Painted Portrait

[FrankenPengie]

Okay I've been playing with this pic in Photoshop. A lot of different things were done and wondering what you folks might think.

The original can be found here. Yes that is a bad port wine stain that cleared up. His head was scraped up by a car. This is him now.

[windrider86]

i think the eyes are scary

[lefty82]

There is something a bit demonic about it. I think it is the eyes. I'm not sure what the intent was, but I prefer the original shot. He's a very cute kid, and that gets lost in the post-processing you did.

The newest photo of him you have has a lot of personality to it - I like it a lot better.

[Liz Caldwell]

Uuuuuuuuuummmmmm, agree'd... The red in the eyes is a bit off-putting. Are you looking for something more "artsy" or to hide the bumps and bruises?

I'm no JiminyClickit, but here's what I did with my questionable-at-best-clone-stamp-tool-skillz. I cloned out the red marks on his neck and cheek and cloned in a little extra hair for the forehead... It's by no means perfect, but I think it'll fool most people.

Edit: oops!wrong image

[FrankenPengie]

Thanks folks. I was afraid the eyes were gonna kill the whole thing. I was working on it and lo and behold I had merged layers and gone way past undo. I had the general idea but the eyes were drilling through my soul. I should have waited for after a redo but was eager for feedback on the concept.

Thanks Liz. I've no real desire to hide what shows the vulnerable side of humanity and childhood. I usually like to point it out I'm struggling for an artistic look and this is my best shot to try and bring it out.

Here is my "fix" for the original.


Edit: Wow it looks a lot different on the web than in CS3.

[Liz Caldwell]

No problem, it was a nice challenge for me anyway

I like the new fix, I was playing with making the photo b&w with eyes and lips in color, but the lighter coloring on the eyes made them look grey right along with the rest of the photo...

have I mentioned how incredibly cute he is?

[jiminyClickit]

FrankenPengie,

Compare the eyes in Liz's edit: more light equals more life. It is the first place looked at and if there's less than great color, contrast, sharpness, it takes away from the overall look.

A thought for over-crowding: isn't this much more a Post Processing thread?

[Megs Sixx]

the picture effect itself is good but it's more of a practise type of picture. There are many good sites out there for airbrushing, I learnt how to retouch via a different method to clone stamping and that came out just fine. I'd say keep on practising but dont worry! You're getting there, the lad looks a tad bit demonic!

[FrankenPengie]

You're right jiminy. I wasn't sure really which to post this in.

As far as light and eyes, are you talking about the glint?

[xxpinballxx]

If you want a real callenge and a painted look to the photo then take a look here and give it a shot. It will be a challenge thought....

Smudging