A Work in Progress: Beauty from Past

This guide was made for entry:
Beauty from Past
In Contest:
merry go round

Original image

step 1 of 19

This is the wonderful photo that I'have worked on. Thanks again to Fetishfaerie on Deviantart for a great inspiration for this shot.
I enlarged the canvas size on top of the screen to have more space and for compositional purposes.

step 2 of 19

I added a black layer behind the girl and used a layer's mask to blend the backround into a single one. I also duplicated girl's layer, desaurated it and changed blending mode to hard light for shadowing.

sources used for this step:

: source

step 3 of 19

1. I selected the Merry-go-round by using the pen tool.
2. Using the rectangular marquee tool I selected again only the top part of the carrousel
3. I also selected the most visible and better angled red horse.

step 4 of 19

I added my carrousel selection on top of girl's head, resized, warped and distorted it slightly to get a better looking shape (similar to an old style hat).

sources used for this step:

1: source 1

step 5 of 19

I selected the hat and veil from a PNG file.
This is the actual image included in the package and the source address will lead you to the whole package itself, containing other beautiful old art objects.

sources used for this step:

2: source 2

step 6 of 19

I added the veil on girl's head and blended. Lowered opacity to get transparency.

sources used for this step:

3: source 3

step 7 of 19

This is the selection of horse's tail.
1. In small original size
2. Used warping and resizing for better shaping.

step 8 of 19

I started to reconstruct parts of the dress using previous step's selection.
First the old fashion top sleeves.

sources used for this step:

4: source 4

step 9 of 19

Then the collar, by merging all together multiple layers with the tails selection modified.

sources used for this step:

5: source 5

step 10 of 19

Selected a tassel and copied it multiple times. Positioned them differently on hat's edges for diversity. After merging all tassels layers, duplicated them, desaturated and changed blending mode to overlay for shadowing.

sources used for this step:

6: source 6

step 11 of 19

In this step I added the mask using the same selection. Revealed eyes using layer's mask.
Colored collar and dress using hue/saturation.

sources used for this step:

7: source 7

step 12 of 19

Colored the "Merry-go-round" hat and added some shadows on it and veil.

sources used for this step:

8: source 8

step 13 of 19

1 & 2 - jewelry selections from another wonderful PNG files package posted so kindly by "Bluesse" on Deviantart. (Link leading to the whole zipped package).
3. - horse selection which I am going to use as a broach.

sources used for this step:

9: source 9
10: source 10

step 14 of 19

I added the first jewerly on top of the collar and changed blending mode to multiply since I didn't want it to be too obvious, only to look like some sort of a pattern.
I also added horse in the middle of the corset.

sources used for this step:

11: source 11

step 15 of 19

In this step:
1. I added drop shadow to the horse broach. And also colored it using hue/saturation.
2. Added the other jewerly on the eye, revealed eye (layer's mask) and softened edges.
3. Cropped image slightly.
4. Added frame from another PNG file posted by "Bluesse" on deviant art. Colored it slightly.
5. Added texture and changed blending mode to overlay, then lowered opacity till I was satisfied with the old painting effect.

sources used for this step:

step 16 of 19

Added a linear gradient map from orange to brown for better overall coloring.

sources used for this step:

15: source 15

step 17 of 19

Added the dry brush filter (under Filters/Artistic) to give more effect to the painting. Initially the filter was very strong but I lowered the opacity till I got a better result.

step 18 of 19

I needed more light, but the gradient maps wouldn't give me the result I wanted, so....I added some light yellow soft brush touches onto a separate layer and then changed blending mode to soft light and adjusted opacity.

sources used for this step:

16: source 16

step 19 of 19

Finally I added a brightness/contrast adjustment layer to calm down tones and pop up shadows.

sources used for this step:

17: source 17

Final result

Pxleyes

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