Photoshop Cage Match – April 2009

Although I use Photoshop on a regular basis, I don’t often have the chance to do whatever I want, showing off my skills. Fortunately, iStockPhoto hosts Photoshop “Cage Matches” where you battle another Photoshop veteran, using their previous design as the starting point for your own. Extra points are awarded for interesting transitions, and reusing elements from the previous round in new ways. There is a time limit of 36 hours between rounds.

Here was my entry from the third round, which uses over 50 layers and the same face and hand position from a photo in the second round. I ’shopped in a picture of a monk, three space photos, and created the lightsaber from scratch. The temple arches are from an old woodcut illustration, with added texture:

My opponent kept the arches and added a torrent of fire, plus a character jumping out of the building. Too cool him down, I plunged him into the sea in the fourth round. To add a sense of depth, I used several sea life photos at various sizes and blurred things accordingly, for the illusion of depth of field. Variations in lighting and saturation add to the effect.

Opponent replied by putting a portion of my design in an aquarium, in a museum scene. For my fifth and final round, I chose a more specific theme around feminism. Lincoln would get the head of a woman from the fourth round. To ensure the concept was not lost on anyone, I added some classic feminist posters and distressed them slightly to fit in with the scene. The added engraving is translated “where no man has gone before”.

Still awaiting my opponent’s reply and judging, but I enjoyed putting my Photoshop skills to the test.