Major Assignment

As per the brief - my creation was based on a futuristic android theme with a hint of religious based Apocalypse.

The back ground shot was of a section of the National Portrait gallery car park. while shooting I kept in mind the perspective that would be best to include a person.

The shot of the "android" was done at home with a single speed light and reflector as the light source - this was appropriate to the lighting at the car park. I positioned the speed light to match the main light in the car park image.

After deep etching the android, I liquefied the eyes to make them larger and more android like.

After placing the android onto the background (the exact order of things is a little hazy), I duplicated the layer and mask everything but the arm and rotated it into position. Shadows were placed onto the severed arm to add realism.

Other images were then applied using masks and various blend types to add to the story; flames, embers, Jesus picture and tangled wires. Perspective lines were created to position the row of "Jesus" pics.

Photo filters were used to adjust the overall colour tones to suit.

A Gaussian blur layer was used to add correct photographic depth by blurring the distant objects.

Artificial elements used are;

Shadows - by using a combination of brightness and contrast adjustment layers and new layers with a soft black brush.

Smoke - made by rendering a cloud layer and mucking about with size and opacity (subtle but it is there).

Flames - in addition to the flame image, artificial flames were painted around the door way etc.

Charring - new layers with a black paint brush.

Overall I am very happy with the final result. The PSD is a little messy (it was a bit like an oil painter not cleaning his brushes and mess as he paints ), I was focused on the image and not how crazy the PSD was looking but perhaps next time I could be more mindful to keep things a little neater.

creating artificial elements

Image 1 – Light beams and rainbow
1. Duplicate layer, using the burn tool lighten the edges of the clouds where the sun would be.
2. Add a vibrance layer and bump up the vibrance a tad (in hindsight I would have skipped this step).
3. Duplicate layer, go to Adjust-threshold. Adjust threshold until only the brightest bits in the sky are visible. Now go to blur-radial blur and adjust until you have beams of light radiating down. Adjust that layer blend mode to screen.
4. Add a mask to that layer to hide any light beams that look out of place.
5. Now make a new layer, select gradient - from the gradients select - Russell’s Rainbow - position the rainbow, or part there of, where you would like it.
6. Change the blend mode of that layer to pin light.
7. Mask the rainbow off areas you don’t want it.

8. Duplicate the layer and select screen blend mode.

Before

After



Image2 - Adding flames, smoke and heat vapour

1.       Duplicate layer – sharpen, smart sharpen.

2.       Duplicate layer – with a bright yellow colour (I sampled colour of a real flame) paint a soft bar across the base of each umbrella.

3.       Using the smudge tool, push up from the bar creating ‘flames’.

4.       Paint a little red on the flames and smudge this too.

5.       Change the blend mode of this layer to lighten – or whatever looks best.

6.       Use the eraser at low opacity to ‘thin’ the flames a little.

7.       Duplicate the layer and using the marquee tool select each flame and flip it vertically – place each flame at the appropriate spot to reflect the main flame in the water.

8.       Reduce the opacity of the flame reflection layer.

9.       Make a new layer and above each flame add smoke by drawing an erratic shape with the polygonal tool and fill with a bluish smoke colour.

10.   Dodge and burn various sections of this shape for various smoke tones.

11.   Now go to filter –distort – waves and apply these settings

Generators "5"
- Wavelength "10"/"120"
- Amplitude "5"/"35"
- Scale at "100%" for both.

12.   Smudge the smoke softly and change the blend mode of the layer to - pass through.

13.   Now add a colour balance adjustment layer and give the scene a warm glow – use a mask to reveal only the areas around the flame with the glow.

14. Go back to the sharpened background copy and duplicate - go filter - blur motion blur. create a mask and leave the blur only above each flame to appear as 'heat'.

Before

After

Retouching Assignment

Retouched Images

Both images were lit using a single speedlight through an umbrella using the sun as a backlight. Ambient light exposure was dropped two stops.

Retouching
Both images required the same retouching;

• Original layer duplicated, using the heal tool removed all blemishes on face and clothing.
• Layer duplicated and image sharpened using smart sharpen ( I have tended to over sharpen previously and am still uncertain of how much to sharpen).
• Layer duplicated, and blend mode changed to multiple, masked placed over layer and using a soft brush I have revealed the eyebrow and lip area to highlight these areas subtly.
• Layer duplicated and blend mode changed back to normal, using levels I brightened the whole image then applied a mask. Using a small soft brush on low opacity I have then revealed the eyes to brighten them.
• New adjustment layer created - brightness/contrast. Added more contrast - to give model the "Edward look" (I swear I have never seen that movie)
• Used a photoshop action to place a holga type border, just to frame and enhance image.
• Used adjustment layer to drop saturation.
• Used adjustment layer to increase vibrance.
• New layer - added a random logo to add fashion authenticity to the images.

Original Images