NAPP published a procedure to give someone a look similar to the Avatar posters, which I thought would be fun to try. I went looking for a reasonable photo of myself to play with. Most of those Lynne took have me wearing glasses, which just doesn’t work, and I didn’t want to spend the time removing them in Photoshop. But I found this one, and its resolution was good enough for playing.
I went to work and followed the procedure from NAPP’s Down & Dirty Tricks. It’s pretty straightforward, and worked pretty well. I wish I had smoothed my wrinkles a bit first, and I didn’t bother boosting the lips which, in this photo, are pretty much obscured by the beard. Did any of the Na’vi have a beard? I don’t recall seeing any. The tip leaves you to fend for yourself for the final added text, but no issues there.
Today, I was watching one of Matt Kloskowski’s Lightroom Killer Tips. Matt has been exploring many ways to use the Adjustment Brush in Lightroom. With this little blue-guy business still fresh in my head, I began wondering if I couldn’t do nearly the same thing using just Lightroom. The answer is, yes! In fact, it was not very difficult – in some ways easier than in Photoshop.
I still would have needed Photoshop to add the glowing dots and the text, but all-in-all, I like it. Remembering the wrinkles, I toned them down a bit using clarity, and ended up with a blue I prefer over the original. Someday, perhaps I’ll add those final touches. Or not. It was just fun to do.
