Holly Rose Stones explores the therapeutic side of portrait art with Adobe Photoshop

Source: Holly Rose Stones.

Holly Rose Stones might classify herself as a photographer, but her art defies categorization. Through her whimsical imagery, set designs and meticulous approach to editing, Stones creates self-portraits that explore what it means to be human in an increasingly confusing world.

Take “ The Color Project”, a series of digital images in which Stones turns her dreams and insecurities into bold monochromatic portraits for the world to see. Each piece in “The Color Project” explores themes around Stones’ mental health, her personal life, and her connection with nature, challenging her audience to reflect on how they view themselves and the female form.

Whether working on personal projects, wedding photography or projects with commercial clients such as Columbia Sportswear and Skittles candy, Stones’ attention to detail is second to none. She is a true craftsperson, building her own props and setting up her shoots with painstaking precision before even picking up her camera. Once a shoot is complete, she transfers her raw photo files to Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom for coloring and editing, leaning heavily on the application’s generative AI capabilities, powered by Adobe Firefly, to bring her fully formed visions to life.

Finding space to create

Stones initially set out to become a painter, but even in her early days experimenting with acrylics she leaned on photography as a source of inspiration. Before putting brush to canvas, Stones would take photos of her subjects and manipulate them in Photoshop, using these edited scenes as the basis for her creations.

Within a few years, Stones had left painting behind and embraced photography as her true calling. She went on to study photographic arts at the University of Westminster in London to hone her craft. “I appreciated painting as an artform, but I fell in love with photography because it allowed me to bring my visions to life faster,” says Stones. “Most importantly, I finally began creating pieces that reflected what I saw in my mind.”

Though Stones blossomed in London’s vibrant art scene, her career took off when she moved back to her native Yorkshire during the COVID-19 pandemic and set up her own photography studio. Suddenly, she had the space, time, and creative freedom to take on more ambitious work, like “The Color Project”.

The inspiration for “The Color Project” came to Stones during a visualization exercise while on a yoga retreat with friends. During one of their sessions, her group was asked to close their eyes, picture an entire room changing to a single color and observe all the elements in that room as they slowly transformed to the same color. Ten minutes later, Stones’ concept for “The Green Room” was born and, once back in Yorkshire, she began turning her idea into a fully-fledged art project.

“Creating The Green Room lit a spark in me, and I realized I had more to say. From there, I went on to create The Yellow Room, Pink Room, Blue Room, and Orange Room, each of which tells a different story about a different point in my life,” says Stones. “Next up in 2025 is The Red Room, which I can’t wait to put into the world.”

Enhancing colors and amplifying moods with Adobe Firefly

Stones uses Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to create every image in her repertoire. Photoshop allows her to expand frames, balance colors and fine-tune every detail of her images to make them as impactful as possible. For “The Color Project”, where each room represents a different chapter in Stones’ life, every enhancement she makes to her images aims to amplify the mood of the piece.

Meanwhile, Stones uses Lightroom for color-grading, experimenting with different gradients and colors to ensure every element that features in her images has a consistent look and feel. She then brings the color-graded images back into Photoshop for further editing. Stones also uses Lightroom for batch editing, which has cut hours from client work like compiling wedding photos.

“I’ve been using Photoshop and Lightroom for years, and I know the solutions inside out, but Adobe keeps finding ways to excite me with new features,” says Stones. “That includes the latest generative AI capabilities in Photoshop, powered by Adobe Firefly, which feature heavily in my editing process.”

Indeed, Stones uses Generative Fill to add elements to her photos that would otherwise be difficult to create herself, like the robin that sits atop her head in her 2024 holiday photos, and the floating scissors that feature in her self-portrait entitled “Heartwork in Progress” which Stones posted earlier this year.

Never stop experimenting

Stones’ relationship with Adobe began in 2020, when she posted an image of herself laying on a bunch of bananas on the @photoshop Instagram page. The post gained serious traction and Adobe reached out to Stones asking her to follow up with another post on how she created the image and host a two-day tutorial for other Photoshop users on Adobe Live.

Soon, Stones was hosting regular livestreams and sessions both online and at flagship events like Adobe MAX. Whether showing off her mastery in colorizing photos or helping fellow photographers perfect their portrait compositions with generative AI, Stones has become a trusted resource and source of inspiration in the Photoshop community.

Reflecting on the progress she has made in her art and career these past few years, Stone has a single piece of advice for other photographers looking to make their own mark on the world. “Never stop experimenting,” she says. “If you keep creating and feeding off the momentum you generate as an artist, you’ll never reach a limit, especially with tools like Photoshop that keep empowering you to try new things.”

Going Bananas with Adobe Photoshop. Source: Holly Rose Stones.

To learn more about Holly Rose Stones, check out her Instagram or visit her YouTube channel for in-depth tutorials on her creative process.

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