The Language of Advertising
Alice Wilson
Photoshop and Camera Raw
A huge element of model photography within magazines is frequently given an airbrushed effect, creating a flawless image, something many people envy because the outcome is so perfect. It is also controversial as it is not the genuine article. All these flawless images are created using photoshop.
Firstly to create this airbrushed effect you should open the image you wish to edit in camera raw. adjust exposure, contrast and anything else you want to if you wish to do so. You would then put the clarity up to +50 for example and make sure the image opens in photoshop as a smart object. When in photoshop you would then duplicate the layer and re-name it, I like to name my layer soft so it is obvious to me which one to rasterize. After this you move on to the other layer and rasterize it so it is no longer a smart object. You will then re-open the layer 'Soft' back in to Camera Raw and drop the clarity right down. You will do the same and open it back in to photoshop after doing so. After this you will go in to 'Layer', 'Layer Mask' and 'Reveal All'. By selecting the paintbrush tool you will start to paint back in and reveal the soft layer underneath, giving the airbrushed effect on the skin.
The two images above are an example of an image I have practiced airbrushing on and you can really see the harshness of the unedited image in comparison to the airbrushed image on the right, the skin looks more flawless in the edited image and features more enhanced. As well as airbrushing her skin I have also used the spot healing tool to get rid of small imperfections and blemishes. As airbrushing is used in the industry and in magazines a lot I plan to airbrush each one of my final images to give this effect and try to achieve similar work to real magazines.
I have also practiced working on the fliter 'Liquify' to enable to me change facial shapes and body features exactly to how I want them. This is something that is used on a day to day basis in the photography world and is a large element of magazine work. I have edited the image to the right using 'Liquify' I have tried to make the changes subtle but have slightly puckered the lips to make them look bigger. I have also ever so slightly edited the models jaw to make it smaller however this is not an obvious change which is how I wanted it in the first place as the model did not need editing.
I have also worked on changing eye colour to help make my images more vivid. To do this you will duplicate the layer and enter 'quick mask' (image to the left.) You will then colour in the eyes where you want to have the colour changed. After doing so you will go on to 'Select' and 'Inverse'. Then you will add a new adjustment layer where you can decide on the colour of eye that is desired for your image.
The image to the left above is before post production and the image to the right is after. As you can see the eyes have obviously changed, they are brighter and lighter, however is still subtle. I intend to do this for my final images because I believe it enhances the images and creates more of an intense atmostphere. It also hepls the viewer to conect with the image more as the eyes are deeply drawn in to the composition.
RAW
It is important to shoot in RAW files as it is much more effective than shooting in JPEGs. Shooting in RAW allows you to have complete control of your images and also allows you to compensate for mistakes. When it comes to editing your images you can start in Camera RAW if you have shot in that format, this gives you complete flexibility when adjusting and changing the effect of your images. 12 bit RAW file contains 68 billion colours whereas a JPEG has no more than 16 bit. Shooting in RAW makes the image quality a lot better.
For my next shoot I plan to work in the studio experimenting with different lighting to help me decide on my preferred choice for final shoots.