PHOTOGRAPHY
I Used a Leaf for Fairy Wings (Part two)
Working with photos to create new pieces of art
Continuing my fairy journey with this little magical leaf that I found on my walk at the park.
Fairy of the Long-billed Curlew Birds
As a starting point, I do these five steps for all of my Fairy projects:
1. Duplicate the original image of the model. (Save the original.) 2. Use the neutral filter in Photoshop to change the person’s face to resemble a child-like look. 3. Use the face-aware liquify filter to make the eyes more prominent and the nose and the mouth smaller, like a doll’s face. 4. Remove the background with a layer mask from the models and the leaf pictures. 5. Place the leaf behind the model to create the wings, and modify the wings as needed.
After completing these five steps, I start modifying each image with its unique backgrounds, textures, lighting, colors, light-ray filters, patterns, and whatever else I see fit.
Creating composites like this is a long process. However, I want to share the original images to show all the elements I use in the final version of the image.
After completing the first five steps for the Fairy of the Long-billed Curlew Birds composite, I turned the Tulip into a skirt. I placed the flower over the model, turned the Tulip upside down, lowered the opacity to create a sheer look, and muted the color. I did the same steps to the bow.
For the background, I added a picture of the woods. On top of that image, I added the photo of the Long-billed Curlew birds at the beach and blended the two pictures (note: do not flatten).
The extra elements of the raindrops and water puddles are pre-set filters I bought from Kelvin Designs, and the light-ray is a Photoshop pre-set filter. I do a lot of blending and other manipulations with each layer (image) until I’m happy. Save the PSD file, and then save it again as a copy for the web.
Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with Photoshop or Kelvin Designs. I’m just sharing what I use to help create my artwork.
Fairy of the Rabbits
Again, after completing the first five steps, I start modifying each image with its unique backgrounds, textures, lighting, colors, light-ray filters, patterns, and whatever else it needs.
Here are the original pictures I used for this Fairy of the Rabbits composite. Plus, I added the pre-set water puddle filter by Kelvin Designs.
I removed the background of the first four pictures and the pictures of the rabbits and the swing. I did a lot of blending and manipulation.
Fairy of the Butterflies
After doing the same five steps listed above, I also removed the background of the skirt, bow, small crystal light, and butterflies, and I did a lot of blending. This composite doesn’t have any extra pre-set filter except for steps two and three.
Thank you for reading, and I hope you are enjoying this series of Fairys.