I have decided to have a go and create my own cyborg female using of the portraits I took and manipulated in the past. Here I would like to show you the same image 'before and after' the post-production process.
In some cases it quite often happens that I treat photo-editing like painting or drawing. I like to be in a full control of the whole image and making changes to whatever I want. I create artificial lighting, shadows, highlights and reflections to add some more plasticity and dynamism.I would not call it photography anymore because I think it links more to the computer graphics, nevertheless it still satisfies me to some extent.
The foregoing image shows two main steps to change the background. First of all I clicked on polygonal lasso and selected my model by clicking around it's hedges. Then by pressing ctrl + j (apple + j) I created a new layer containing selection only (the model) and this is how I separated my model from the unwanted background. Secondly I created another layer and placed it underneath the selection of the model ( see figure 2). Finally, using gradient tool I created my background. You can experiment with different colours and graduations.
This video shows how I work with lighting using dodge and burn tool in Photoshop. This is just for presentation and evidece purposes only. I took me seven minutes but I speeded the film up so it lasts 2:30. I'm sorry for a bad quality but at least it will load quickly on every computer.
*link to this blog if viewed in PDF format: http://patrykzarzycki-photographicskillsb.blogspot.com/
This image will be my starting point. My aim is to create a cyborg out of this female.
