Photo Manipulation is a way to enhance your photo's, or to change them completely. Many aspects of photos can be manipulated, including (but not limited to):
Hair Color*
Eye Color
Clothing Color
Background
Facial Features
Heads*
Color Wash*
Hair color can be changed, but within limits. I can not, for instance, take black hair, and make it blonde. It would not look even remotely natural. I can darken hair, and lighten it to an extent. This can be worked with until the end product is both real looking, and satisfying to you, the customer.
In some family pictures, you often get 1 or 2 people who are looking away, or have their eyes closed, or even look like they are in the middle of a sneeze. It can be hard to have 1 really great photo with everyone looking just right. I have in the past altered images to put new heads on bodies. I use the same person's head or facial features from a different image and super impose them onto the selected image. I can do this as long as I have several good images of each person.
Color wash is a technique used to fade out an image while allowing only certain colors to shine through.
Photo Manipulations are great for Weddings, Family Portraits, Group Photos, Graduations, and much more.
Please note, the bigger the image I am sent, the better the quality of the manipulation will be. I can not make an image bigger, so it's always best to start with an image that is too big, rather than too small!
The photos below do not belong to me, and are used as example only. I can not provide them for reprint, resale, or reuse.
To view the manipulated image, place your mouse over the image and give it a moment to load. It will then swap out the image with each mouse over.
What was changed?
In the image of Laetitia Casta, I changed several things. Most easily noticed, I
changed the color of her corset from red to royal blue. I softened the picture's
quality, as well, which gives the image a more polished look. I did not like the
way her lips looked, either, and took a pair of lips from a different Laetitia
Casta image, and super imposed them over the manipulation. Also changed were her
eye colors. I darkened them and made them more blue. The background was changed
in tint to a bit of an orangish red, and I also added texture to it. The legs
where the nylons are were also darkened, as was the hair.
What was changed?
In this image of Joaquin Phoenix, I only changed a few things. First, I used a color wash to fade out the skin tone on Joaquin, to make it less bright without actually fading it to black and white. Next, I changed the color of the cloak he wears from the deep marigold to a silver grey. His eyes were then changed from brown to silver. The overall image was also softened.
Color Washing
The photos below do not belong to me, and are used as example only. I can not provide them for reprint, resale, or reuse.
Roll the mouse over the image, and wait for the new image to load to show the changes that were made.
example 1
What was changed?
In this image of Kate Beckinsale, I added a sepia tone to the image, while fading the color in it, to make it appear older. This is a popular choice for color washing.
example 2
What was changed?
In the same image of Kate Beckinsale, I faded the color, before changing the tone to a magenta color. I can do this with any color, and can also target specific things.
example 3
What was changed?
In this type of color washing, an image is faded, and selective spots are colorized. Back in older times, when portraits were black and white by nature, portrait coloring was very popular. Color was added to selective spots in an image to make it look more "lively". In this instance, I colored Kate's eyes, lips, and added color to her cheeks for blush.
Photo Restoration
Photo restoration is similar to manipulation, in that I change the photos around using an art program. I restore images to give you a good quality image. I can remove spots, red eyes, darken washed out images, lighten darkened images, and more. Below is an example using my own photo of my grandparents. Roll the mouse over the image to see the restored image.
What was fixed?
This image was damaged while in a picture frame, and subsequently, there are white "tears" on the image which look like white dots. The color was also a bit washed out. What I did was blend the tears into the existing background, to make them disappear. I then darkened the image slightly to get rid of the color fading.
Photo
Manipulation:
$10 for the first manipulation.
$5 for each additional manipulated photo.
Photo
Restoration:
$10 for the first restoration
$5 for each additional restored photo.
copyright Heather L. Tompkins 2006