Lovely young lady

[Pat]

Hi Everyone, 

I thought this stone archway made a beautiful frame for this lovely young lady I found in Tess's gallery.  As always please let me know if you think it needs more work. 

Before:


After:


Pat

[kevinashworth]

Hi Pat, it looks like a definite improvement on the original. Has the lady had a face transplant from another pic or did you rebuild?

[Pat]

Hi Kevin, 

I rebuilt her face -or at least made the attempt.  I am definitely open to more specific direction for improvement on that.

Pat

[kevinashworth]

It's so hard rebuilding a face and getting it to look realistic not to mention time consuming. You've done a good job to keep a likeness of her, but it's something i'd only attempt if there was no other way.

As i remember there was quite a few Chenault pics in Tess's gallery. It might be worthwhile asking her if she can send you some of the other photos for reference purposes. Theres bound to be an ex-gallery one of her looking at the camera like this one. Theres a clear shot where the same lady is applying makeup at a mirror. You could borrow elements from that if you want to go the whole hog, but otherwise what you've done is still an improvement.

[Pat]

Good suggestion Kevin, thank you.  I was really taken with this original picture and think it deserves extra effort. 

Pat

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Hi Pat, its coming along really well. I had a play with it keeping the dress as it was in the original and just working with the original face. I think the dress is a satin so it does get a lot of light and dark in it. I also darkened the shrubs a bit to match the original.
I just used the darken brush around her eyes, nose, mouth and chin as there is information there. I then used a sharpen brush set at 1 pixel to bring those features out a bit. She is a good distance from the camera.

[kevinashworth]

 ??? Well that's shut my mouth well and truly. Tess, you... expert!

[Tess (Tassie D)]

Not at all Kevin. I wouldn't say my effort would pass muster and the more detail we can get into her face the better. I did find another photo with her almost facing front so Pat can build up on that.
With me not using PS it makes it hard to translate what I do but I try lol.

[kevinashworth]

 :) Credit where it's due - It's a good job you done. What program do you use, then?

[Tess (Tassie D)]

I use Paintshop Pro X2 and although I have Photoshop CS2 I find PSP easier to use.

[Pat]

Tess thank you for your insights.  They're much appreciated  :hug:

Pat

[Pat]

I tried to follow your method in bringing out her face from the original pic Tess and hope I'm at least on the right track now.



Thanks,

Pat

[Pat]

Hi Everyone,

Using Tess's method to first bring out more of the face details from the original pic and then utilizing details from a reference pic she sent me of the same girl I think I've taken her face as far as I am able barring more help from you all.  I also tried to add some sheen to the dress to make it look more like satin.  Let me know what you think.  I appreciate all the comments and help.



Thanks

Pat

[kevinashworth]

I'd leave it at that. So much better than the original.

[JTJB]

Hi Pat,

i had a quick look at this while awaiting some images.  Nice job on the dress!  I always seem to struggle with these.  I think it must be a male thing.

I noticed in the original a feint outline indicating a brick or paved path.  Unfortunately there is not much there to identify, however, I had a quick go at putting some in and it appears to help with the depth of the image.  (Please excuse my roughness around the tree line). A small smudge and burn will blend these in nicely.

I also added a very light blur fading in from the bottom of the image to top to help with the colour bleed and dept of field.

I had a go at bringing a little more life into the sky by using s stock sky image and placing it between the original and duplicated layer, then I used the blend if sliders on the top layer to bring the sky through.  I am not sure if I like this, however, with a little more detailed work around the leaves in the top tree where it is washed out, it may come up okay and worth leaving there.  Trial and error!  :up: always my favourite line of attack.

A couple of dabs with a soft tip natural brush on the trees mid image just to better blend the areas of the sky and you get where I was heading.

I haven't touched the main subject apart from a minor blur around the edges to drop her back into the image.

Very nice work on this one.

opr5 by JTJB Enterprises, on Flickr