affinity photo Oddball

[MikeMcE]

Not at all what I normally do, but had fun masking and blending. As I'm not a normal fan of Zombies, I don't know if this works or not.

Feel free to comment or destroy, BUT tell me why!

 

[Affinity Rat]

Looks good, but I may have tried to make the woman appear to be coming out of the ground, not easy but consistent with others.

My quick and “dirty” idea, I’m sure you can do better.

[Affinity Rat]

I notice than the zombie is partially transparent, I assume that was intentional.

The other guys in background look like copies just slightly rotated, flip them or put them at different angles makes it less apparent, and distribute randomly not in a line.

Put some dirt on her dress, she looks Like James Bond after taking off his wetsuit after diving….immaculate.

[GarryP]

I have some notes, comments and questions, for what it’s worth.

They are written with the understanding that:

• You don’t normally do this sort of thing and it’s just something you did for fun;
• This sort of thing is very difficult to do convincingly;
• It’s especially difficult to do when you only have stock photos to work with;
• Doing something for fun means that it’s easy to ‘cut corners’ just to get something ‘done’ rather than ‘spot on’;
• I’m not very good at this sort of thing myself so I probably couldn’t do much of a better job of it;

...so these aren’t criticisms, as such, but just ‘pointers’ for future projects.

1. There’s too much transparency for my liking. We can see the boards through all of the zombies. As far as I know (and I’m not an expert in such matters), being semi-transparent isn’t a normal trait of a zombie.
2. The ‘little guys’ are too small. The nearest one seems to be only a few feet away from the girl but he’s much smaller than I would expect, unless the girl (and the pier) is very large, or they really are very small (but then how would I guess that from the image itself?).
3. What are the ‘silhouettes of three standing cows’ doing on the top of the ‘big red circle’? I don’t understand what they represent.
4. Is the ‘big red circle’ supposed to be behind the end of the pier or hovering in the middle of it? If it’s supposed to the at the back then its ‘light’ should not be overlaid onto the ‘front’ of the pier uprights and the uprights should be casting shadows. If it’s supposed to be hovering in the middle then I’m not convinced that it looks quite right.
5. What is lighting the girl? If the ‘big red circle’ is the only light source then she, and the ‘little guys’, should be mostly in shadow. If it’s not the only light source then where’s the light coming from and why isn’t the pier around her ‘lit up’ more like her?
6. What is the 'big red circle'? Is it the moon, or a light, or an 'orb', or something else?
7. The ‘little guys’ are too similar to each other.
8. I don’t understand why the ‘little guys’ seem to be in greyscale when the girl isn’t.

Hopefully you can see that I didn’t take the time to write this just to complain about what you have created, rather I took the time to write it to give you some things to think about for your next project. As I said above, this sort of thing is difficult, and I’m no expert, so my comments are purely from an ‘If this were mine, what would I look at changing’ point of view.

Looking forward to seeing the next iteration, if there is one.

[Affinity Rat]

2 minutes ago, GarryP said:

I have some notes, comments and questions, for what it’s worth.

They are written with the understanding that:

• You don’t normally do this sort of thing and it’s just something you did for fun;
• This sort of thing is very difficult to do convincingly;
• It’s especially difficult to do when you only have stock photos to work with;
• Doing something for fun means that it’s easy to ‘cut corners’ just to get something ‘done’ rather than ‘spot on’;
• I’m not very good at this sort of thing myself so I probably couldn’t do much of a better job of it;

Nice collection of caveats.

Ditto. 

[MikeMcE]

Thanks Rat, I will try to make her rising out of the dock and she is a bit too tidy!

 

Big Thanks GaryP. this is exactly what I needed!  The transparency was a guess, I'm not a zombie expert.  The shadows and coloration have always been my biggest struggle, thats also the girls lighting not coming from where it should.  The little guys were found in grey, I couldn't quite get a color to blend better,  Yes the little guys are copies, some sizing and rotation applied, but I see the similarity. They were to look transparent as if materializing from their world.

 

The Red circle is supposed to represent another place and give the deep red coloration  Guess that didn't work out well as done. As stated, not my comfort zone, but great practice for future edits. The three cows were added to see if anyone saw them....just a twist!

 

I'm going to revisit and play more  in the future.

 

 

[Affinity Rat]

While Garry P agree on several points I have a different opinion with regard to the men.

I think the men in background are fine in greyscale, as they needn't distract the view from primary subject and grey scale adds to the dingy atmosphere.

The blood moon fine too, although the clouds or fog in front of the moon should darken but not obscure the moon. In fact the moon is only red where covered by cloud, where there is no cloud there is no red moon, but again my eyes not good. The pier is red under the moon.

I think usually when thick clouds obscure the moon they block all light except around the edges where there is a glow. Thin clouds allow light thru but still a glow around the edge.

After looking again I see that the men are arising from a pier, hence why they are in a line. So didnt notice the pier…my eyes arent good, nor did I see the cows over the moon. Turned up my display and now can see the cows over the moon.

Just my thots, but its art, technically you have the ability.

Will be interesting to see an evolution of concept.

 

[MikeMcE]

Well I asked for it, and thank you I can see it a bit better now. Upon my revisit, I had a few errors of mine that were hidden, but bothered  me. So  I went thru and did things differently. The Men got recolored a bit darker and a bit more blood. The Dress needed a bit of grunge brushing, big difference. I added a gradient under the moon to cut the lower parts under the dock. I was going to cut the cows, but left them in  for my amusement, although I have them turned off here as the moon has risen

 

[Affinity Rat]

I should have asked you first, prior to modifying your work, I hope you dont mind I will not publish and will delete from my device.

Anyway I had the idea to use the lighting filter in Photo to make the zombie appear to be lit with a flashlight and she was reaching out to get you. To me all around her is dim but she is brightly lit, why?, how? The flaslight effect answers those questions.

 

[MikeMcE]

No problems, If I thought it so good, a watermark would be on it. You've hit my largest issue, where is the light source? My thinking was she was emerging from the night and the water below and is crawling towards the light.  Feel free to try a flashlight or spotlight, I'm not sure where to without moving her back, which disrupts the men.....

[Affinity Rat]

This is a fun image to play with, I’m experimenting with light from lower left, but must equilibrate the bright shoulder first, and cast shadow to the right, while maintaining the the men in dim background. Dont know if I have enough expertise to do it but fun to try.