"Self Portrait" Project

Zoey Tiefenthaler

Photoshop, 2020

In this portrait project, I wanted to accomplish two key things. First, I wanted to create something that represents me in some way, shape, and/or form. Secondly, I wanted to be able to edit and change a photo of myself that still somewhat correlates with the original image, but with enough touch-ups and edits that the overall image would differentiate from the original image in terms of its appearance.

The brainstorming process of this piece started with me having to browse through images of myself to find one suitable enough for my project. I had gone through multiple versions of this project, and I eventually ended up scrapping my “final” version and replaced the image with another one. This image that you see was the one that replaced the previous version, and it ended up turning out better than the original. When it came to the process of editing the photo, I decided to follow a tutorial on YouTube that showed how you could edit a photo of yourself to make it look like a realistic portrait. This video involved me having to create multiple layers, editing specific layers to create a sort of grainy texture on the photo, and using a lot of the Smudge Tool in order to create the portrait-like look.

There are many things that I particularly enjoy about this photo, most of it being the complexion on the skin and how the Smudge Tool created a smooth effect. In the end, I ended up using the Brush Tool with the “Color Burn” effect to add some more contrast to the image and make the hair look warm-looking. There are parts of the hair that I don’t think look as good, and the eyebrows turned out to look not the best and flat compared to the rest of the image. If I were to start this over, I feel like I could’ve added more little touches to the image to make it better than last time (i.e. adding more layers, using more of the Smudge Tool to blend the image together).