DSisk Photography

Day 4: Vampire

Oh how I can’t wait until the new Twilight movie!  I am so “Team Edward”!   Vampires have become all the rage lately and I am perfectly okay with that!  Especially with Rob Pattison leading the clan!  I should that I am somewhat of a stubborn movie goer and sometime refuse to give in to all the hyp, but thanks to my BFF, she got me hooked on the Twilight series!   Although I haven’t read the books yet *crawls under a rock in shame* because I can’t find the time, but hopefully one day I can sink my teeth into them, figuratively of course!  Here is a Cullen-esque inspired Photoshop makeover!

First I starved myself for 4 hours, then snapped a pic before enjoying a slice of pizza!  See the resulting image below.  After you open your image in photoshop, duplicate the background layer to preserve the integrity of the original image.  One thing about Vampires is that they are notorious for smooth, pale skin.  Luckily I have one  of those pretty much on point.  But I ran Portraiture on my skin to smooth that baby out.  Don’t have Portraiture, no problem.  Create a duplicate copy of your image and use a Gaussian Blur of around 6 or so.  Then add a layer mask and mask it back on just the skin area.

Next I dodged my skin to brighten it up especially in my highlights and on my iris.  I also burned around my lashes and eyes.   Created a new blank layer and choose a pretty golden color (I am not a cannibal!) and used a soft brush.  Painted the golden color around the iris and changed the blend mode to Soft Light.   Duplicated that layer and changed the blend mode to Hue.  I used the sponge brush and desaturated my lips slightly.  Then I created fangs: Fang Tutorial.  I then merged all my layers into a new layer (Alt-Ctrl-Shift-E), got the sponge brush back out and desaturated more of my face to make me more pale.  Next I burned my eye area and my mouth a little bit more.

Now time for the blood.  I basically opened a new blank layer, then used the lasso tool to draw the blood where I wanted.  Refined the edge to make it blend better.  Fill in the selection with a deep blood red.  Created a Dodge/Burn layer, and added shadows/highlights to the blood to make it more lifelike.  Then using that same deep red, I painted it on a new layer, blend mode Multiply, all around my lips and teeth area.

My final step was to merge the layers into a new layer, desaturate that layer (Shift-Ctrl-U) and set the blend mode to Soft Light.  I also lightened my hair up slightly after that…a little more advanced makeover but the payoff is worth it!

Are you going to watch the new Twilight movie?

Day 3: Possessed

I remember the first time I ever watch the Exorcist…still gives me chills!  Something about the possibility of being taken over or possessed by some evil spirit still gives me the heebie jeebies.  And with the phenomenon the Paranormal Activity movies, possessions are back in!  I actually haven’t seen the newer Paranormal Activities but I saw the first one and it mad me jump!  Which is hard to do for a horror movie buff like myself!   So I figured I would have a quick possession through Photoshop and it was quite fun actually and super simple!

First take a silly picture of yourself in a possessed like state, then open that baby up in Photoshop and let the magic begin!   First thing I did was skinny up my chubby cheeks!  I mean possessed people aren’t sitting around eating dinner like me, there are out there being all possessed like and stuff!  So after I hollowed down my face some, I had to whiten out the eyes.  I duplicated my background layer, actually I so did that before I liquefied but I digress, and used the clone tool to get rid as much of my iris as possible.  I actually kept a little bit there just for some added creepiness!  Then I created a new blank layer, set to screen and painted white over my eyes.  Adjust the opacity to my liking.

Then I created a new Gradient Map adjustment layer (best thing ever!) and did a simple blank to white gradient.  I pulled the blacks in signicantly, then changed the blend mode to muliply and lowered my opacity a bit.  The final step was to dodge/burn the heck out of my face.  I wanted to make my face more defined and distressed.  I burned all around my eyes,  my cheek bones, my neck and the inside of my mouth.  I dodged my eyes slightly, then my forehead,  the apples of my cheeks, the bridge of my nose, and the middle of my chin.

 Did you watch any of the Paranormal Activiy movies?

Day 2: Aliens

Well I hope you enjoyed Day One of my Halloween Transformations. Today’s photoshop transformation is a little Sci-fy related: Aliens!

I love the idea that we are not alone in the universe. It is a large galaxy and its reasonable to consider that there is something else out there. I think my love of Aliens stems from many X-Files episodes and Independence Day. Plus I love Men In Black! Super funny and I love all the different types of aliens represented. So fun and creative!

So first things first, I duplicated my background image like always to keep the integrity of the original image. I then erased the eyes out and made an alien like shaped hole where they should be. I also cloned out my nose because well I can’t breathe oxygen in that way. Lol. I made alien eyes by making a large black circle an placed two smaller white circles and use the outer glow on the to make it look more dimensional. Then I transformed that circle to fit my eye space. I put this eye under my duplicated layer. And then copied it under the other eye.

Next I liquified my face and stretched my forehead up. Giving me a longer leaner face that is more alien like. I also used a Color Balance Layer to green me up some, just boosted the greens in the shadows and midtons by around 20 and the highlights closer to 40.  Overlayed a grungy texture set to Color Burn and lowered opacity slightly.    Created “Veins” by opening up a blank layer, set blend mode to Overlay, and get a small hard black brush.   Painted vein like patterns from the eyes, forehead, and cheeks.   And finally added another Color Balance layer to reduce some of the green and add some cyan to the shadows and blue to the highlights.   And you should have an alien like version of yourself now!

 What’s your favorite Alien movie?