vintage me

[jenthompson]

I had a bit of spare time while E was napping yeterday, so I tried doing a faux-CDV/cabinet card self-portrait from the pic in my current icon. I wasn't happy with it at first, but it's not annoying me as much today.

Comments

[padawansguide.livejournal.com]

Actually, that's really cool!

[koshka-the-cat.livejournal.com]

It looks great!

[msmcknittington.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's so cool! We have lots of old photos of my family starting in the 1890s, when they came to the US, done in that style. It looks very much like them.

[baronessv.livejournal.com]

I love it. Did you use anything as a "blank"?

[jenthompson.livejournal.com]

Yes, I always start with a scan of a real photo and then erase the old portrait and add my own.

[schip2mylou.livejournal.com]

I like it a lot! Very successful!

[amber-laine.livejournal.com]

Jen, what technique did you use? It looks great; I'd love to try it.

[jenthompson.livejournal.com]

I started with a scan of an old photo and erased the original picture (using photoshop, natch). Then I removed the background on my picture, did the vignette thing, desaturated it, tweaked the levels, added a slightly darker halo for the background around the face, added a grain filter (I need to work on this step more - I'm not thrilled with the results), and then set the layer style to "multiply" and reduced the opacity. Oh yeah, and I used a grunge brush on the eraser to add a bit of dust and speckles. That's the other step I need to refine. I'll probably have to make my own "dust and scratches" brush to get the effect I'm really looking for. The real secret though it the multiply thing. It makes the portrait layer seem like it is part of the paper instead of just sitting on top of it. I've also used "darken" or "lighten" and some of the others depending on the effect I'm trying to get.

[amber-laine.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks. That's more or less what I thought, but I enjoy hearing how other people work their photoshop magic :)

[cathyr19355.livejournal.com]

I think it looks *very* convincing--if you printed it on the right kind of cardboard you could fool a lot of people into believing it was a genuine 19th century CDV.

[dame-eleanor.livejournal.com]

Beautifully done! You always seem to grasp the exact look of a period. It's a remarkable skill.

[mlsdesigns.livejournal.com]

That's very cool!

[deloriage.livejournal.com]

I think that's absolutely beautiful...!

[merastra.livejournal.com]

Cool. :-) That should be your icon. :-)

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

That's awesome! I love how real it looks. :) Oh, and second the idea about it being your icon.

[christylee.livejournal.com]

That looks awesome! as always!

[colleency.livejournal.com]

That is really great! I was just thinking on Saturday of trying to get my husband to make one of these for me.

[chloeandrudy.livejournal.com]

That's beautiful! I'd be very proud of it.

[darthcynthia.livejournal.com]

It's wonderful!!!

[twe.livejournal.com]

Oh, very nice!

[pemberleyserena.livejournal.com]

I love it! Really quite inspiring!

[zachkessin.livejournal.com]

Everytime I see one of your vintage creations I keep thinking I would so love to photograph you in it with an old camera and classic B&W Film. THink a 1950's dress with a 1950's Rolleiflex (or a 4x5) and Ilford HP5+ film. Would be very cool.

Distance would be a problem though.