A Free Face Lift
by Karin Lindewall
fter working with PhotoImpact for two days to produce two pictures for the cover contest I just couldn't stop. I wanted to explore more of the photo enhancement and transformation tools. Unfortunately, I do not have PhotoImpact at home and decided to work with Photoshop instead.
"I have learned that most photo manipulation programs have tools that will perform the same things but go by a different names. Certain features are easier and more convenient in one program and other things are better in another. They all have different features that I like better."
I have learned that most photo manipulation programs have tools that will perform the same things but go by a different names. Certain features are easier and more convenient in one program and other things are better in another. They all have different features that I like better.
The project I chose to work on was, in my opinion, a totally dreadful picture of myself. The first thing I do when begin a project is to copy the background layer. In some programs one can not change the background. Also, if something goes wrong, the original is preserved.
I started with the eyes. In Filters > Liquify I choose the Push Tool and pushed the upper lid up. I did not make the iris bigger but I did make them a little darker and repositioned the light reflection in the eye. I tried to soften the complexion with Levels and Curves (Edit > Adjustments) but this didn't work well. Instead I used the Healing Brush to smooth out discolorations.
Next I used the Colour Picker on an area of the skin that looked good, then applied that colour all over with a large brush set at 20% opacity. I defined the mouth and nose with a small brush and a darker shade picked from a dark area in the corner of the eye. I was now becoming aware that this was just like applying make-up in front of the mirror. Painting on lips, making the teeth whiter as well as the whites of the eyes were all done by picking already existing colours.
Making the eyebrows was the most challenging as the shape is very important. Some standard rules of drawing helped here. Eyebrows start at a point directly above the inner corner of the eye, the highest point of the arch is directly over the pupils. I used a very fine brush and large magnification. I applied a little rouge with same colour as the lipstick using an 18% opacity.
The most fun part was getting the hair to look good. Just to make sure I didn't ruin the make up I made a new Layer. I tried different methods. The one that worked best was the Polygonal Lasso Tool, selecting an area around the face and a generous part of the background,
