Constructed Face

[Manfred M]

Inspired by Bill (Billtils) work in #6 of Lauretta, I've gone and constructed a full head by duplicating and mirroring half a face.



After cutting her in half, down the centre of her face, duplicating that and mirroring it, I got my base image. I used the Liquify Tool. a fair bit of dodging, burning, healing and cloning to construct this image.

Does it look "weird"? Of course; no one's face is that symmetrical. The hair is a dead give away.


This is the original image:

[Astro]

Hi Manfred, no, it does not look weird to me, which is a little surprising because I've always accepted the proposition that perfect symmetry of look odd. I had never actually 'state's the proposition, particularly because it was suggested that such symmetry would look robot or mannequin-like.

One thought though, having looked at the true portrait, I do wonder if it would be as 'nature's looking if you had used the other side I of her face? (I was looking particularly at her mouth.)

thanks for posting, this one has challenged one of those long held but untested assumptions about things! :-)

[billtils]

Nicely done Manfred, with lots of little touches that reflect the work that you put in to it - the highlight on the lips for example.

Did you try using the liquify tool to skew the topknot (if that's what it's called) in here hair a little? Of course, if the goal was to create something natural-looking while preserving the perfect symmetry, that comment is redundant. That being the case, perhaps you could have cloned in the fixture that gathers her hair in a bunch in the original?

[Manfred M]

Thanks Bill and James - One of the reasons I posted the image in this state was to elicit comments from others to see if I was on the right track and it seems I might want to explore this concept a little more. I have started working on the second half of the face and will post that when it is done. People have an "attractive" and "less attractive" side of the face and most unconsciously understand that. This is the "attractive" side.

One step I took was to make sure the face was not 100% symmetrical by healing out duplicate minor defects so they only appear on one side of the face. Visible moles, reflections, etc. I also made one eye slightly larger to make it look like a "dominant" eye. The figure I've seen is that one eye is visibly larger than the other in about 95% of the population, so that gives the face a more natural look.

I decided to leave the hair almost completely symmetrical to ensure that anyone studying the image would pick up on that.


The second image has not been modified, so the top-knot is skewed because that is the way it looked on her. It's causing me a bit of grief in working the second image.

[Manfred M]

And here is the other side of the face that has been mirrored and retouched.

[Jim A]

Wow, a great challenge and result(s) Manfred! I have to say that the first re-construction looks better to me -- only because that seems to be her 'better side'. My wife says the second re-construction shows her off better.

Now, I must go and find a photo of one of my grand-daughters!!

[billtils]

It's the second one for me Manfred. There is just the faintest suggestion of the mouth being not quite right, but that is offset by the treatment of the hair top-knot. Overall, it looks more natural.