Amorsoloesque: A Tutorial

A lot of people have been asking how I do my Amorsoloesque editing process and I thought I'd just share it right here. For those who haven't heard about this type of editing, the Amorsoloesque is an editing process inspired by the works of legendary Filipino painter Fernando Amorsolo and popularized by photographer Maricris Fabi Carlos.

Now, I have just been recently introduced to this technique by a very talented photographer Sir Rex Tagapulot and I'm still experimenting with the process itself. I haven't been with any workshops conducted by Ms. Carlos but I'm hoping that someday I might be able to join. So with this, let me just put out a disclaimer that my workflow may differ from the actual workflow of how Ms. Carlos process her photos and that I just learned it by eye. Process at your own risk (evil laugh here). Anyway, before I go to the one-two-threes of the technique let me just show you a couple of my work and what the Amorsoloesque technique is all about.

To check out more of my Amorsoloesque set, please go to my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/Girome.Medio.Photography

Without further ado, here's my workflow process on the Amorsoloesque technique:

TOOLS:
Lightroom 4
Photoshop CS6 (older versions will do but make sure there is a plug in for an oil painting filter)

LIGHTROOM PROCESS
1. Open image in Lightroom and perform basic adjustments.
2. Go to Noise Reduction and adjust Luminance to 100. Leave Detail at 50, and Contrast at 0.
3. Right click on photo and and choose Edit in Photoshop CS6

PHOTOSHOP PROCESS
1. Duplicate the background layer by pressing CTRL+J.
2. Go to Filter > Oil Paint and wait for the filter window to show.
3. Adjust settings according to taste. Personally, I just leave the settings at default except for the Shine which I adjust from 0 to 2 depending on my subject. If my photo is a portrait I usually turn down the Shine to 0 to smooth out the skin. If I'm processing landscapes, I usually leave it at default or adjust it higher. Once done, press OK.
4. Now to adjust the shadows and highlights, press CRTL+M to pull out the Curves adjustment window. Personally, I prefer doing a simple S-curve for this but its up to you how you'd like your photo to look like. Once done, press OK.
5. Now, it's time to sharpen your photo. Here's how:

• Unsharp Mask ( Filter - Sharpen -Unsharp Mask...) and enter Amount 18, Radius 40, Threshold 0 - press OK.
• Unsharp Mask ( Filter - Sharpen - Unsharp Mask...) and enter Amount 150, Radius 0.3, Threshold 0 - press OK 
• Edit - Fade Unsharp Mask: Opacity 100% and select Darken in the Mode dropdown list - press OK.
• Unsharp Mask ( Filter - Sharpen - Unsharp Mask...) and enter Amount 150, Radius 0.3, Threshold 0 - press OK [you can simply press CTRL F or Filter - Unsharp Mask (the one on top)] 
• Edit - Fade Unsharp Mask: Opacity 50% and select Lighten in the Mode dropdown list - press OK
• Flatten Image (Layers - Flatten image) by pressing CTRL E.

6. Feel free to mix and match the settings by layering. For example, for a portrait with an interesting background, you can adjust the settings for background to have it gritty with strong brush strokes and have the subjects skin smooth.
7. Finally, don't be afraid to experiment.

So basically that's how it's done. Wasn't so difficult was it? I hope this helps and if you have anymore questions, reactions, or what-nots just leave them on the comments section below and I'd be glad to answer them for you. Happy edits!

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