Figure Science: Rider has Fun with Photoshop at Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts

Figure Science: Rider has Fun with Photoshop

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading ...

Popularity: 12% [?] Published by tj_han October 17th, 2006 in Figurine Science

I was going to do another figure review today but got sidetracked into fiddling with photoshop. There was this picture of Rider which I really liked but it had huge flaws in the colour composition. And I happened to be reading up several books on photography techniques as well as digital image processing. Sure I can use Photoshop and other software, but not to a degree of proficiency I would like. Self-teaching is never complete without learning from the experts and then practicing.

Picture Flaws
The original picture had the leopard too prominent, thanks to its strong orange. It was supposed to frame the picture and add a sense of beastial command. The depth of field was also a bit too much and takes attention away from Rider with the addition of those leopard spot patterns. Rider was also rather dark, due to the sun’s position overhead and the lack of a reflector to distribute more light onto her face.

Original Picture

Remedy
I messed around with a few tools and filters. First, with the lazyass magnetic lasso, with the feather and edge contrast values slightly upped, I selected Rider in ten seconds. Then I inverse selected to get the background to exclude her. And by getting the selective colour tool to change the background to a more complementary shade, the eye is now less distracted by the monstrous background beast. To add more dynamicism, I tried the radial blur filter centering on Rider with a value of 10. This seems to improve the focal point as well on her. But maybe purple wasn’t such a good idea for the background after all, as it’s still a bit bright and striking.

For the third picture, I also dodged Rider’s face and body, as well as used the healing brush to remove seam lines for the second picture. Then I burnt the background significantly. On hindsight, maybe I should’ve cropped the picture a bit tighter and used less of the BURNING. Well, all in a fifteen minute session anyway. Can’t believe how the professionals can work on images for weeks at a time.

But now, it seems that I have got a better picture. The bit of rock at the foreground leads in to Rider now, adding a sense of depth. The radial blur imparts focus and action while the beast and the low angle provides information about Rider’s character. Or I am just smoking?

Picture Two

Picture Three

Popularity: 12% [?]

Buy Some Artificial Vaginas now!

15 Responses to “Figure Science: Rider has Fun with Photoshop”

Feed for this Entry Trackback Address

1 kacpy 30 comments Oct 17th, 2006 at 8:47 pm

Hey! Totally sweet @ third one.
2 Danny 9 comments Oct 17th, 2006 at 8:49 pm

oooh, definitely better than the original! nice job
3 Skh 18 comments Oct 17th, 2006 at 10:03 pm

Very nice, it’s really a great improvement over the first picture.
4 super rats 89 comments Oct 17th, 2006 at 10:13 pm

She definitely pops out a lot more.
5 Tsubaki 410 comments Oct 17th, 2006 at 11:24 pm

Corny. Really, zoom effects are lame.
6 tj_han 899 comments Oct 17th, 2006 at 11:34 pm

Effects are only lame if overused.
7 bj0rN 114 comments Oct 18th, 2006 at 1:12 am

my eyes hurted… but i suppose you can play around abit more. the picture wasnt even good to begin with. rider needs to like occupy the picture more.
8 panda 2 comments Oct 18th, 2006 at 4:26 am

the 2nd pict kinda hurts the eye, because of your “impact” effect (however u want to call it ~.~ 6.30 am is not a good time for vocabulary). the 3rd pict is good compared to the first pict for sure, but perhaps haw par villa is too colourful for rider? O.o just an opinion.
9 Akira 1 comment Oct 18th, 2006 at 6:53 am

Are you going to use this technique for your future photos references?
10 tj_han 899 comments Oct 18th, 2006 at 7:42 am

Probably not. I barely ever retouch my pictures. But maybe once in a while I’ll tinker a bit witha couple for fun.

Panda: Haw Par Villa sucks. But I suspect it would be due to a difference in monitor configuration. On my screen, it looks perfectly comfortable and fitting.
11 Os 54 comments Oct 18th, 2006 at 11:19 am

Picture 2 > Picture 3. Yet I think I like picture 1 the most. I have no expertise in this field, but it was just more pleasing to the eyes.
12 Waterfall 29 comments Oct 18th, 2006 at 12:07 pm

Good to hear that you won’t be photoshopping to touch up figurines. Now that you’re the public face of urban attic, I still expect your own opinion on figurines you bought and not be influenced by a shop.

tj_han’s next figurine?
http://www.hobbystock.jp/item/review/HBY-GCF-00000324

PS. I teleported into Singapore yesterday and stole your IchiMashi bath time figurines. Hahaha. V(^_^)b
13 Crayotic Rockwell 37 comments Oct 18th, 2006 at 12:41 pm

I didn’t think much of picture one, but yeah the others hurt my eyes in a completely reactive sense

Sometimes you gotta know when to fold em
14 TedFox 85 comments Oct 19th, 2006 at 12:13 am

General effect feels like you’re just blurring the background so that it’s focused on the figurine
15 Kabitzin 48 comments Oct 21st, 2006 at 4:25 am

I feel like she’s going to stab me in the neck!

Do not use any < and > for your own sake. It will end the comment there and then. Also, there is an automatic IQ filter which weeds out comments made by those who accidentally got transported from the stone age.

Search

Latest

Related Entries

Featured Feeds

Counter

15 currently online
51 maximum concurrent
1431894 total visitors

Riuva : Research Institute for Unicultural Visual Arts