Topic: Andy's Photomanipulation Thread

[Scottish Andy]

Hi all

I joined a photomanipulation forum to get tips on how to do better manips. While I am pleased with what I'm doing there, I don't see any need to keep the two hobbies separate. So, here are the manips I've been doing over there. These images will be posted in chronological order of when I created them, so you can see the progression of my skills!

Anyone else, feel free to comment on my images and to post your own as well.

PS. These images are all mine. I've spent considerable time and effort in creating these, so I'd appreciate people not nicking them and giving me no credit for them!

[Scottish Andy]

This is Caitlin "Cate" Harrington. She has nothing to do with David Weber's character; I encountered it in a periodical publication I am enjoying. I just think it is a really great name and want to use it in my own stories.



I'm not sure where I want her in my universe, I just know that I do want her in it. I originally had her as a Commander and my XO aboard the Kingfisher (which you see in my signature image), but I'm advancing her age based on what I think people live to in the 23rd century. I think the woman is in her mid-late forties, so I'm now pegging Cate at 59, and likely a Captain or low-rank Admiral.

This was just something I knocked together after work some weeks ago in about 3 hours. This is about average for my current skill level with low quality source images.

This composite was produced from three separate images and I had a lot of trouble with trying to match up the light level of the original pics to the Enterprise-A shuttlebay that I nicked from Memory Alpha, after seeing the idea mediajedi's photomanips. I still don't think it's right, but going too dark in brightness levels starts messing with the admittedly low-quality source images. I am aware of the issue with the hair on the lower right quadrant, but I don't know how to eliminate the entirety of the previous background convincingly and still leave the actual strands of hair.

General comments are welcome, though suggestions for improvement are better.

[Scottish Andy]

This is S'Rawl of Cait.



I need help with her; the most obvious being how to get rid of Janice Rand's bad hair! I also could use some advice on how to properly blend in light levels and "age" the picture.

All I have is the face of the cat; there are no pics with her neck, the rest of her head, anything. This is why I still need the hair. But what kind of hair can I substitute? I'm going for the M'Ress from TAS look instead of the movie-era prosthetics look.


Additional: I have since learned more and will be redoing this image. Stay tuned!

[Scottish Andy]

This is Andrea "Andie" Yushikara, our own beloved Jaeih t'Radaik's Federation alter-ego. Andie is a 25y.o. Lieutenant in this pic, and gets her beautiful new STII-style uniform after her posting aboard the Illustrious ends.



I did this many years ago for her using iPhotoPlus 4. I think it is still pretty damn good even now, but now that I have Photoshop 7 I plan to redo it -- if I ever manage to find the source images again...

[Scottish Andy]

This is Tia Carrere as Carin Oshima. She is the captain in the TNG storyline I'm currently working on. In this picture, she is a Lieutenant and was assigned as Operations and Second Officer of the Springfield-class surveyor USS Skinner NCC-57306 from 2358-2361.



This was just something I knocked together a couple of nights ago in about 3-4 hours and is my second TNG manip. I did my first with Tia as a commander, but realised I'd used an image of Tia at age 40-odd when Carin is a Commander at age 32. Most of that night had been spent searching for any good images, then (much harder) images of a younger Tia Carrere.

====

I decided to redo my first image slightly as I think I got the her age wrong again. These are what I've been working on for the past day or two. So, in this first picture she is a 23y.o. Ensign assigned as Conn Officer to the Challenger-class large scout USS Armstrong NCC-57357 in 2355.



In this second picture she is a 26y.o. Lieutenant assigned as Operations and Second Officer of the Springfield-class surveyor USS Skinner NCC-57306 in 2358. She is in her dress uniform for the arrival of a dignitary.



In this third picture she is a 29y.o. Lieutenant Commander assigned as Chief Tactical Officer of the Excelsior-class USS Fearless NCC-14598 in 2361. She his just returned to the ship via transporter from a starbase.



In this fourth picture she is a 32y.o. Commander assigned as Executive Officer of the Nebula-class USS Endeavour NCC-71805 in 2364.



And just for fun, here's a quickie of Captain Pavel Chekov of the Constitution-class USS Potemkin in 2297.

[KOTH-KieranXC, Ret.]

Very solid work, Andy.

Coupla nitpicks: The lock of hair covering Captain Harrington's rank insignia doesn't quite look natural. I'm not quite sure how to explain it better than that, just that it doesn't look quite right and really is the one major thing dragging down the quality of the manip.

Second, the first two Oshima pictures: I'll say this, I love how you were able to match the coloration/shading of the face to the background image. Definitely gives it that late 80s early TNG feel. However, the contrast of the image seems a little off; her face is much, much sharper than her torso and arms.

All in all though, I like. The girl that plays Andie is yummy. You know, if you ever want some extra practice, you could do up some of my characters for me... (Just a thought of course, and I wouldn't ask you to do it at the expense of any of your other projects)

[Commander La'ra]

I see what Kieran's saying, and I can't explain it either.  It reminds me of one of those odd props they'll use on sitcoms to cover up the pregnant actress' belly.

Of this batch, the strongest of them, in my opinion, are Chekov (you explained why it was easier already), Andie's pic, and 'Captain Oshima', just above Chekov.  The weakest, in my opinion, is the one where she's walking off the transporter pad.  She looks very 'inserted' there.

[Governor Ronjar]

I've been told that if you change your hair style that much in such a span of time...you have identity issues. *I* don't believe that [hides razor] and I like that Oshima has different hair styles for every [period] shown. Pretty cool.

No real technical quips. I've been trying to figure out how to stick my bulbous head on a Starfleet body for about two weeks now. Might send it to you for completion.

--rog