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As a result of exploring FraxHD, I have a collection of beautiful abstract images. It is always a challenge, however, to find a good way to use them in compositing an image. I used this fractal to distort over an interesting face. I made four versions, three of which get further distorted in iColorama's Deforms tool.
I started with this photo from Pixabay, a source of copyright-free images. I like the unusual angle of view, the shallow depth of field, and her natural expression.
In iColorama, I used Adjust/Tonelab preset 4, Style/Coherence and Effect/Blur to prepare the image for the upcoming distort step.
FraxHD is a fun program. The free version is easy to use. You can look at different fractals and "fly" over them to find an interesting pattern, which you can then save and reuse. Here is one that I will use to distort over the woman.
In iColorama, in Effect/Distort, I distorted the FraxHD image over the woman.
I used Tone/Enhance to bring in some flesh tones.
I used Style/High preset 1 and Effect/Light to bring in some highlights.
I used Style/Coherence to smooth the image, which is generally needed after using Effect/Distort.
I used/Effect/Denoise preset 4, which smooths jaggy lines introduced in some of the previous processing steps. Then I used Effect/Raise and Effect/Sharpen preset 7 for definition. This is Version 1.
Now I applied one of the Form/Deforms presets. I tried several Deforms presets and saved the results.
In Effect/Blend, I used a brush mask to bring back some of the previous face.
I used A bit of Style/Tonelab preset 4 and cropped in Form/Crop. This is Version 2.
This was the result of another of the Form/Deforms presets.
In Effect/Blend, I blended in parts of other versions on the right and left.
I lightened the face in Adjust/Levels, with a mask, and I darkened the background in Adjust/Levels and Tone/Duotone using the inverted mask.
In Preset/Border, I used preset 2 to add a bit of vignetting, using a brush mask to protect the eyes and forehead. This is Version 3.
This is the output from another of the Form/Deforms presets.
I blended in parts of other versions on the right and left.
As before, I lightened the face, and darkened the background. This is Version 4.
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