8/12/2003: Talented digital airbrushing

Originally posted by Annebonannie
It's really hard to take you seriously. I think it is because you have to fall back on big words, vulgar langauage and namecalling.

Translation: "I can't take you seriously because I am a dumb hick from Tennessee and I don't understand the big words you use. Being in the Bible Belt, I know that curse words are bad, though, so I will assume the worst of you."

[juju]

Well, for my hypothetical "most people", if it doesn't bother them then they have no vested interest in stopping it, do they?

Perhaps not at the onset. The behavior grows worse, however, which is what I was going to write up but decided against it. I'm busy at work so I'm not going to waste any more time here (unless it's responding to Anne, who I just couldn't stand to let have the last word).

[hot_pastrami]

I decided to give it a try, I've had some light experince with this stuff. Below is the result of about 25 minutes worth of work in Paint Shop Pro 8. I intentionally left a little bit of texture and detail in an effort to keep her looking more like a human than a doll. And it's hard to tell with the half-and-half layout, but I narrowed her jaw a little, and her nose. I also very slightly adjusted an eye position.

Sure, it's not quite up to the original artist's standards, but I think I am getting pretty close, particularly for an ameteur using cheap software, and in only 25 minutes. My point? Dave was right... it is amazing how much an untrained person can accomplish in photo retouching with powerful software. And Paint Shop Pro isn't even as good as iPhoto at this stuff.

By the way, pointing out that Dave is an asshole like pinching a loaf in the bathtub... it's a meaningless, unimpressive waste of energy and in the end you just end up getting shit all over yourself.

[ndetroit]

When everyone has finished with their renditions of this poor woman's face, it would be neat to see them all side by side, along with explanations of how the effects were achieved (and why you made those particular choices).

I think that this guys site is one of the most amazing I've ever seen.. The one pic of the blond girl is incredible: You see the first pic, and she looks like a "normal" magazine-type girl.. If you weren't specificly looking for it, you wouldn't think that she'd been airbrushed, or really that anything had been done to her appearance.
Then you mouse-over it, and the real her looks *HIDEOUS* in comparison.

But only in comparison.

Because I bet that if you saw the "real" her first, you would think she is a pretty good-looking person, and if you saw her in the street, you might even look twice.

At least.. that's how it appeared to me.


One other question.. did any of you touch the pupils in your photographs? I had always heard that larger (bigger black parts) pupils were considered "more attractive" (pupils are dilated, which is a natural effect of sexual arousal) than small pupils..

But when I look at the close-up details of a lot of the eyes on that guys site, he has made them smaller..

hmmm.

[Annebonannie]

I altered her eyes, not deliberately increasing her pupil, but just fiddling with the contrast and hue. I like blue eyes.

Dave was right... it is amazing how much an untrained person can accomplish in photo retouching with powerful software.

I think you did a really good job, better even than a couple of the folks I work with would who are paid to know how to do photo work.

The whole thing was just a miscommunication, really. Just a face is easy to touch up, and in fact I proved Dave's point for him by retouching the face myself (although I did use photoshop, because it's what I am used to). I read his comments:

I hate to say it, but... you can do this kind of stuff with iPhoto in about 20 seconds.

to mean that he, or anyone else could have done the same or closely comparable quality of work to the entire photo in twenty seconds (which somehow got turned into 20 minutes somewhere in the thread), her body, the retouch, recontouring her hands, everything. Turns out that's not exactly what he meant, but it's what I took it for. I had begun my response before he had even added his next entry to the thread qualifying his first remark.

As to the argument, that's just part of the fun. You'll never have an opinion without someone disagreeing, even violently sometimes. With someone as short fused as Dave you just have to roll with it sometimes, and I was getting tickled fantisizing about him getting spittle-flecking mad.

Got to go now and fry up a mess of possum and okra for Cletus and the twins...

[juju]

Originally posted by hot_pastrami
By the way, pointing out that Dave is an asshole like pinching a loaf in the bathtub... it's a meaningless, unimpressive waste of energy and in the end you just end up getting shit all over yourself.

The only person who said that was Anne, and she's new, so she can hardly be expected to have already formed an opinion about him.

Originally posted by Annebonannie
...if you think this kind of retouch only takes 20 minutes...

That's where it came from.

Not to further be an asshole, but I take issue with your claim that you started your response before I had clarified. The time between your post and my second is like six hours.

Originally posted by The Doninator
The only person who said that was Anne, and she's new, so she can hardly be expected to have already formed an opinion about him.

To be fair, I said it too.

Hey, if you read what I said how she interpreted it, my claims sound pretty bogus!

But if you read it how I meant it (i.e., just the face, which is what was posted here), then I still stand by 'em.

So I have an idea. I will apologize for dragging this out so long, and Anne will promise to, in the future, ask for clarification before she starts acting like a big meanie.

[Annebonannie]

It was a time warp, I swear.

Can you time warp us to like 7 PM, so I can get the fuck outta here and go home?

[Annebonannie]

You don't need to apologize, I thought at least half of what you said was toung-in-cheek and just to keep me going.

It sounds perverse, maybe, but I really have enjoyed participating in this thead and sparring with you. It's made me feel like I belong.

If I could, I'd warp us all the way to Friday afternoon.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Shit, you guy are spoiling everything.
Never fails, good shoot-um-up gets going and they start kissin' and stuff.
I'm goin' for popcorn.

[zeet]

I had to take my shot at it. Mind you, I spent 10 minutes on this, so there is that. But still, it was fun, playing with it to see what would be overboard and what wouldn't.

[DNK]

So here tis. Corel PHOTO-PAINT 7. Very quick stab. Under 10 minutes. How'd I do?