Fireball: Manipulation

[DGMPhotography]

Hello!

As promised, I've been working on something extra special awesome and here it is!

(Please view full-view. The thumbnail is a little discolored).



What do you think?!?!

Also, this took probably around 7 hours, and I'm pretty happy with the results. However, my tired eyes may have missed something. Anything you'd change/improve? I want to make some finishing adjustments (with your advice) and then publish on my Facebook page.

Thanks!

EDIT: Between stages comparison image .

View attachment 62872

 

[yahgiggle]

I dont like it but i do see your hard work and think you have some good skills

 

[DGMPhotography]

I dont like it but i do see your hard work and think you have some good skills

Oh? Any chance you could explain why you don't like it?

 

[yahgiggle]

I dont like it but i do see your hard work and think you have some good skills

Oh? Any chance you could explain why you don't like it?

To me its just over the top and i don't see it doing any justice for the Photo, also feels disconnected, that's just my opinion so dont take it to heart, i bet there be heaps of people that do like it.

 

[DanielLewis76]

I like it. However, I can see the point that there is no context. Maybe if you turn the cross the other way up?

 

[yahgiggle]

i keep looking to see why it feels disconnected to me and i think its her eyes and how she looks to be more of a angel than a demon. Daniel made a good point try turning the cross upside down and i think giving her some red tones on her skin or something other than white might help.

 

[yahgiggle]

I am thinking something like this but i think you with your skills could do a much better job

 

[ceeboy14]

I have to agree with the nays on this one. The skin and shadow tones on the model do nothing to give her character, much less life. I don't see her as an active part of the fire and brimstone effect you've given her hair. She's flat and boring against the reds and yellows. Personally, while you may have gained some inside PP skills, I'm not sure these were worthwhile hours spent.

 

[Designer]

Perhaps the biggest issue with me is the model's expression. Very bland. Nearly expressionless.

The flames are not quite flames, as they just don't read as actual flames.

Don't understand the necklace. Why that one, and why is it in the picture?

Her skin color is off.

Eye makeup is fine, but then there is nothing else in makeup.

 

[tirediron]

I agree that the expression isn't ideal; I would have gone either for a very angelic expression as a contrast to the "hair" or a very evil one. On the technical side, there seems to be a very yellow cast to her skin which is giving her a bit of a sickly look, and looking at the full-size version her face looks like it's covered in very poorly applied powder. I like the concept, and I think it's a good effort, but I think it could be refined even further with a little more work.

 

[DGMPhotography]

Hello all,

Thanks for the feedback. I made her skin more yellowish so it would better match the flames. It just didn't look right with her normal skin tone, but I'll post the original as well for comparison. I like the edit you made yahgiggle, well done. However, I wasn't actually going for an angel or demon type of thing. More like just conveying the emotion of intensity, Hunge Games-style "girl on fire." Perhaps this isn't the perfect expression. And yes, I know the flames don't look totally real... for some reason I couldn't get stock photo flames to look right. Anyone have some tips for this?

Here's a comparison between stages (I'll also post this as an edit to my original post):



Thanks!

 

[MK3Brent]

no no no... hahah.

 

[tirediron]

Try an orange skin tone vice yellow (really it makes her look like she has jaundice).

 

[Derrel]

I get the idea behind this. I agree--a more orangey skin tone, to go with the sparks and flames would look good. The fierey hair billowing like that looks GOOD! The expression does not quite coincide with the flaming hair though. But the effect looks illustrative an fun to look at.

 

[DGMPhotography]

I tried doing orange but I couldn't really get Lightroom to do that, only blue to yellow in the temperature range. When I did it in photoshop it created a lot of strange artifacts and noise in the skin... I'm sure there's a way to do it though, I just gotta figure it out. Once I do I'll pose the orange version. So what about expression? What expression do you think would be better?