I've already registered my love for the fashion art photography of Ms. Fine Caliber, but this one called "Swim" took my breath away just a bit. Her method for making it so was intricate, but well worth the effort: "It was the first time I messed with water settings while taking an underwater picture," she tells me. "It's like a second Windlight. I took two shots: one in color and one in depth mode."
But that's just the first step.
"After that, the most work was in separating the shot into layers based on distance, which is what I used the depth mode shot for. Blurred each layer according to distance. Had to select the seaweed separately, because transparencies don't show up in depth mode. Threw a paper/parchment texture over everything and blended it, blending it more on my avatar. Then I did something I never do -- added stuff to it. Took a brush in the shape of a bubble and made some bigger, smaller, in front and behind me, some blurry some sharp.
"All-in-all," she allows, "it might have been more trouble than it was worth, and I would have added a more fractured light on the top of my skin if I figured out how. Cropped it slightly so it would fit in a pick if I wanted it to (ratio 1.77:1) That's it. Did it all in GIMP."
That's a truly wonderful picture.
Posted by: Faerie | Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 01:05 AM