Zombie Slayer

[hsmmq]

My son had an idea for a picture that he wanted to be some type of zombie slayer...

Before:


After:


I first cloned out the legs of the tripod (flash) behind my son, and cloned part of paintball gun to make it look like a real gun. Color corrected and adjusted levels. Added more contrast then I dodged and burned using the 50% gray overlay method. I attempted (very pitifully) blood splatters on the walls (that my son insisted that it be added). High pass filter, then used unsharp mask.

My son loves the picture but I'm sure there are alot of things wrong with it since I'm fairly new to off camera flash and photoshop.

[Christian Michael]

Actually its not a bad attempt and looked like a fun project. The rear lighting particularly works!

Maybe it could be a tad darker at the top to highlight your son more, kinda like a vignette, and either straighten it or put it on more of an angle. The angle it is right now is neither here or there.

Great work thou! Not surprised he likes it :0)

[oldwolf]

He really should use a 12 ga shotgun against zombies.

I think you did good with the post work and off camera lighting.

[hsmmq]

Originally Posted by Christian Michael

Maybe it could be a tad darker at the top to highlight your son more, kinda like a vignette, and either straighten it or put it on more of an angle. The angle it is right now is neither here or there.

Great work thou! Not surprised he likes it :0)

I went back and darkened it a bit on the top and I didn't realize how crooked it looked until I straightened it. Thanks!!

Originally Posted by oldwolf

He really should use a 12 ga shotgun against zombies.

.

Good info, I will let him know. Thanks!!

[Chaotic Beds]

Very cool. And you're a very cool mom to do this!

Two things that are distracting to me (in the spirit of constructive criticism): The baby gate in the corner could be cropped out... Just tighten up the crop to get rid of it, I think the shadow of it would be fine, but the gate itself feels very unzombie-like. Everything fits with the grittiness except for that.

Also, the blood stains of the jeans don't look right... The blurriness sticks out in what is an otherwise unified style - it's got a really cool stylized, almost comic book feel. But I don't have any suggestions how to improve the stains, I couldn't do much better myself....

I agree on the angle. I think it might look good with a more exaggerated angle - which would also automatically help with cropping out that gate. A canted angle fits with the crazy mood of a zombie invasion. But a straightened angle would still look great too!

But yeah, I love it

[hsmmq]

Originally Posted by Chaotic Beds

Very cool. And you're a very cool mom to do this!

Two things that are distracting to me (in the spirit of constructive criticism): The baby gate in the corner could be cropped out... Just tighten up the crop to get rid of it, I think the shadow of it would be fine, but the gate itself feels very unzombie-like. Everything fits with the grittiness except for that.

Also, the blood stains of the jeans don't look right... The blurriness sticks out in what is an otherwise unified style - it's got a really cool stylized, almost comic book feel. But I don't have any suggestions how to improve the stains, I couldn't do much better myself....

I agree on the angle. I think it might look good with a more exaggerated angle - which would also automatically help with cropping out that gate. A canted angle fits with the crazy mood of a zombie invasion. But a straightened angle would still look great too!

But yeah, I love it

Thanks for the constructive criticism.

This was my first attempt at blood stains so I had no idea what I was doing. I was just picking random brushes and trying them out until my son said that it looked ok. My son says to practice because he has another idea for a picture involving my younger son being an actual zombie. If these are the types of pictures my guys will let me take without them complaining then I'm all for it. Any reason to take pictures of my guys is good especially when they're teenagers (blackmail)

[deadgirlreading]

I'm not sure exactly how messy you want to go but I'm pretty sure teenage boys don't mind becoming pretty disgusting. Maybe for your actual zombie, you could make fake blood out of corn syrup and food coloring. (Just make sure you have good cleaning products for afterwards.)

[Chaotic Beds]

Originally Posted by deadgirlreading

I'm not sure exactly how messy you want to go but I'm pretty sure teenage boys don't mind becoming pretty disgusting. Maybe for your actual zombie, you could make fake blood out of corn syrup and food coloring. (Just make sure you have good cleaning products for afterwards.)

Good idea, that's what low-budget filmmakers commonly use. Easy and effective. A simple google search can give you plenty of resources on how to do it.

[RecurrentNerve]

I like what you've done with the shot. You'd get more realistic blood splatters using splatter grunge buses - there are literally thousands of free ones online, just Google.

He really should use a 12 ga shotgun against zombies.

You obviously haven't read the Zombie Survival Guide...

[hsmmq]

Originally Posted by deadgirlreading

, you could make fake blood out of corn syrup and food coloring. (Just make sure you have good cleaning products for afterwards.)

Thanks, That is a real good idea. Now with Halloween coming up I am coming up with some more ideas!!

Originally Posted by RecurrentNerve

You obviously haven't read the Zombie Survival Guide...

So funny you mention this book....my son wants this book so bad. I was hoping to get it for him for Christmas but I might have to get it for him sooner.