Fix It Friday #29

Well, I haven't been blogging lately or feeling well, but I was still looking forward to this week's editing challenge. I was pleasantly surprised to see the very familiar and beautiful face of the daughter of the Animator's Wife.

Click on any of the images to see a larger view.

BEFORE


I think this shot is great, not really much to work on. First, I rendered a spotlight filter to cast light on her face. Then I lightened (with curves) and sharpened her eyes (unsharp mask). I also lightened her teeth just a tad. I wanted to do something a little more dramatic, so I used my favorite software bundle "Topaz". I detailed the whole picture, except for the face and hands, which I softened a bit. I like to see the detail in her hair.

AFTER 1


Not wanting to stop, I decided to play around with textures and I added a couple here in the second try. I emphasized the color of her hair by using a heavy brushed copper texture overlay.

AFTER 2


For my last version, I really wanted to give it a painterly effect. It took a lot of tweaking to keep this from looking scary. I finally reduced it to 68% on a separate filter. The software used for this was Topaz Simplify, which will plug directly into CS4. Topaz has several inexpensive software packages that are totally addictive.

AFTER 3 (best viewed large--click on picture)


To go directly to the other edits, click here