Need help with this white skin effect.

[qubic]

Hello guys! I`m new around here and I apologize that my first post is a "need help" post instead of a "give help" one...hope i`ll do those soon.
I`ve often seen in beauty photography the effect or makeup that makes the skin pure white and some of the photos have also texture in the skin. I tried to whiten the skin using makeup...not professional though. I know that some photographers use special paint which is pretty expensive and pretty hard to apply. I bet most of them do this white skin in Photoshop. Does anyone know how it`s done? Can anyone help me? Thank you!

I`ve also attached some example photos from Vincent Alvarez and from Dirk Lambrechts.

[qubic]

Anybody?...help!

[Sistere]

ROTFL!!!!

(Just the sound of laughing and laughing...then, slowly...the laughter turns to a slight...what is that sound we hear coming from behind the closed wood door? Sobbing? Yes...sobbing! The sound of...pain drenched hysterical sobbing! Now...is that - the sound of someone slamming their forehead, over and over, onto their keyboard? Oh, that horrible dull 'Thack Thack Thack' of sweaty flesh pounding worn plastic. A drop of blood stains the white Logitech logo.

And oh...that insane sobbing laughter!)

Qubic...I started a thread just a few days ago titled: "I Will Bribe You To Show Me How This is Done" with a link to the 'Creamy Vampire' white skin look. I have spent the entire weekend...HOURS and HOURS and HOURS...trying to prefect this look.

We should create a 'Creamy Vampire' support hotline for folks trying to nail this look down. Oh, it's easy to bleach skin...but to do so in a way that looks 'real' and maintains texture...ah, therein lies my challenge.

Good Luck and try not to twitch,
Damien
http://www.digitalsistere.com

[pixelzombie]

have you guys tried google?..i seem to have seen a tutorial for this effect along my travels...

[MatthewMarshall]

ok i see your desprate for an answer. But you basicaly awsered your own questions. Yes it can be done in photoshop and also done in real life. I tried to find some photos i did 10 years ago, that are just like the photos you gave as exaples. When we did the shoot we used a watered down washable latex paint on the skin, (not the way to go they make much better makup now.) The best way to go about this look is spaying the make up on the face with a makup spraybrush. You can rent them, or hire a profesional makeup artist. You can also buy white masgara for the eyelashes too. the photos you gave look like they were done in real life. To look that way. In a minute i will show you have to do it by photoshop

[qubic]

Sistere....I`ve read your thread with the creamy look and it`s not really the same thing. The thing I`m interested in is only bleaching the skin without makeup and keeping some texture. The creamy look that you search will not be found in only an answer..there are a lot of techniques used to get that look. I would also like to know how that is done but I guess hours of work can`t be explained in a post.

Matthew... that kind of paint is too expensive here in Romania because it`s imported and is for professional use( you can`t just find it at the store). I heard that it`s done by merging two blocks of solid paint with some liquid or something like that. Some makeup artist told me that the price of one block is somewhere between 50 and 100Euro.

Can`t it be done with a texture map....let`s say from a white texture(paper for example)...on a separate layer with a blending mode....and then bringing back eyes an lips and hair with a mask and crating shadows with PWL?

[MatthewMarshall]

The look Damien is trying to go is totaly difforent from the look your trying to go for. They are similer yes but totaly difforent. Here is the problem with people that make it so they get totaly stuck and cant fugure it out. they dont study the original photo enuff. The reason you and Damien are having trouble getting the look is because you need to focus less on how just to make the skin look white or pail and more on why does the skin look pail in the first place. Light. I will say it again. LIGHT!!!! look at the photos of the subjects, they are not just white, the best example is the girl with purple hair. her skin is still picking up purple tones. they call that clolor bleed or color glow.

If you need a step by step to create this image, it may be too adanced to try at this time. basicaly its just a black and white iamge, painted into the original, contrast up the eyelashes to make them white, paint in a little white here and there. ADD THE COLOR BLEAD I WAS TALKING ABOUT TO THE SKIN!!! and bang a image that looks awsom. I wish i could go into a step by step but im so busy for the holidays. But the key are those color bleads (GLOWS)

[MatthewMarshall]

i will try to get you some examples, here in a few munites, my client just canceled her apointment.

[Sistere]

Originally Posted by qubic

Sistere....I`ve read your thread with the creamy look and it`s not really the same thing. The thing I`m interested in is only bleaching the skin without makeup and keeping some texture. The creamy look that you search will not be found in only an answer..there are a lot of techniques used to get that look. I would also like to know how that is done but I guess hours of work can`t be explained in a post.

No, I guess hours of work can't be explained in a post. But if I could just find someone who really knew how to do it...I would pay them to take the time to show me.

We got contacted yesterday by a national health supplement brand needing ads and marketing layouts...and a couple of the concepts we had used that creamy, white skinned look.

So, if anyone IS out there that knows this technique...Contact me!

Damien

[MatthewMarshall]

OK im back i just took about 10 mins and made this sample from a stock image, realy quickly for you. these tips should help you compleate that white skin look, as if it was done by make up.

1. make a layer above the original, black and white it, I used the cs3, adjust levels till you get the look of white you like.
2. mask that layer so you can paint in the white skin into the original photos.
3. when doing around the eye leave the red and a little edge so it looks like makeup.
4. add a little color glow. with the brush tool set at 5% i just clicked a little color under the nose. (Red sampled from lips) and a little bage in the cheek. Just to get rid of the totaly gray look. It helps add depth.
5: paint in white hilights on the eyelashes and eyebrows.

thats it. You can do more to get it to look more real but thats the basic steps. Also the example is realy quikly done so, use it as a basic idea of what 4 to 5 hours could do. lol

Good luck and let me know id this help.

[qubic]

Matthew...what you did, I did before but it`s not the same result as the photos I posted. There is something missing....when converting to B&W the result is a bit grey and if you want to lighten it up it will burn the texture and it wouldn`t be uniform.

[qubic]

I think the original photo needs to be uniform lightened and than added some shadows here and there. I`ll try searching a photo with uniform soft light and less shadows and see what I can do to it and maybe we can figure it out together. Thank you Matt!

[MatthewMarshall]

i only took 10 mins to show an example, so yes there is alot missing to the photo. use the airbrush to lighten areas. dont forget that the rest of the photo plays into the image, like the white feathers on the boys head, and all white clothing. the photos are very strange and magical in the first place. so in a way the contrast of color also plays an effect. what i might sugest is at least add white makeup to the eyesbrows and eyelashes, hopfuly you can at least buy that at a store were you live. and then do the rest in photoshop.

[transoptic]

Matthew... Interesting.

You might be onto something considering even though I'm no MUA that purple color bleed does not look like it could be fabricated with expensive makeup.

So, if I were trying what you suggest, how would I get a believable paint job? It seems like the opacity is a little stronger in the shadow areas... Or would it have more to do with the contours of the face?

[qubic]

I found more suggesting examples here. This artist is using the technique in most of his photography. Check it out maybe some ideas will come from watching...and to mention that this is photoshop no doubt. http://douart.ru/