Category Archives: Project 1. The Portrait

Project 1: The Portrait (Revised)

PSD File Download

This revised version is a continuation of the original edit! Link to original post:

Project 1: The Portrait

Original

First Edit:

Final Revision:

REVISION

All screenshots are arranged as original > first edit > final edit.

  • Skin

I went back to recolour the red patches/ uneven skin tones more, on her nose, cheek and chin. I also built up more on the lasso tool + gaussian blur all around the image, as I had previously only done like… +4.8 gaussian blur or something.

Here’s a general look of her face:

Close up of clearing up her big spots & uneven skin tone, an lightening of her moustache with dodge and burn:

  • Lips

I realised I’d previously skipped out on her dry lips entirely. I dodged & burned the lines on her lips so they’d appear less crusty. However I decided to leave their colour as they are instead of recolouring them to be more red.

  • Sweater Stain

I previously decided to only dark the stains instead of removing the whole thing, but since I’m back to revise I decided why not just try to remove it as much as possible haaaa. Not high-fashion looking (wasn’t meant to be) but at least she’s got a clean sweater now.

Spot healed, recoloured, dodged and burned with a gaussian blur on top.

  • Hair

Pretty sure I only removed one strand of hair previously, and left the rest as they are. This time I just lightened the bits of hair sticking out of her beret with the dodge and burn technique. Still chose not to remove everything because I don’t think an overly-neat hairdo would match the image as a whole, or she would look bald.

 

  • Eyes

Lightened her undereyes with dodge and burn.

  • Brows

Aaaand on top of skipping out on her lips, I also totally forgot about her brows the last time! Didn’t groom them to be on fleek, but cleaned them up a little bit by lightening some of the hair on the edges/ corners with dodge and burn.

  • Arm

Further smoothened out her arm (hence lightened arm hair) with just the lasso tool + gaussian blur.

 

  • Beret

I redid her beret entirely since I wanted to revise everything before finalising with a liquify. Just a slightly smoother (and not perfect) shape than before, and also slightly lightened frays of wool around the edges with dodge and burn and sometimes spot heal (for that one big ball of wool on the right above her ear…).

  • Grain

Lastly I added a little gaussian grain to finish up the image!

 

Project 1: The Portrait

PSD File: Download Link

FINAL IMAGES

Left: Before
Right: After

(Click to enlarge)

  

CONCEPT

I wanted to picture someone who’s somewhat exotic, with a unique personality.

You can tell Esther has her own sense of style, with the glasses, the beret, the stained sweater. She might also appear androgynous, though I’m not sure that was intentional. She’s an artist and a really tired animation student, and not to mention really awkward. Like, really awkward.

I originally posed her in more ‘conventional’ model poses with a set up of a stool, an easel and a plant, but eventually decided to capture her awkward, distressed-artist essence through a simple close up shot against a plain background.

TECHNICAL DECISIONS

Camera Settings

Canon EOS 77D: f/2, 1/1250, ISO 400, 50mm

Gotta admit I’m not the most familiar with camera settings so whether these settings are crazy or not I honestly don’t even know.

Digital Process

Spot Healing:
The first thing I did was to of course spot heal almost everything possible. I spot healed her spots as much as possible before her skin could turn plastic, then the dirty furring on her beret, then the dirt on her glasses/ eyes as well as her fallen lashes.

Separation/ Frequency:

1. Recolour
Using the brush tool, I recoloured certain spots on her face where there were redness (from her spots) and discolouration (dark spots around the mouth and chin). I also lightened the lines of her neck a bit but didn’t remove them entirely.

I decided not to fully remove the stains on her sweater because it adds personality, since it is what she chose to wore to this shoot. Without removing, I darkened the stains so that they’re not the centre of attention when someone looks at the portrait, but just a subtle touch to the model’s personality.

Similarly, I didn’t remove her arm hairs but lightened them. She’s not ~perfect~. I didn’t remove the little hairs sticking out of her beret either, only one strand that was really out of place.

  

2. Color (Lasso)

I used the lasso tool to gaussian blur for smoother skin, to lighten her pores and redness.

Liquify:
Finally I decided to change the shape of her beret a little. I didn’t liquify it to become one smooth, perfect shape because then I might as well remove the stains on her sweater and everything else too. I made the ‘bumps’ in shape slightly less abrupt and smoothened the shape out just a bit. I then rasterised the layer to colour away the fraying fur (not sure if I’m “supposed” to do that but I did).

A little fun with liquify. How ya doin’?