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/

[mseydel]

This is a nice effect when it's done well. I've had a few images that I've done that mimic this effect. A retoucher I worked with Chris Heins did the original edits on this file, but I applied Matthew's technique as described to get closer to the look that qubic is describing. You may find that you need to fish around for the layer settings that allow the B&W layer to look realistic.

[MatthewMarshall]

something we need to all remember is that the photo cant have too much dark shadows or it wont work. so in mseydels image the original images does not fit the style of the shots in the first place, the images that was givin originaly have a very magical look to them in the first place, even if the skin was normal color the photos woulsd look very interesting in the first place.

[MatthewMarshall]

Originally Posted by 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/

the images almost look computer generated. 3d images. they are very cool though.

[leuallen]

Is this similar to what you want. I did not go with the purple tint, don't like it, although it would be easy to aim the face color that way. I think that this keeps the skin texture but yet looks like a white make up was applied. The lips could be desaturated or treated differently if you like since it is masked from the skin

Larry

[qubic]

lauleen... this is exactly what happens when trying to whiten too much...it overexposes. The white has to be mat and unifrom.

[Sistere]

OK, here is my latest whirl at this thing. It still looks like a hack job when compared to retouchers who know how to do this technique...but I can tell I am getting closer to nailing it; progress is a good thing.

Damien

[qubic]

Sistere that looks cool....not the bleaching effect but still cool. I mean It looks pretty close to what you`ve been searching.... Can you tell us how and what you did?

[Sistere]

Originally Posted by qubic

Sistere that looks cool....not the bleaching effect but still cool. I mean It looks pretty close to what you`ve been searching.... Can you tell us how and what you did?

Oh it definitely needs refinement and major tweaking. My biggest challenge was/is getting a solid grounding in obtaining a realistic color leeching effect for skin. Not there yet, but getting closer.

Attached is a slightly warmer version of the same photo.

The basic outline for the first was this:

1. Photo MUST be well lighted. If the originating photo was not well lit then working with carving the highlights and shadows will be like trying to sculpt a pile of runny dog poop. (Sorry, we just had two unexpected litters from our retrievers...so I see the world through puppy poop colored lens right now.)


Color Steps:

2. Do all skin touch-ups first using Green Channel to find blotches in skin. Use HTs for blemishes and D&B to give the skin an even luminance gradient.

3. Curves layer with the center boosted from 128 to 150 to fill in the shadows a bit and edge the highlights some.

4. Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer: Lower Master Saturation and Red Saturation -12 to -25 depending on preference.

PWL Steps:

5. Empty Layer set to 50% Grey - Overlay. (I like to use the Blue Channel as reference to locate natural skin highlights & Shadows) Then slowly trace over natural HLs with soft white brush and do same to shadows using a soft black brush; giving an embossed look to the skin.

6. Final curves layer for extra highlight or shadow work.

Hope thats useful.

Warmly,
Damien

[lilysharon]

Here's my try.
I did a poor job on the black bkg but I think you need the dark contrast to emphasize the white.

[crazyfly1]

Hey Qubic, is this it?

[crazyfly1]

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...tml#post173042

And I did Prizo over here. He needs to be whiter though I think.

[qubic]

Thank you for sharing Sistere! Lilisharon and Crazyfly I think that is it!! Might need a little bit of contrast. Please share how you did it! I really want to use the technique today after the photo session I`m having. Gonna do some well lightened photos. Thank you very much guys!

[crazyfly1]

http://www.imagenomic.com/pt.aspx

I cheated.
Took two passes of the glamour setting with a lower brightness on the second pass so as not to blow the highlights. Looks (I think) exactly like the girl with the bronze on her face that you posted.

[Rhasval]

Here are a few tries using a very simple technique I used B&W image adjustment in CS3 and then Tune&Saturation.

[edgework]

No lighting or make-up available. I did this after I first saw Duryagin's stuff. Not much like his, but perhaps a step in the right direction.

http://edgework.tripod.com/samples/whiteface.jpg