The Photoshop Thread, Part IV

[John Picard]

You have some mad skillz

Thanks man.

Because both Voyager and TNG are my fav Trek shows, TNG/VOY Crossover is one of my fav themes when fiddling pics.

Amazing. I'm going to point a Photochopping friend of mine to your work. This one is also amazing.

 

[Keith1701]

No body believed Spock when he said they were being watched... they were very, very mistaken.

I like the new look to the original style uniforms.

 

[Gary7]

I don't find the lightning problematic. I would suggest that you'd resize Chakotay's head shot a little bit smaller. Maybe Doc's head shot could have a little less contrast in it. Not much, but just a little bit. It could do the trick. Overall, the pic is very good.

My first impressions were that Chakotay's head should be a wee bit smaller, and the doctor seems a little brightly lit. Tuvok is spot-on, though.

It's a bit of a problem for me... I do tend to make the heads a little larger than they probably should be (and I've noticed that's a typical problem for those skills in Photoshop are just beginning). I had actually scaled down Chakotay's head before this take. But I'll give it another try. And yes, I didn't spend much time on the lighting for the Doc. I'll see if I can back it off a bit. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Gary7]

First attempt

Take 2

 

[Tachyon]

Take 2 is definitely better. Well done.

 

[ClayinCA]

^ I agree! Great job!

 

[Praetor]

Also agreed. Nice!

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Because both Voyager and TNG are my fav Trek shows, TNG/VOY Crossover is one of my fav themes when fiddling pics.

Looks damn real.

Janeway : Let's go to the restroom, Bev.
Chakoty: Whelp, there they go, Johnny. Off to the ladies' room to talk shit about us.

 

[Brian]

I agree with the others, Take 2 is the best. Good work.

 

[Gary7]

Thanks.


There's something else I'm kind of stuck on... introducing Sisko. I can't figure out how to colorize white skin to brown. I assume that there must be a reasonable way to do it. First, I tried taking a copy of the hands, perform a desaturation, then try to introduce a brownish tone. I couldn't get Photoshop to give me brown tones. I also tried simple hue shifts and darkening... wouldn't work. I then thought about trying a color matching from his facial skin tones, but that seems way too tedious. Any ideas?

 

[Johnny]

Thanks.


There's something else I'm kind of stuck on... introducing Sisko. I can't figure out how to colorize white skin to brown. I assume that there must be a reasonable way to do it. First, I tried taking a copy of the hands, perform a desaturation, then try to introduce a brownish tone. I couldn't get Photoshop to give me brown tones. I also tried simple hue shifts and darkening... wouldn't work. I then thought about trying a color matching from his facial skin tones, but that seems way too tedious. Any ideas?

use clone on the colour on his head with 25% transparency? use the burn tool?

 

[bullethead]

Thanks.


There's something else I'm kind of stuck on... introducing Sisko. I can't figure out how to colorize white skin to brown. I assume that there must be a reasonable way to do it. First, I tried taking a copy of the hands, perform a desaturation, then try to introduce a brownish tone. I couldn't get Photoshop to give me brown tones. I also tried simple hue shifts and darkening... wouldn't work. I then thought about trying a color matching from his facial skin tones, but that seems way too tedious. Any ideas?

Use the desaturated hand by duplicating it, putting the copy above the original, and setting the blend mode to multiply. Then get Sisko's skin color and use the pen tool on a blank layer placed between the hands to outline the hands (make sure not to include the nails). The hands should be the same color as his head.

 

[Tachyon]

About Sisko's hands - I think the best tricks are already mentioned. Either to clone the color from his head and putting a layer with 25% (or so) transparency on the hands, or trying to decrease lighting + contrast and fiddling with color-balance.

I guess the best way is simply to try and see what works best. One option is, of course, to search a pic with Sisko's hands showing and using them in this pic. Maybe there is a pic of him on Defiant you could use? Either way - good luck! One part of "the fun" is trying to solve these kinds of tricky situations.

Well, some of you might already know that I am a J/Cer through and through. So majority of my fiddled pics are about J/C. Since I have not used Mark, Janeway's ex-fiancé, before I decided to give it a try. This pic is called "Tension". (Yes, I name my pictures. Ha ha. The above with Picard and Bev is called "Dinner in France".)

 

[Brian]

^ Love it!

 

[Shaw]

There's something else I'm kind of stuck on... introducing Sisko. I can't figure out how to colorize white skin to brown. I assume that there must be a reasonable way to do it. First, I tried taking a copy of the hands, perform a desaturation, then try to introduce a brownish tone. I couldn't get Photoshop to give me brown tones. I also tried simple hue shifts and darkening... wouldn't work. I then thought about trying a color matching from his facial skin tones, but that seems way too tedious. Any ideas?

You should play with the color balance a little too. I don't have much time today, but here is an alternate attempt...

This pic is called "Tension". (Yes, I name my pictures. Ha ha. The above with Picard and Bev is called "Dinner in France".)

Wow... it is images like that that make me wonder what happen after Voyager returned. That would have made for an interesting episode.

 

[Gary7]

^^ Tachyon, I really like your J/C takes. Very convincing. Did you grab Mulgrew's face from something outside Voyager? I can't tell if that's her hair or if you grafted her face on another woman's head. Btw, just a suggestion... on the edging of the hair, try using a 3px eraser at 15%. It'll soften up the line so it blends in with the background.

Thanks for the hints. I did try the contrast rebalancing, but didn't like how it affected the lighting... but if the nails are excluded it just might work. Also, the idea of using the skin from his head as a partially opaque layer sounds interesting, bullethead. I've not played with the blending tool much. When trying to do these more complicated edits it becomes all the more clear how important it is to become more knowledgeable of the tools, so that one can draw upon what makes sense. It'll be interesting to see what will work best.

 

[Tachyon]

Thanks Gary. Her headshot is from Voyager, actually. Major part of her hair belongs to a woman in the original pic. Tee hee. Thanks for the hints for improvements.

 

[Gary7]

OK, what a did here was use the 'light' slider bar down to the dark end, on hue/saturation. I left out the fingernails, then did a 15% rubber stamp from the hands to tone down the 'pink' coloration. Finally, I did a 15% rubber stamp from the highlights on his head to give a little lightening on the top of his hands, to give a little contrast from the 'matte' appearance. Seems like it works.

 

[Gary7]

You should play with the color balance a little too. I don't have much time today, but here is an alternate attempt...

Nice work, Shaw. I especially like how you got the chin shadow to match his beard. The hands look pretty good. If the fingernails were lightened a little, I think it would look even more realistic. What kind of blur technique did you use on his head? I've found the default blur often too much... the other blur controls are tricky to work, as there are so many considerations. It would be great to have a percentage control the default blur. Incidentally, what is the scene from? Looks like a 1st season episode.

 

[Gary7]

I gave Khan a second chance... this time, he decides to join Starfleet and with his superior intelligence, manages to achieve the rank of first officer in record time.