photography and photo manipulations are two things i'm not good at - to put it mildly. but why be stopped from doing something fun just because you suck at it ? i have a sort of seasonal project for halloween, a story i make for some friends about a fortune teller, and i thought i could illustrate it with some photos. but i get a bit confused by all the choices there is to make! the first picture is with the original colours and some extra darkness added (i'm trying to get a sort of chiaroscuro effect), the second is with the colours changed with new curve settings and these colours are more realistic but i think they look too harsh and ugly. any opinions? then i added two kinds of effects to the glass bowl where (i assume) the fortune teller sees her visions - one is with light beams, the other with soft light "puffs". i liked the puffs better, but i thought the beams looked more photographic. maybe i shouldn't use either of them but just make a smoke cloud or something instead?

I like the last one best. It looks very magical. They are all nice though. The atmosphere is spot on. Who's the model?

erisian: oh thank you brother, thank you! i'm hypersensitive when it comes to my photos because i know i'm a lousy photographer and i know photo manipulation isn't one of my strong points either. i posted these in a sudden burst of confidence because i thought they turned out good enough - and then no one commented and i know what that means . so glad to hear there's at least one more person in the world who thinks these pictures have the right atmosphere! i was ready to give up this type of thing for good and go hide under a rock. said i was hypersensitive .

you're not being entirely helpful, though. you said you liked the last one, but would it be better or worse with the curve settings i used for the middle one? or with the colours tweaked some other way? and i still don't know if the puffs are best or the beams or some completely different effect - i tried smoke (plain and coloured) yesterday but i didn't like it at all, so smoke is out of the question.

i wrote a reply and then decided i cant comment on something i have no knowledge of (photography)

the idea about the chiaroscuro effect is good and fitting but i think it could be more extreme, even surreal
as i have no knowledge of filters i dont know how to achieve that
how about something simple as posterize or cartoon or something like that ?

about the special effects you added:
i think they are not needed, the picture and theme works without them very well

the way you photographed everything is well done, i think
every detail looks authentic: from the decoration to the clothes, the crystal bowl,
the model, how she looks and her posture, the hair, etc.

hope that helps

I like the lighting in the first one, the others are too dark for my tastes. If this is photography, I can't speak to any effects you may have added but I would definitely have her intently staring at the creation in the bowl. Conjuring plasma energy is not easy and requires a great deal of concentration. Add the swirls from the second one and the blurred spots from the third (both look great) and I think it would look even better. I really like your pic.

I hope you don't mind me stealing your pic but this is sort of what I meant. It's probably way too intense and I know you will do a much better job.




Oh and one last thing. Just so you'll know, I look at everything you do but I don't always comment so don't feel like no one is paying attention. Look at the stats and the number of views, not the number of comments. You do some really cool stuff and I for one enjoy it all, so there.

I like the last one best, too. Haha, it's funny that you call yourself super sensitive, because I am the same way. If someone doesn't comment right away, I start to feel sad. But it's my problem; it's not like the whole world is just waiting to comment on a post I posted...this forum, though, is a lot nicer than others!

just tried a few things with G'MIC

how about that ?
its Artistic -> Graphic Novel

I'd say you're wrong on both points

In overall tone, my preference is for fortune teller1.png. I like the darker feel and the green top looks better to me more saturated. I think the effect in the bowl is better in fortune teller3.png as it's more noticeable.

The are a couple of minor criticisms I could make about the composition, but I'm probably being over analytical given that this is part of a greater whole and not meant to stand alone.

Kevin

AnMal, what you have done is very good. Personally I like the first one. There are two light sources, One is to the side and would highlight the sleeves of the woman and the headband but the light in the bowl is the one that casts that beautiful glow on the features. That being so, the glow (reflected light should be from there) should show on the inside of the hands and light the bottom of the chin and cheeks. Obviously that takes a lot of work but you can simulate that effect by using the clone tool.
Copy the layer. Use the clone tool in registered mode and in screen mode at say 40% opacity with an airbrush.
Vary the size of the brush for different areas. This way you can selectively enhance your light effect without making permanent changes until you are happy with the result. BTW I say again what you have done is very good , I am just offering another way to achieve your desired effect. I have probably overdone the chin somewhat and I would spend more time there but it only showed up after I uploaded the photo.

everyone: i'm so sorry, i really didn't mean to call the rescue squad! i'm not normally this sensitive about my work, it's just when i do things like photography and photo manipulation.
thank you for all the valuable feedback - i have a week to finish the whole project so i can take some more time to work on these pictures and try out all your tips . i'm eager to get started on it now so this post is a bit short - i'l be back later and thank you all personally for your feedback.

i think its perfectly reasonable to be irritated when nobody answers you thread
i know i have been

i'm back with more . i've had a lot of fun with these pictures! here's the edits i've made after reading the comments, i'll choose two of these (one where she looks at the viewer, one where she listens for something) and put them in the story (it's actually a very simple video, with a voice telling the actual story and some mod setting music and simple pictures):



esper: i can agree the special effects aren't really needed, but they're a bit like make up - no one actually needs it, but it's so much more fun with than without, so the special effects stay . i liked the "surreal" touch you suggested, but in the end i thought it was a bit too much for what i was making, so i didn't use those pictures. instead i put them in as layers over the original pics and changed layer modes and opacity and got some really nice results - that's in number two, five and six. about being irritated when no one replies to your thread - yes, that's probably natural. but when you loose all confidence in your work because no one comments on it you're just being hypersensitive and silly. i'm not normally like that!
draconian: thank you for being so supportive! i did take some (or actually a lot) of pictures of her staring into the bowl, but none of them turned out good. probably because they were taken in my small flat where there wasn't enough room to play with angles and distances. i knew i wanted one where she stared at the viewer and one where she didn't, so i used that one where she seems to be hearing something instead of one where she stares into the bowl. i took your suggestion and added beams to the puffs - i liked your beams better than my own, but i'm just no good with light beams, so this is my best attempt so far. maybe i'll have time to make something better. i made two versions and i think i like the second one best (that's in numbers three to six, there's a slight differens between number three and the others).
mariawendt: you're so right, sister . i don't usually do this, though, it's because they were photos.
paynekj: thanks for the encouragement! that meant a lot coming from someone who takes such great photos. i'd be happy to hear those minor criticisms you talk about, they probably won't mean anything to these pictures but they might be useful for the future.
wbool63: thank you! you made a very good point and i learned a lot from my experiments with the clone tool on different modes - i had never thought of trying that before . i think i need a lot more practice with that, though, so in the end i tried something simpler to give at least a little of those extra highlights from the candles. you can see it in number one and two, more pronounced in number one because i didn't change anything else. in the last four pictures i didn't put in the highlights because i think she seems out of range from the two light sources and i don't want to highlight the background even if may be more realistic - but maybe i'm wrong here?

Wow - you've been busy. Lovely work.

Nice work AnMal.

erisian: thanks! yes, these edits have kept me busy but i've now finished the whole thing and i'm happy with it .
he4rty: thank you!