Tag Archives: studio

Nude Portraits: Magda

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There’s some nudity in this post. I know that nudity bothers some people because of their superstitions or work environment. In that case I suggest that you read a garden blog, a cat-blog or something else instead. (Fair warning given).

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Portraits: Magdalena Jewuła

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Back in June, I promised you that you’d see more of Magdalena Jewuła. I’m the kind of man who likes to keep his promises (well, probably not all of them –  but at least I always try to keep them), so here she is again: the wonderful Magdalena Jewuła.

Magdalena Jewuła
Magdalena Jewuła
Magdalena Jewuła
Magdalena Jewuła

Weekly Photo Challenge: Layers

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«Layers» is the theme for WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge this week. Here’s my entry called Spinning Nude. It’s a composite image with several layers/photos on top of each other.

spinning-nude2

Spinning Nude by CardinalGuzman.wordpress.com

Check out these links to other entries (and to some of you bloggers that link to everything & everyone that post entries for the WPC: watch and learn. I didn’t just copy WordPress’ list and linked to 50-200 other blogs. Why not? Because that could be considered spamming and people don’t like spam. So, I just picked out a few blogposts that I like and linked to them).

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Studio with Pamela

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Here’s a couple of the shots from last weekend with Pamela – an awesome model that’s very comfortable, natural and easy to work with (make sure to check out my two previous posts with Pamela and Natalia). I tried to get a variety of looks on these photos and I like the results.

Natalia Kuternoga

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Model: Natalia Kuternoga

Model: Natalia Kuternoga

The Process

  • At first I shot photos of the model, Natalia Kuternoga in the studio of the Polish photographer Jacek Ura.
  • After the photo shoot I did some basic adjustments to the photo in Adobe Lightroom, exported the result and opened it in Adobe Photoshop.
  • The first thing I did in Photoshop was to make selections to separate the model and background.
  • Then I created a displacement map from a photo I took of a worn down graffiti wall in an old fort near Krakow in Poland.
  • I added the displacement map plus a few details from a color splash photo.
  • Separated two copies of the models left eye. Changed the settings, dodge and burned and finally merged the layers when I had my wanted result.
  • Brushed in a couple of leaves from the standard Photoshop brushes
  • I then changed the overall colors of the photo by adding several layer masks (the following numbered list is reversed, so # would be the bottom, # 5 on top):
  1. a black & white layer
  2. gradient map red/orange set to color and with lowered opacity
  3. copy of gradient map set to soft light and a very low opacity
  4. a gradient fill ranging from dark to light green and set to soft light
  5. a color balance layer with a medium opacity and individual settings for the shadows, mid-tones and highlights
    • The first layer was set to screen mode with a high opacity before I brushed out the unwanted parts leaving the effect basically on the left side of the photo.
    • The flames was added as 3 layers from two different shots I have in my catalog.
    • The second layer is another photo of flames, set to darken and medium opacity. Also on this layer I brushed away the effects using a layer mask.
    • The third flame layer is a copy of the second, but now set to luminosity with a medium strong opacity (and off course with an individual layer mask like all the other layers).

Now the image looks something like what I wanted it to look, so it’s time to go through all the layers and layer masks, change the opacity if needed, brush out masks, and do minor adjustments. I decided to make another copy of the eye, create a selection, border the selection and paint a white circle. I sat the blend mode to lighter color and lowered the opacity and fill drastically,  so that it left a hint of some crazy iris but without becoming too dominant.

Model: Natalia Kuternoga.

Photo, execution, idea, design, layout: Cardinal Guzman

This was my entry for WordPress’ Weekly Photo Challenge: Hue.