Porcelain Effect

This effect is interesting for all sorts of subjects, from architecture to portraits. I love the look that it gives to people, and particularly children.

As you work through this tutorial, you’ll be using several important Photoshop techniques and tools:

• Using Adjustment Layers for Tonality and Color
• Using Paintbrushes
• Masking to clear a background
• Using a Merged Visibles CAS-NE layer
• Blurring
• Using Layer Blending Modes
• Stacking Blending Mode layers for an effect
• Softening a border

1. Setting up
   For this effect, quality of your photo is not particularly important. This is a great way to take a snapshot and make it portrait-worthy!
   
   You do want your photo to have good contrast going into this:
   • Open your photo.
   • File > Save as.. Save it in PSD format, in an appropriate location.
   • Make a Levels Adjustment Layer. Adjust your sliders so that you have some good contrast.
   • Retouch out any obvious defects in your actual subject. Ignore anything in the background, because we will take that out in a moment.
     
     For my photo, those décolletage wrinkles are pronounced enough to mess up the image. The rest of it is just me. I’m just going to paint out those wrinkles. I realize that the color is goofy and it doesn’t look real, but that doesn’t matter for this effect.

2. Begin to remove the Background.
   We want a nice soft portrait, with all of the attention to be focused on the subject. Therefore, you need to remove any background, placing the subject against a layer filled with plain white.
   • Create a new layer, fill it with white, and drag it to below the photo layer in the Layers palette.
   • Choose the photo layer and use the Lasso tool to trace roughly around the subject’s outline.
   • Click the Add Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layers palette. This will make most of the background disappear behind the mask. (The image at left shows the Layers palette after the mask has been created.)

This is my image at this point.

3. Paint away the rest of the background.
   This part can be a little tedious, but do it.
   • Click that mask and use a Brush and black or white to paint the background out off of your canvas.
   • White will add it back in, if you take away too much.
   • Use zoom and a very small brush as you get closer to the edge.
   • Once you have the background painted away, make a Merged Visibles layer above the other layers.

4. Get ready to make the blurred layer.

Now we are readying ourselves to make the layer which will eventually impart the soft “magic.” You won’t want to have this pronounced softness on your entire image, though. In particular, you want the main facial features to be left more crisp.

• Duplicate the Merged Visibles layer.
• Label the top one of these “Blurred.”
• Using the Lasso tool, select the eyes, nostrils, lips, or any other image details you want to keep crisp. Holding the Shift key enables you to add to the selection.

5. Make the blurred layer.
   • Ctrl-Shift-I (or Select > Inverse) to invert the selection. Now everything BUT the features is selected.
   • Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. The amount of blur you choose will depend upon the resolution and size of your image. You want the image to be pretty much unrecognizable, except for the features you have selected out. I used 26 for mine.

7. The Magic!
   At this point, the image looks hopelessly bad, but hang on!
   • At the top of the Layers palette, change the Blending Mode for the Blurred layer to Screen.
   • Look for things you want to fix or change.
     
     I think this is fairly good, but I want a bit more detail at the right edge of the face, along the nose, and I am wanting a different shirt altogether. Hmmm.

8. Touch-ups.
   
   • Where you want more detail, make a Layer Mask for the Blurred layer. Then paint black onto the Layer Mask.
   • Further soften your edge with a vignette frame.
     • Make a new layer above your image layer.
     • Make an Elliptical selection with some feather.
     • Click the Add Layer Mask button.
   • I made my shirt less harsh by just adding some strokes with a soft white brush.
   • I made a Hue-Saturation Adjustment Layer and opted for a desaturated look. Blue, green, or sepia are other good choices for this effect.
     

I hope you enjoyed this foray into Photos into Art with my Porcelain Effect. Let me know how you did! Send me your work.