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Description
I accidentaled this one. I was trying to go for completely submerged, but it looked more like she was
partly out of the water (Something I hadn't tried before because I wasn't sure how to go about it...)
But as I was working on it and it started looking like she was half out of water, I was like, "Well, I
am rollin' with it!" So yeah, techniques I hadn't used before came into play. I kinda like how it
turned out, it's kind pretty.

_____________
P R O C E S S
_____________
Some people have asked me how photo manipulation is done, and I also wanted to bring to light
that the process of manipulation is about the same amount of work that digital painting is.
If I can fool someone into thinking my digital work is traditional, or a few pictures put together
is one, then I have done my job, yes? So I thought it would be neat to share the process
and perhaps it would help shed some light for those who wonder, or those who have misconceptions.

I spent a few hours touching up the skin of the model, got rid of blemishes, played with the skin
tones, enhanced some highlights, and shadows, and pretty much smudged over all of her skin to give
it that porceline texture... I added some color to her lips and cheeks, but only subtly.
I transfered her to the base BG, then used the erasure to get rid of the backdrop in the layer
she was in... Once I had her placed where I wanted, I used the clone brush to bring down some skin
because the photo was cut off above her belly button. Next, I pasted the top part of the fin and
merged, then repeated the process with the clone brush to bring the scales up onto her torso.
I know she doesn't have a belly button, but I am rolling with it because she's a mermaid, and who
knows if they have belly buttons or not? Once I was satisfied with the scales, I pasted the koi
fish on and fiddled with the angle and placement of that, erased around it and part of it to make
it blend, then recolored it to match the rest of the tail. Once I was satisfied with the tail, I
pasted over the waves and screened it over, erased the part that was over the top half of the model, and merged.
I then did her hair, which is painted from the roots to the "extensions" I put in. I wanted to give it a
tangled look, wet hair looks matted, as does windblown/breaze blown hair. The extensions were put
in via brush shape, and on another layer so I could blend the thick end in with the existing strands,
and I used the smudge tool to further blend. This is when I noticed that she looked more like she
was only half submerged, and I saw also that if I was to roll with it, I would need to fix the parts
that were still slightly covered with the wave texture. I minimized the picture, went back to the retouched
model, copied, and pasted right over the picture, then erased everywhere but the parts that needed fixing.
Phew, ok, still not done... I merged everything, and created a new layer again, this time for the swirl
around her... The swirl needed to be skewed and such to get the correct perspective to the surface of
the water, so I did that, then screened, and then erased part of it to look like it was going around her
instead of just placed on top... On to the small stuff, the bird was a png file and I simply resized and
pasted it, then moved it to her hands. All I really had to do was erase part of it so it looked like
it was cupped in her hands... Then I decided for the pointy ears, which is simply just a use of the
smudge tool again. Once that whole process was done, I did any final touch ups, sharpened parts of her
face, parts of the bird, some of her hair, etc... Anything out of the water was sharpened where it
needed to be, anything in the water was left alone because water warps perspective a bit... And I
added some sparkle to her skin and some gills to her neck...

*Deep breath* If you read all that, kudos. It's longwinded, I know... But it is also a lot of work!
I didn't give you every little detail because it would make the above passage about three times
as long lol

Tools Used:
Smudge
Soften
Sharpen
Change to Target
Airbrush
Clone
Warp
Erasure

Adjustments:
Brightness/Contrast
Clarify
Color Correction
Edge Preserving Smooth

_______
T I P S
_______

If you read all of that and are interested in getting into manipulation, here are a few tips...

1) Always be kind to your model, smooth away blemishes (Pimples, moles, etc), correct any color
flaws, and give a general touch up. Most stock photos are in raw form; the photographers spend
their time and money for you to have the resources, you should do the resources justice. Add to
that, always credit and thank your stockers, they are people too!

2) Tutorials are awesome, but use them more as a reference for technique than following them
to the end. You have your own style and should think outside of the box because you want your
work to be your work, and not a copy of someone else's, yes?

3) Experiment. Nuff said.

Please do leave a comment as to what you think, constructive criticism is always welcome and helpful.

_____________
C R E D I T S
_____________

Model: ---> [link]
Tail pt 1 (top): ---> [link]
Tail pt 2 (fin): ---> [link]
Base BG: ---> [link]
Swirl: ---> [link]
Hair Extensions: ---> [link]
Bird: ---> [link]
BG 2 (the under water stuff): ---> [link]
BG 3 (The waves): ---> [link]

Description
I accidentaled this one. I was trying to go for completely submerged, but it looked more like she was
partly out of the water (Something I hadn't tried before because I wasn't sure how to go about it...)
But as I was working on it and it started looking like she was half out of water, I was like, "Well, I
am rollin' with it!" So yeah, techniques I hadn't used before came into play. I kinda like how it
turned out, it's kind pretty.

