Thank you very much for the great comments. With the editing skill level so high here, it means alot to place well in this challenge.
Of course the catchlights in the eye were wrong but after a few different attempts, I decided to go with the mirror effect and leave the catch light as is because I felt the symetry was visually more pleasing. It worked for me anyway and I think a number of others as well.
Thanks again!
Editing...
This was taken as a full face initially with the intention of filling the frame. I've mentioned before that I tend to let the moment go where it wants and after a while I realized that the eyes really stood out and should be the focus of the image.
I cropped around the right eye, duplicated, reversed and merged the two to create pretty much the composition you see here.
The skin tone was achieved by selective desat in layers and slight tone adjustment. The next step, and probably the most important was the gradual lightening of the skin to achive the porcelaine look. This is achieved by gradually using the dodge brush and selectively lightening while trying of course to not overblow any areas of the image. Most lightening is done in layers where you can erase the areas, such as the eyes in order to create a wider tonal range. Selective cloning works best for the eye ball I find and lightening with a midtone brush and then a highlight brush makes the eye glow and with a burn brush I go over the outer edges of the eyeball to create a 3d effect.
The rest is simple... a little sharpening and a few final touch ups to either lighten or darken certain areas of interest... :)
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Place: 1 out of 211 Avg (all users): 7.8133 Avg (commenters): 8.8529 Avg (participants): 7.6136 Avg (non-participants): 8.0385 Views since voting: 32821 Views during voting: 332 Votes: 166 Comments: 91 Favorites: 65 (view)
I LOVE THIS PHOTO. I often visit this website to find backgrounds for my computer at work. I was immediately drawn to this photo. Received many great comments from people at the office as well. Keep up the good work.
I'm not sure if anyone's commented on the beautiful subtlety of the plain white border, the way it moves in and out of your awareness. I don't know if you intended it that way or it just worked out like that, but it was a good call. Congrats on your blue!
sorry, I am a newcomer here , so maybe i have no right to say that. But don't you think that this photo is too "artificial" I man not natural - /plastic skin/ at all, to much PS inside...????
really interesting. Normally because our faces are never symmetrical ut would look strange, but this looks natural apart from the catchlight. Nicely done. I might try some whole face ones!
Well done!
Beautiful Image. You really should do a tutorial on this processing. I for one would like to know how it's done and I know others would as well. Pleeeeeeaaase? See?, I asked nicely and that is sooo not like me. LoL :D
WOW - I didn't get around to all of the images but this is just awesome, Rudy. Is this Susan?? Just gorgeous. The catchlights and the intensity of focus is outstanding. I love the lack of skin color with that hint of pink around the eyes. Congrats, man. This is just gorgeous.
Absolutely beautiful high key image with outstanding composition and processing. Even knowing that it's a duplicate of the same eye, this photo is still just extraordinary, perhaps even more so.
This is just a sweet shot, love the colors and lightness. Eyes are incredible, sharpness is right on. Was there any way to remove that glare in her eye? Other than that, a for sure top 5 IMO. Great shot. 9
oh yeah ..... ppl do close ups of eyes A LOT, but seldom get a stunning result like this ....... fantastic detail, excellent crop, awesome edit, love the tones .... =9
The reflection of the window is wrong. you did poorly copying and flipping without watching for direction.
the reflection should come from one direction only.
The return of the porcelain goddess! This is exquisitely crafted. My only problem here is the catchlights, a dead giveaway that the image is composed of the same half-face stitched and merged.I wish you'd moved one of the catchlights...
Angel Eyes
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