Use a portrait image you have researched or an image of yourself taken with the digital camera.

Set up your project by creating a new file, 10.5 x 8.5, RGB and resolution 150, transparent contents.
Use the guides to divide the page into thirds vertically (3.5" x 3) and in half horizontally, (4.25) so you have six equal spaces to work with.
Open your portrait image and drag it into your new file, resize it and duplicate it six times and fit it into each space you have created.
Use the techniques below as a starting point to change each of the six images in the work.
Save your work.
Print with permission.

READ THROUGH THE TECHNIQUE BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND THE PROCESS.
IT IS RECOMMENDED THAT YOU WORK ON ONE TECHNIQUE PER DAY. Push the limits of your understanding of Photoshop.

Use these simple techniques to enhance your portrait/ self portrait. Try some of these techniques in a separate file and then use any combination of techniques in your final work.

Creative Portrait Using a Color Drawing


Read through the process BEFORE you begin to gain an understanding of the process.

This is probably the simplest technique and would be a good way to begin.
1. Open your portrait and change the layer to greyscale. (Image/adjust/desaturate)

2.make a new layer and , using a variety of brushes, create a colorful, abstract work. Make a colored layer under the portrait layer. You may decide to make a number of different layers filled with different colors and later trun them on and off. You will see your final image change drastically with each new color.
3. Add a layer mask to the Face layer by clicking on the Add layer mask icon at the bottom of the Layers palette. Paint with black using the Hard Round 19 pixel brush to mask out the background of the image.
4. Set the Blending mode for the Face layer to Hard Light. The Hard Light blending mode darkens the layers underneath with values over 50% and lightens with values under 50%, giving the face a transparent look while keeping a fair amount of detail visible.
5. Duplicate the Face layer (Command-J [Control-J]), and set the new layer's Blending mode to Soft Light. Soft Light acts like a burn-and-dodge layer, with the lighter areas dodged and the darker areas burned. By combining the two blending modes, we can see the midtones that Hard Light misses and achieve the solid blacks and whites that a Soft Light layer can't produce.
Change the Blend mode of the abstract color layer. Experiment with a variety of blend modes. You may also choose to apply a mask to this layer as well and paint out some of the painting to reveal the images underneath. You can continue working on the layer masks to open up parts of the face. Remember, using black on the mask erases and using white makes the layer come back into view.
You may crop the image to make an interesting composition.

Gritty Image This technique is a bit more complicated, but do not let it scare you! You will be using LEVELS!

1. Open your image. use the eyedropper to grab a color from the image. Save this color to your swatches palette.
2.Duplicate the layer.
3. Press ctrl L to open the levels dialog box. Play with the sliders to make the details of the image less strong.
4. Open the Channels Palette. Select the blue channel. This is the channel which usually has the most contrast in an image. Duplicate the blue channel. Choose Levels again and darken the image.
5. Go to filter / noise / add noise. The value should be around 10 to 12.
6. Select the RGB channel.
7. Choose Image / apply image.
8. In the dialog box Change the "channel " to "blue copy" and we will experiment with the blend mode and the opacity to create interesting effects.
9. Add a new layer on top of the layers palette. Fill it with the original color you chose from the image. Play with the opacity and blend mode.

This is a great beginning to changing the look of an image. Use this technique in addition to other methods to create your image. This technique uses blending modes and highlights and values to create your image.
1. Open the image you wish you use.
2. Make a duplicate layer.
3. Select the duplicate layer and then press Ctrl/ alt/ shift/ tilde ,
the tilde is under the escape key at the top of the keyboard. This will make a selection of the highlights in your image.
However, we will now right click and choose "feather", set the value to 2 to soften the selection.
With the selection still active, go to Select / inverse. Now click ctrl J.
This will take the dark areas of the work and put them on a new layer.
4. Make a new layer below the new layer and fill it with white.
Experiment with blending modes here also try the following:
a. duplicate the new layer and play with the blend modes on the copied layer.
b. duplicate the layer and separate the figure from the background and experiment with the figure or the background.

Use the following technique to create an illustrative effect in Photoshop. You will break down your image into sections and fill each with solid colors.

1. Open your image.
2. Make a copy of the layer and turn off the original layer.
3. Go to Image/ Adjust/ Posterize
Here you will make a decision about how many colors you would like left in your work. Type in different values in the box and see the effect on your image. When you are satisfied, click ok.
4.use the magic wand tool and click into an area of the work, go to ctrl J to make the selection on a new layer. Fill the selection with a color.
5. Select the posterized layer. Choose another area of color with the magic wand tool. Ctrl J to make the selection on a new layer. Fill it with another color.
6. Continue this process until you have selected all the areas of the work.
7. You may want to use the stroke on some or all of the new selections to get a stained glass effect.
8. Now you may enhance your work with any effects and techniques you have learned.


Use the stained glass techniques that you learned in the previous project to enhance and change your portrait. Go to the stained glass section to review the technique.

Use the Cubist Technique
The cubist technique came from a project which we did years ago in Photoshop. The technique will break up the surface of the image into cubist style components. follow the Instructions below.
1. Open the image you wish to use. Duplicate the layer. Check the size of the image, do not go smaller than 5x7 inches.
2. Use the polygon lasso. Target the new duplicated layer. Make a small geometric shape which cuts through the image. Be sure to complete the selection, go to ctrl J to make a new layer of the selection.
3. Change the selection by using any of the image / adjust commands or the filters or lighting effects from the menu. DO NOT OBLITERATE THE IMAGE! YOU JUST WANT TO CHANGE IT SLIGHTLY. DO NOT MOVE THE SELECTION.
You may also want to add a small stroke to the selection.
4. Target the duplicated layer and take another section with the polygon lasso. Ctrl J to put on another layer. Repeat step three.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 to complete the effect.
6. Experiment with all you have learned in Photoshop.