layer names as you go takes a bit of practice, but is invaluable if you have a lousy memory like I do and ever hear yourself ask the question, "Now, HOW did I DO THAT?"

Thanks for your kind words, too. Glad you found my descriptions useful. It's that kind of feedback that makes it worthwhile!

More questions? Don't hesitate to ask. Always glad to help.

~Danny~

[DannyRaphael]

Jakita:

(another) stunning interpretation. Did you even give Painter a test flight?

~Danny~

[jaykita]

Hi Danny. Thank you so much for your appreciation. I think your renditions are absolutely FANTASTIC. Have been scouting around for your work - do you have a special tutorials page??
Re Painter, I have an older version of it - but then it used to be called Fractal Design Painter. Yes, I have been using it off and on.

[Duv]

Just a little bit of hand coloring with some impossible Irish Green background.
Extreme minimum PS palette knife
2 x Dave's Simplifier, Faded
High Pass Sharpening coupled with some USM.

Cheers
Dave

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by jaykita

Hi Danny. Thank you so much for your appreciation. I think your renditions are absolutely FANTASTIC. Have been scouting around for your work - do you have a special tutorials page??
Re Painter, I have an older version of it - but then it used to be called Fractal Design Painter. Yes, I have been using it off and on.

Your words humble me. Thank you very much. Most of my work (art and tutorials) are posted in threads here at RetouchPRO. I have posted some artwork at http://www.pbase.com/dannyraphael

Painter has bounced around quite a bit company-wise during its life: Fractal Design to MetaCreations to Procreate (a short-lived Corel subsidiary) and finally back to (mother ship) Corel. I like the Corel version 8 because it supports native Photoshop layered files and, as such, makes it easy to ship files to/from via Photoshop. I haven't even begun to scratch the surface of Painter capabilities... It's like a huge candy store and I'm looking forward sampling more over time.

~Danny~

[pjb]

I saw this picture about a week ago and did it. But couldn't find it again until now. I look at all the post in humbleness Everyone has done such an outstanding job.

took out background
basic sketch
poster edges multiply blending

[dslinger]

well, Danny, the lightbulb went on when I realized what you were talking about lol....ok, so I'm a bit slow on the uptake sometimes

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by dslinger

well, Danny, the lightbulb went on when I realized what you were talking about lol....ok, so I'm a bit slow on the uptake sometimes

No worries. Lightbulbs still come on for me in various areas of Photoshop. It's like, "Why didn't I get that before?" but that's the way it is. So much to learn, so little time.

Glad to know you're seeing better these days. The light only gets brighter from here on out.

~Danny~

[dslinger]

nah, been using Photoshop for a long time...I just didn't understand why you chose the process you did

[JustChecking]

i tried to do something, but just can't... can't stop staring at the pic... it's just great

[Reason]

1. Changed photo to black and white
2. adjusted contrast
3. colorized girl
4. added background colors
5. to background, used VP's oil painting filter
6. merged layers, and softened edges around girl
7. used Vp's oil painting filter
8. used a blend emboss filter
9. used a lighting filter
10. used a glass filter
11. added black border
12. adjusted the colors

[DannyRaphael]

Originally Posted by Reason

1. Changed photo to black and white
2. adjusted contrast
3. colorized girl
4. added background colors
5. to background, used VP's oil painting filter
6. merged layers, and softened edges around girl
7. used Vp's oil painting filter
8. used a blend emboss filter
9. used a lighting filter
10. used a glass filter
11. added black border
12. adjusted the colors

Reason:

Welcome back. Don't stay away so long next time. This is lovely!

~Danny~