something devilish about her

Didn't have any preconceived artistic vision, to be honest; just playing with the little controls that Ms Photo Editor affords (don't have PhotoShop) in an attempt to make something punchy out of otherwise not so interesting and ?flat? original.

Thought for a moment whether I should classify it as the "Digital Alterations" category -- after all it has been manipulated -- but figured that first and foremost it still is a portrait, not to mention that manipulation was as basic as it gets.

Anyway, what are your thoughts? For comparison, check out only slightly toned version of the original black-and-white photohere.

Thanks!
-Tomek

I like the tones of this ... you got a sharp color scheme but didn't wash out the subject. Would like to learn how you did this one. Good shot. Eric

Hi Eric,

You'd be disappointed if you were expecting some sophisticated techniques being employed. I don't have PhotoShop -- and if I had I wouldn't know how to use it -- so I played with basic settings in Microsoft Photo Editor, which doesn't have any other settings than those basic ones.

Although the original is a black and white negative, the scan was saved as a "true color (24 bit)" file. This allowed me to tweak, or rather radically change I shall say, Red/Green/Blue Gamma settings for each color separately, so I've jacked up R well above the default 1.00 value. I've also adjusted Contrast and Brightness to get rid of middle tones and thus make the image more graphic. All three controls are in the Balance option under Image in the main menu. Basically, it was a "let's see what's gonna happen" type of trial and error experimentation which accidentally yielded results that I happened to like...

Click on the link below to see another offspring: I've decreased Blue Gamma, which brought out the yellow rims, and increased contrast even further to achieve a poster-like look. I still like this variation -- albait prefer the less manipulated one -- but most experiments of this sort don't lead anywhere and you end up discarding them.

Moreover, bear in mind that this type of stuff evokes polarized views and you could be getting extreme opinions from both ends of the spectrum: some love it, others hate it. To substantiate this with some evidence, suffice to check out ratings for this very picture: there is a 6/6 as well as a 1/2. Apparently someone found it both original and aesthetically pleasing whilst someone else thought of it just the opposite, so in some instances it may become more a matter of individuals' taste (or lack thereof as some would argue) than anything else.

Hope that helps ...and happy exploration!

Hi Tomek!

 

I think you did a great job with your image despite not having the latest photo editor programs. I suggest try to get an older version of Photoshop cheaper and experiment with it. You will find, it is easy to work with and you can achieve virtually anything.

 

 

Regards,

 

Beatrix