Self portrait color or black and white?

reznap · Jan 14, 2011

^ Not bad. I actually had something like that originally in one of my layers and ended up decreasing the opacity to like 50% because I thought it looked a little overdone. I like the color of the blue the most in yours..

I set a custom white balance for these in case anyone wondered, on a big white poster board (before gelling the flash).

Steve01 · Jan 14, 2011

I like the B&W but it's to harsh.

AprilEye · Jan 14, 2011

Color. The first thing I noticed was the warmth in the color of your brown eyes. In a portrait sometimes I think the eye color is imperative IMHO.

ChadHillPhoto · Jan 14, 2011

I like the color version. The original version is very good, edgy but not too much. Good job SIr!

Eemilioc · Jan 14, 2011

Also like the color version more

fokker · Jan 14, 2011

Colour version is a good edit. Comparing the original and edited versions side by side it's crazy how different (thinner) the shape of your face looks due to the enhanced shadows around the jaw and cheeks.

reznap · Jan 15, 2011

fokker said:
Colour version is a good edit. Comparing the original and edited versions side by side it's crazy how different (thinner) the shape of your face looks due to the enhanced shadows around the jaw and cheeks.

Nonono... I used the liquify tool too make my neck (and cheeks a tiny bit) look thinner. I find that you can make amazing transformations with liquify.. if you just practice. Problem is, you don't want lean too heavily on it because you can easily make it look phony or hurt your model's/friends/whoever's feelings.

fokker · Jan 15, 2011

Oh I see... I've never really played around with the liquefy tool much, what does it actually do?

reznap · Jan 15, 2011

fokker said:
Oh I see... I've never really played around with the liquefy tool much, what does it actually do?

You can basically reshape stuff without it being very noticeable. You can also enlarge/shrink areas (called 'bloat' and 'pucker') as well as a few other useful things. It's especially good for making limbs look thinner (sometimes really nice for a woman's upper arms) or bringing someone's waist in a little. I once made a guy's belly a little less 'bulging' with it (per his request).

Derrel · Jan 15, 2011

I prefer the color rendering. The B&W version has an awfully hot forehead that just doesn't look all that great. I do not think you need to resort to liquify on your already skinny neck...maybe when you're 50...otherwise people are gonna' go all Shakespeare on you and start saying chit like, "Vanity, thy name is...reznap."