Portrait in Watercolor: Harmony of Blur and Detail

AKVIS Watercolor turns digital photographs into gorgeous aquarelle paintings. But sometimes specific parts of the resulting watercolor painting are not as detailed/washed out as you wish.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to make your subject stand out by mixing a detailed foreground and a blurred background. This method is especially suitable when processing portrait shots that require a fine detailing of facial features.

Watercolor Painting Effect
(open a larger version)

• Step 1. Open the image in AKVIS Watercolor using the button .
  
  Program Window of Watercolor
• Step 2. Use the following photo-to-painting parameters:
  
  Parameters: Set 1

  Run the processing by pressing .

  The facial features look good but the background and hair could be more blurry. This would make the painting more picturesque. Follow the steps to improve the result.

  
  Result 1

  Firstly, save the current result by clicking on .

• Step 3. Open the image you just saved using the button .

  Adjust the effect parameters as follows and run the processing by pressing .

  
  Parameters: Set 2

  This time, the facial features look too blurry but the background and hair are exactly what is needed.

  
  Result 2
• Step 4. Now we need to combine the best parts of both processing results. Use the History Brush tool to restore the facial features.
  
  Combining Processing Results
• Step 5. Save the result.

Watercolor v. 7.1 - Free 10-day Trial