Exhibit six

baby's first tooth: image retouch

Background:

  • This baby was severely effected from eczema from irritants in clothing. While the parents made sure to wash everything they owned with hypoallergenic detergents, of course this cannot keep other loved ones from wanting to snuggle right up. This unfortunately could be distracting in some images - especially in baby's first tooth, lovingly taken by the baby's mother. This retouch was done to provide the family with a portrait of a milestone removed of the blemishes out of their control.

Design:

  • Contrast: All of the colors in the photo are somewhat subtle except for the eyes and the mouth of the baby. This contrast is to pull the viewer in to the photo and notice the purpose. The eyes are also accented to not only give the impact the baby is looking at the viewer, but the baby is looking at the mother whose hand was intentionally kept in the photo.

  • Repetition: Conveniently there was already repetition in the baby's onesie and the baby's eye color. There was also repetition to be pulled upon in the tooth and blanket repetition. This is what led to pulling more white into the eyes and expanding the blanket to allow for a simple repetitive color scheme.

  • Alignment: There are two key alignments in this photo. The baby's eye level is at the "eye level" of the consumer on the page for an appropriate and comfortable viewing experience. However, the center of the photo is the baby's mouth and tooth which is the milestone being featured.

  • Proximity: The proximity decision in this portrait was to rid the original photo of clutter. There is a clear purpose here. Mother and baby sharing a milestone. This is why the blanket was manipulated to be the entire background so the proximity was just between the two humans.

Photoshop and Camera Raw:

  • Neural Filters: Skin Smoothing for initial round of editing for face

  • Spot Healing Brush: for second round of removing redness from face

  • Healing Brush: to remove imperfections from clothing and white fleck on forehead

  • Patch tool and Content Aware Move Tool: to extend blanket to cover seat and toys

  • Gaussian Blur and Elliptical Marquee Tool: for effect in eyes

  • Brightness/Contrast Layer for overall glow effect

  • Layer and paintbrush manipulation for highlight of tooth

Credits:

  • The image was taken by the designer's sister who prefers to not be named to keep the anonymity of her baby

Before Image

After Image