Ryan Brady

The inspiration for my work on this photo was (of course) the beautiful shot Sebastian Unrau captured of his model. Check out some of his work over at Unsplash. Right away, there was something about her eyes that really caught me. I wanted to give them a vibrant color and make this a cinematic/epic profile. The original seemed to also have a softness and innocence that I wanted to rework, in order to create more of a character.

The first problem was, I needed to find the right color for the eyes. Sure, I could do any number of edits (painting in colors that might work etc.) but I wanted something a bit different and just couldn't seem to get it right. 

So, I spent some time sifting through Unsplash for color inspiration. Finally, I stumbled upon the work of Aaron Burden. His "Gulf Breeze" (below) seemed to have just the shade I was looking for. After masking in this beautiful blue/green into her eyes, I painted in layers of texture, adjusted exposure, and created a bit of grit to the profile. At this point, the eyes really seemed to start to pop. 

Next step: to create a cinematic setting for the background. I was looking for something that was dark and mysterious but not too distracting. The end result needed to have the focus remain on her eyes/face. I found the perfect setting with a shot by Stefan Ringler. This image had the tone and color I was looking for, and I loved how the top of the photo faded into the stars. 

The final masking into the background was a bit difficult because of the color blending with the head covering. It took many tweaks of different shades to finally get to a point where I felt there was a warmth that matched the setting. Though I ended this edit with several versions, the one I liked most seemed to have more contrast and grit throughout. Ultimately, the eyes are what led me to title this work "Secrets". 

https://www.ryan-brady.com/ryandbrady/2017/4/8/secrets