_____________
P R O C E S S
_____________
Some people have asked me how photo manipulation is done, and I also wanted to bring to light
that the process of manipulation is about the same amount of work that digital painting is.
If I can fool someone into thinking my digital work is traditional, or a few pictures put together
is one, then I have done my job, yes? So I thought it would be neat to share the process
and perhaps it would help shed some light for those who wonder, or those who have misconceptions.

I spent a few hours touching up the skin of the model, got rid of blemishes, played with the skin
tones, enhanced some highlights, and shadows, and pretty much smudged over all of her skin to give
it that porceline texture... I added some color to her lips and cheeks, but only subtly.
I transfered her to the base BG, then used the erasure to get rid of the backdrop in the layer
she was in... Once I had her placed where I wanted, I used the clone brush to bring down some skin
because the photo was cut off above her belly button. Next, I pasted the top part of the fin and
merged, then repeated the process with the clone brush to bring the scales up onto her torso.
I know she doesn't have a belly button, but I am rolling with it because she's a mermaid, and who
knows if they have belly buttons or not? Once I was satisfied with the scales, I pasted the koi
fish on and fiddled with the angle and placement of that, erased around it and part of it to make
it blend, then recolored it to match the rest of the tail. Once I was satisfied with the tail, I
pasted over the waves and screened it over, erased the part that was over the top half of the model, and merged.
I then did her hair, which is painted from the roots to the "extensions" I put in. I wanted to give it a
tangled look, wet hair looks matted, as does windblown/breaze blown hair. The extensions were put
in via brush shape, and on another layer so I could blend the thick end in with the existing strands,
and I used the smudge tool to further blend. This is when I noticed that she looked more like she
was only half submerged, and I saw also that if I was to roll with it, I would need to fix the parts
that were still slightly covered with the wave texture. I minimized the picture, went back to the retouched
model, copied, and pasted right over the picture, then erased everywhere but the parts that needed fixing.
Phew, ok, still not done... I merged everything, and created a new layer again, this time for the swirl
around her... The swirl needed to be skewed and such to get the correct perspective to the surface of
the water, so I did that, then screened, and then erased part of it to look like it was going around her
instead of just placed on top... On to the small stuff, the bird was a png file and I simply resized and
pasted it, then moved it to her hands. All I really had to do was erase part of it so it looked like
it was cupped in her hands... Then I decided for the pointy ears, which is simply just a use of the
smudge tool again. Once that whole process was done, I did any final touch ups, sharpened parts of her
face, parts of the bird, some of her hair, etc... Anything out of the water was sharpened where it
needed to be, anything in the water was left alone because water warps perspective a bit... And I
added some sparkle to her skin and some gills to her neck...

*Deep breath* If you read all that, kudos. It's longwinded, I know... But it is also a lot of work!
I didn't give you every little detail because it would make the above passage about three times
as long lol

Tools Used:
Smudge
Soften
Sharpen
Change to Target
Airbrush
Clone
Warp
Erasure

Adjustments:
Brightness/Contrast
Clarify
Color Correction
Edge Preserving Smooth

_______
T I P S
_______

If you read all of that and are interested in getting into manipulation, here are a few tips...

1) Always be kind to your model, smooth away blemishes (Pimples, moles, etc), correct any color
flaws, and give a general touch up. Most stock photos are in raw form; the photographers spend
their time and money for you to have the resources, you should do the resources justice. Add to
that, always credit and thank your stockers, they are people too!

2) Tutorials are awesome, but use them more as a reference for technique than following them
to the end. You have your own style and should think outside of the box because you want your
work to be your work, and not a copy of someone else's, yes?

3) Experiment. Nuff said.

Please do leave a comment as to what you think, constructive criticism is always welcome and helpful.

_____________
C R E D I T S
_____________

Model: ---> [link]
Tail pt 1 (top): ---> [link]
Tail pt 2 (fin): ---> [link]
Base BG: ---> [link]
Swirl: ---> [link]
Hair Extensions: ---> [link]
Bird: ---> [link]
BG 2 (the under water stuff): ---> [link]
BG 3 (The waves): ---> [link]