One of my favorite things about Photoshop is that it allows me to take an ordinary studio portrait and turn it into something that looks like it belongs in a storybook for children.  My model, Miriam the Singing Mirmaid, and I had the idea to make her into a happy caricature of her normal self- something you might imagine in a book or cartoon series. 

For this image, I didn't rely on AI or one-click effects. Every change was made by hand using Photoshop's built-in tools. My goal wasn't just to create a fantasy-inspired portrait—it was to have complete control over every detail while keeping the final image believable. AI would have been faster, yes, but this method gives me total control of every detail from start to finish and proves that you don't actually need to rely on artificial intelligence to create what you envision.

As you can see, I've shared the original portrait followed by the finished artwork. Here's a look at some of the techniques I used to bring this portrait to life.

Making the Features More Stylized

The first thing I wanted was a softer, more whimsical look. Instead of using Liquify on the entire face, I selected only the features I wanted to change.

I copied the eyes and portions of the hair onto their own layers, used Free Transform to make them slightly larger, and blended everything back together using layer masks.

Working this way helps prevent the rest of the portrait from stretching or becoming distorted. It's also a useful technique if you simply want to add a little more volume to hair or make the eyes appear slightly larger in a traditional portrait.

Keeping the Skin Looking Natural

When you enlarge facial features, the skin texture stretches right along with them. If you leave it that way, those areas can start to look soft or blurry.

To fix that, I used Frequency Separation. If you're new to Photoshop, think of it as separating the color from the texture. That allows you to smooth uneven tones without removing pores, freckles, or other natural skin details.

It can sound intimidating at first, but once you understand how it works, it's a technique you'll find yourself using often.

Creating the Water Effect

The water wasn't created with a stock overlay.

Instead, I built a displacement map, which tells Photoshop how to bend and shift pixels. That's what creates the realistic ripples where the water meets the subject.

Displacement maps aren't just for water. They can also help wrap text onto clothing, make graphics conform to textured surfaces, or blend composite elements more naturally into an image.

Adding Depth

One challenge with composites is making sure they don't look flat.

After creating the water effect, I added a simple Levels adjustment layer to darken portions of the water around the edges. That small adjustment created more depth and helped separate the water from the background.

Sometimes the smallest edits have the biggest impact.

Finishing with Light

The final step was refining the lighting.

Instead of increasing the contrast across the entire image, I painted highlights and shadows on separate layers using the Soft Light blend mode. This gave me much more control over where I wanted the viewer's eye to go and helped tie all of the edits together.

It's a simple technique that I use on many of my fine art portraits because it's completely non-destructive and easy to adjust later.

Final Thoughts

When you compare the before and after images, you'll notice that no single edit transformed the portrait. The finished piece is the result of layering several simple Photoshop techniques together.

That's one of the biggest lessons Photoshop has taught me over the years. Great edits rarely come from one magical tool. They're built one thoughtful decision at a time.

Whether you're creating fantasy portraits, composites, or simply refining everyday images, learning tools like Free Transform, Frequency Separation, displacement maps, layer masks, and adjustment layers will give you far more creative control than relying on filters or one-click effects.

What Photoshop technique has made the biggest difference in your own editing? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.