y3, aka erp, and my pursuit of photo manipulation

[Nyheim]

Nicely done - keep it up 👍🏻 

[Cipher]

i love erp

[Jorgensen]

Damn, these are nicee

[Y3]

thank you all so much for the positive feedback!!! ill do my best to keep this thread up to date

 

its super inspiring to see people enjoy it 💕

 

😭

Edited November 12, 2020 by Mfinda

[Y3]

so i think today, i made my proudest work yet!!

 

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i wish i could express how long this took, and how difficult it was. im really not a professional, so bear with me when i try and explain the process here.

 

i promise im not trying to come off like im bragging or some shit

 

so there was alot to note for the shot i was intending here. alyx and selena winslow, a shot for elegance. most importantly, the lighting. although it's heavily modified through hand drawing and detailing of each ripple and particle had to be adjusted. alyx is about 6'0, while selena is 5'5. this difference meant that the the angle at which the original reference dresses were taken as photography had to match this. so for selenas, her dress reference's camera was stationed at a upper thigh level, where as alyxs is at an inch or so above her waist.

 

atop this, alyx was to be positioned about a foot behind selena. given that the light was meeting selena's face at a flat face, 0 o'clock, it meant that this same light would have to be applied to alyx, although adjusted for the fact that her angle was not as flat, instead about 3 o'clock. for this reason, i had to adjust lighting on alyx's face, dress, and everything about her form with this in mind. it's most notable on her face, where the edge of the right side of her face is illuminated just barely. did that make any sense?

 

now clearly, these dresses aren't from gta base game, and definitely not mods. the goal however when using real life images for an in-game shot, is that you have to meet the level of reduced quality. and as such, muddying the textures, reducing the amount of soft edges into polygons, etc, are all required to make the image visually convincing. atop that, colors must be met to a tee, and shadows must be continuous. (Ex: Selena's leg, where the shadow from her in-game leg matches her dress's skirt.)

 

lastly, the shadow, background, and everything in this image is largely artificial, drawn by hand. 

 

here are the before images:

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Now a very notable thing about these before images is the technique of matching the in-game shot to the clothes, not the shot to the in-game screen. i go to an empty place with no shadows, set up lights, and place the camera exactly where it is in the clothing shot. this is the most important step!

 

i hope this provided some insight into the process! ill probably make a video on it one day, or an in-depth guide with screenshots of the process. but i hope i can atleast provide the philosophy behind it.

 

because truly, this isn't something only i can do. it's time, and attention to detail. as long as youre willing sit down and understand what exactly makes your edit believable, and what makes it stand out, anyone can do it.

 

thanks for looking!!!

Edited November 14, 2020 by Mfinda

[nateX]

That's fucking wild, amazing work.

[Jax]

i'd erp alyx

[afrosamurai]

I'm digging the fashion shots. 

[colorlessrainbow]

the amount of work and effort you put in your stuff is incredible. awesome pictures!

[Y3]

alright!! been a little bit busy, ive been working on a salon im opening! found some time for a pic though!!

 

source image:

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render:

Spoiler

 

so this one was a fun one for me. quite simple light direction, no issues there thankfully, and it's just a headshot. however, despite me just having an outright love for polygonal designs and hard edges, this dress has great benefits to visually sell the image.

 

what i mean by that is, given that gta is a videogame from 2013 or so, most of the created faces, hairs, earrings, etc, have harsh edges and polygons when viewed up close. by choosing a real life dress that features heavy polygons as a style, it manages to continue the visual theme of the polygonal gta source image.

 

while not everyone is a photoshop expert or a master of visual design, our brains are programmed to pick out little nuances like that, so even the most untrained eye can notice a visual quality difference between the gta head, and the real life dress, even if it's just a matter of polygon'd edges. its little things like this that will always help sell your photo edit!!

 

thank u for looking!!

Edited November 23, 2020 by Mfinda