- Project 1: A Younger You in Minutes
- Project 2: Fast Forward
- Project 3: Who's the Tallest of Them All?
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Project 2: Fast Forward
While some of us may want to look younger, others want to look older... old enough to drink, perhaps, or old enough to take advantage of the senior discount at the movies. The man in Figure 3.9 appears to be in his thirties. We can get him a lot closer to Social Security and Medicare overnight.
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Figure
3.9 Thirty-something. (Photo courtesy of RubberBall.com.)
Let's dull that brilliant smile a bit. Choose the Burn tool, which shares space with Dodge and Sponge. (Yes, they have a rock band called The Toners.) It is a darkener, just what we need here. Use a tooth-size brush with the default Range (Midtones) and Exposure (50%). Paint across the teeth until they are about as dark as shown in Figure 3.10.
Switch to the Dodge tool to give him some gray hairs. We used the Dodge tool to lighten the teeth in the previous project, remember? Paint over the eyebrows and moustache. This time start with the Midtones Range option then switch to Highlights for some additional silvery strokes. You may need to use the Sponge tool to desaturate (remove excess color). Figure 3.11 shows the salt-and-pepper look.
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Figure
3.10 Tall, dark, and dingy.
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Figure
3.11 Silver threads among the black.
TIP
The mustache and eyebrow on the shadow side are too dark to respond to the Dodge tool as desired. I used the Clone Stamp tool, which enables you to paint pixels from one part of the image to another. Hold down your Option/Alt key and click to establish the source pixels, in this case the mustache and eyebrow on the lighter side of his face. See Chapter two for more cloning tips.
When I applied similar Dodge strokes to the hair on his head the effect didn't look like graying strands. The image shows his hair just looks more shiny and curly. We'll have to try something else: a receding hairline!
Shiny & Curly. Larry & Moe.
The Backup Plan
Before we attempt anything drastic, we'll need a safety net.
Make a new layer that is exactly the same as the image, by dragging the background to the New Layer icon in the Layers palette, as shown in Figure 3.12.
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Figure
3.12 Safety features.
TIP
Now we can do all the damage we want to on the background copy. If we want to recover any areas from the original, we can simply use the standard Eraser to reveal the pristine version underneath. It will also be handy to toggle the visibility of the Copy layer on and off to have a quick look at the before-and-after version.
NOTE
Photoshop CS users won't need that safety layer. You have the History Brush, which can paint back to any previous state you designate. Now aren't you glad you paid full price and got all the bells and whistles?
Hair Today...
Ready to lose some hair? There are at least two ways to do it, not counting having kids.
Select the forehead and hairline with the Lasso tool, as shown in Figure 3.13. Use Free Transform (Command/Ctrl+T) to pull the top of the bounding box up. If you need to reposition one of the lower corners of the bounding box use the Command/Ctrl key as you pull a corner handle. Figure 3.14 shows the new position of the hairline.
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Figure
3.13 Prepare for a forehead-raising.
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Figure
3.14 Smooth move.
Here's another way to make hair recede. Use the Clone Stamp tool to paint more skin above the hairline. First, establish the source pixels by clicking on the forehead with your Option/Alt key down. Release the modifier key and start painting where you want the new (higher) hairline. Be sure the Aligned option is checked. The challenge is to avoid obvious streaks and repeats, as in this image.
The Klingon look.
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TIP
If you prefer to work without those pesky marching ants in the way, Command/Ctrl+H will toggle off their visibility. That "H" stands for "hide."
Exaggerate the Imperfections
Put some puffiness under the eyes by using the Dodge and Burn tools in tandem; Dodge to make highlights and Burn to create shadows. Let any existing creases guide you. You'll just exaggerate them.
Use the Lasso tool to make a selection for the bottom edge of the eye bags we'll create, as in the left portion of Figure 3.15. The upper edge of the selection won't matter. Feather the selection by a pixel or two for a subtler effect.
Choose the Burn tool. Reduce Exposure to about 30% and resize the brush as needed. Paint a shadow along the lower edge of the selection.
Switch to the Dodge tool and return to the default Range (Midtones). Paint a highlight above the shadow. For a subtle blending of skin tones, deselect and use the Blur tool.
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Figure
3.15 Carry that bag for you, sir?
Would You Like Some Brow with that Furrow?
Paint some creases in the forehead with very small Dodge and Burn brushes at low opacity.
Choose either Dodge or Burn and the Soft Round 5 pixel brush from the Default brush presets menu, or use the bracket keys to get the size you want. Stick with the Midtones Range, but vary Exposure as needed.
Paint over any existing creases to emphasize them, then add a few new ones. Observe the direction of the light source, so that your highlights and shadows maintain a visual logic as you work. Irregular lines will be more convincing than smooth ones.
That firm jawline will slacken with age. Choose the Clone Stamp tool again. Option/Alt click to establish some chin stubble for your source. Turn the Aligned option off and paint over the hard edge of his chin. Notice the crosshairs moving as you work, showing exactly where the pixels are coming from. Change opacity and source as needed to get the results shown in Figure 3.17.
See Figure 3.16 for the effect of this technique on a completely different face.
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Figure
3.16 Crease increase
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Figure
3.17 Older. But wiser?
Ears get bigger as we age, so I enlarged them using the same select and transform method used for the receding hairline.