Photography Gone Global

Jane Conner-ziser takes a trip to Neverland

Once in a while you get a job that is just plain fun to do. This one came from a family who hoped we could capture for them the fantasy and innocence of childhood. They wanted a memory. The children had just participated in the play Peter Pan, and had cute costumes, so we decided to go with the theme of Neverland.

First the photography:

The flying idea was mine, so I set up the poses. We took a posing stool and photographed outside with flat lighting for two reasons: first, because we wanted to avoid drama in lighting in order to keep within the plan of light and innocence, and, second, because we did not yet have the background images selected and did not know what that lighting might be. Patrick used the Canon 20-D so he could move around quickly. He used a reflector on the ground in front of the children to bounce light into their faces to increase the feeling we wanted. The expressions are all Patrick’s – he is an amazing photographer! Final Image

The children posed with their tummies on the stool – I made sure the chest was visible to camera – and they held out their arms while I lifted their legs and made sure their feet were in good position. I turned their bodies on the stool so we would have a few options for flying. The dog was photographed on a whim – it’s a very old dog and the kids adore her. We asked the kids to hold the ears up so it would look like wind blowing – and if we had thought ahead even more completely, we might have brought a leaf blower or something to blow the children’s hair as well, but it works out nicely as is.

Next, the background images: Jane 3

Coincidently, I had recently returned from teaching in the UK and had visited an old castle with my good friend Maz Mashru, one of the UK’s most decorated professional portrait photographers. It was cold and slightly raining, but I took out my little Canon PowerShot SD450 and we snapped a few pictures anyway, just to have a souvenir. Coincidently, we were standing on a bridge photographing down and across the English countryside. We don’t know which one of us took these images – but they became the perfect background for this fantasy portrait and we share the final product.

We were going for a 36x36 canvas and the files from the little Elph are a bit small. I planned to panorama them across the bottom of the image so we wouldn’t have to enlarge them as much. (Notice the gates in the final image are actually the same gate from different angles.) Jane 4

The sky was poor in the English snapshots, and although I could have painted one in, I wanted to have consistency within the portrait so we looked for skies in our archives and came up with this one from British Columbia.

Now the artwork:

PHOTOSHOP:

The portrait was composed in Photoshop at 30x30 size and 150ppi resolution – the bottom layer was the sky (boat removed with the Patch Tool), the next layer was the foreground images blended together using a Layer Mask. Once I had the composition ready, I applied Nik Color Effects Pro Filter SUNSHINE to warm up what had been dull days in both images and then flattened the result. Jane 5

I used the Pen Tool and Extract to isolate the subjects and also remove the black stools. The children and the pooch were dragged and dropped onto the background image, sized and positioned into place and then merged onto one layer. I pieced together skirts and wings from other images taken during the shoot but tried to keep it loose – the edges are not that important when you are going to end up painting it!

I retouched and enhanced the children and then applied a soft focus filter (the famous Eddie Tapp/Monte Zucker soft focus filter to the skin …(see last issue Ed). Using a layer mask, I removed stray bits of clothing and hair and then applied the layer mask so the final image preparation contained two layers; the background elements and the flying subjects. This file was saved as a PSD named PeterPan01.psd. I then un-flattened the image, discarded the layer with the children and resaved the image as a PSD named PeterPan02.psd. This gives me two images – the background and the background with the children on a layer in position ready to transfer in after the initial background paint has been applied. Jane 6

COREL PAINTER work:

I opened PeterPan02 first (just the background). I cloned it and added accent colours with the Artist Impressionist brush. Lilac was put into some of the leaves, white and bright yellow on some of the foliage highlights, white in the clouds and some dark blue in some of the shadows. I then re-selected and re-cloned the original so I could work on an original but access two clone sources – another original and one with colour added. I checked in File/Clone Source to make sure I was sourcing the image with colour added. The original would be used to fix mistakes if needed. Jane 7

The sky was selected with the Lasso Tool and feathered 10 pixels. I recorded a wispy, angular blending stroke using the Blender/Smudge brush, 80% opacity with Resat turned up to 30% (so it pulls in some colour from the source). Then I Auto Played back the stroke to blend the sky, deselected and finished off the edges by hand.

The foreground was repainted using three brushes cloning colour from the source with accent colours added. Blender/ Grainy water was used on the castle and fence at 100% opacity with Resat turned up to 30%. The fields were painted with Artists/Impressionist, and the trees and bushes were painted with Nature Brushes/Ivy and Ivy Cluster, 100% opacity, cloning colour from the source with accent colours added. Small brushes were used near the horizon and larger brushes were used in the foreground. I was careful to follow the shape and flow of the landscape and to paint from underneath up. Jane 8

This file was saved as PeterPan03.psd.

Next, I opened PeterPan01.psd. I selected Layer 1, Select All, Edit, Copy. I then clicked on PeterPan03.psd (the one I’m painting) and chose Edit/Paste in Place. The kids are in! Layer/ Drop to flatten because I want to incorporate the painting of the children into the painting I did of the sky. (File, save as PeterPan04.psd and close PeterPan01.psd.)

Wendy’s skirt was painted using Airbrush/Digital Airbrush, choosing existing colours in her dress. The clothing and skin were blended using Blender/Grainy Water – 100% opacity on the clothing and 30% opacity on the skin. (no resat this time) Very small brushes were used on the hair and fur of the dog. Jane 9

Details were accented with Airbrush/Fine Detail 3, choosing colours from the image and increasing the saturations and values to add snap to the paint. I made sure I over-blended the edges into the sky. Details were also added to the background at this time to add consistency of detail throughout the painting. FX/Fairy Dust was sprinkled in white from the wand into the middle ground to tie the subjects and background together.

When the painting was complete it was saved as PeterPanF. psd. Then I added 3-d brush texture with Effects/Surface Effects/Apply Surface Texture using Image Luminance at approximately 11 Amount and 9 Shine. The file was then resaved as PeterPanFT.psd. Painter was closed and PeterPanFT was reopened in Photoshop. (My files are always saved without texture before I apply texture, in case I choose to do something different with the painting later on.)

PHOTOSHOP:

The painting was resized to 36x36 at 300ppi resolution, evaluated for colour and value. A 3-inch image-mirrored border was added to wrap around the stretcher. Sharpening was added – extra sharp since it was going out to canvas. Printing was done on the Epson 9600 using Epson Premium Water Resistant Canvas. The painting was hand-signed in 18K gold and delivered just in time for Christmas! What fun!

Jane2

Jane Conner-ziser and Patrick Ciatto own the Galleria del Arte and Jane’s Digital Art School in Ormond Beach, Florida. Jane is an internationally recognized retouching artist, painter and instructor. She is teaching a residential class for the SWPP May 1-5 – Advanced Photoshop and Painter. You can also purchase her DVDs through SWPP. Maz Mashru owns a stunning high energy studio in Leicester, UK and holds the degrees of M.Photog USA, FMPA, Hon FBPA, ARPS, ABIPP, ASP and FSWPP.

The SWPP 2008 Convention was an outstanding success,
we have 174 days to get ready for the 2009 convention - which starts on January 14, 2009

Photo Quote: What you see is real - but only on the particular level to which you've developed your sense of seeing. You can expand your reality by developing new ways of perceiving. - Wynn Bullock