Steve Estill, APSA, EPSA  


Sunshine and Light Showers by Steve Estill, APSA, EPSA

January 2018 - Sunshine and Light Showers

January 2018 - Steve Estill, APSA, EPSA

Original 1

January 2018 - Steve Estill, APSA, EPSA

Original 2

January 2018 - Steve Estill, APSA, EPSA

Original 3

About the Image(s)

It seems that I haven't played with the Goths for a while, so here we go!
They often seem to have their heads in the clouds, so why not make that the aim of the image?
I started with the image of a Steam Punk and used Portrait Pro to change the light direction, soften her skin, accentuate her cheeks and brighten her eyes and lips.
I then added a solid white layer, below her layer and used Topaz ReMask 5 on her layer, to remove the background (showing the white layer below). I used a layer mask to tidy up the edge of her face and the spot healing brush to tidy up stray hairs.
Next came the sky layer (original 2), which I placed over the top part of her head. I used overlay mode at about 80% opacity and a layer mask to remove the parts around her eyes.
I duplicated the sky layer, flipped it and positioned it over the lower part of her head, again in overlay mode at 80% opacity and used a layer mask to bring back areas in her face and to blend into the original sky layer.
I duplicated the original sky layer, removed the layer mask and moved it above the solid white layer, stretching it to fill the background area. I reduced the saturation and lightened this layer.
I stamped up to make Original 3, duplicated this layer, then used a brush which looked a bit like clouds, with white at 25% opacity to blend her into the sky.
The jewels on her face were looking a bit flat at this stage, so I treated the original 1 layer with Viveza 2 in overlay mode at 50% opacity, and then a layer mask on the top layer to bring them back.
Stamped up and there you have it. What fun!!


This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted




Georgianne Giese   Georgianne Giese
(Group 77)
Dreamy! This was a clever idea, Steve. Good result!   Posted: 01/01/2018 08:27:12



 
Nicely done. Merging her with the clouds works well. The only change I'd suggest is to keep more of her forehead just above her left eye; the cloud there doesn't seem quite right.   Posted: 01/03/2018 18:06:30



Candy Childrey   Candy Childrey
Excellent results, Steve,
The sky texture was a good choice to remove the background. the detail on her face with the feathers and flowers is beautiful. I do think that the blue area/line around her lips on the right and the blue area right above that runs across below the blue flower on her lower cheek should be blended to make it less obvious. Also, I would remove the pierced hole on her ear that is without an earring.   Posted: 01/06/2018 21:08:58



 
Terrific image, Steve. I love her head in the clouds. I agree with Phil about the cloud over the left eye.   Posted: 01/08/2018 03:31:25



Jan Handman   Jan Handman
Very cool image, Steve. The concept works really well. The areas where the clouds are golden rather than white seem to maybe need masking or cloning out, to me. I also might have added a slight vignette to really bring the viewer's eye into her beautiful and fun eye makeup. Once again your Goth is an eye catcher!   Posted: 01/14/2018 14:57:47



Helen Sweet   Helen Sweet
Of course you started with a fascinating subject. I didn't realize there were such such pretty, pleasing Goths. As I recall, none of your previous subjects were. You might have left it at that, tho I suppose it was "someone else's art." I like what you have done with the magic of post-processing by removing her background hair, adding the clouds and accentuating her features.   Posted: 01/25/2018 21:53:00
Steve Estill   Steve Estill
Many of the Goths are indeed very beautiful. They're such a resource for portrait photography - beautiful people with amazing makeup who want to be seen and photographed. The majority of my portraits for exhibition are taken at the festivals, which also have the advantage of being taken outside a studio, so no need for model releases!   Posted: 01/26/2018 04:16:22