Stargazer's fake tutorial

[stargazer]

We now have to adjust the skin tones of our donor pic. This is probably the most difficult part of faking. It does take practice and an eye for it and it's what I get the most requests for advice on. Right now, it's going to be a rough, average match. The problem is that the donor pic is dark where the original is light and vice versa. We're going to have to pick an area and go with that.

For now, let's worry about the chest area. We'll do a rough color match and fine tune it later. We're going to use 3 different tools at various times. These are all found in the image --> adjustments menu. We should actually be using adjustment layers, but we're going to be adding more masks and layers and I don't want it to get confusing so we'll do it this way. Now would be a good time to take a snapshot in case you wreck it so badly you can't save it.

Brightness/Contrast: pretty self explanatory

Hue/Saturation: Good for a rough adjustment of the colors and intensity of the colors. Avoid using the lightness in this window. It washes out your picture pretty badly. Stick with the brightness/contrast for adjusting lightness

Color Balance: Good for fine adjustments and adjustments that hue/saturation can't do. The slider on hue can slide toward red or yellow but it can't leave it there and make it bluer. Perhaps it can, but not easily. Color balance allows you to adjust the different tones more selectively.

Because of the severe lightness variation, I used another tool to help out. I used shadows/highlights under the same menu to help out. Here is how I set it on mine:



Go ahead and play with these. Try and get a decent match to the chest area. It doesn't have to be perfect. Here's how mine looks. It's a little dark, but when I lighten it it becomes too shiny and bright. We'll work on it more later:



Next, we'll start blending it in..........

[stargazer]

Here we're going to blend the two layers. Look for boundaries such as shadows, collarbones, necklaces, etc. Here's a color secret: 2 slightly mismatched colors don't look mismatched unless they butt together. That's why chrome and rubber are often used between the fascia and body of a car. It separates them and the color difference isn't as noticeable because they're often painted at 2 different facilities. So look for separators in your picture. This one doesn't have much, but they often do.

Set your brush to 25-10. As you go, you can reduce it down to 10-10 for the finer work. Start brushing away the hard edges you created in your mask and work your way outwards. 2 things to remember:

1. Make sure you click on your mask first. If you've been adjusting the colors of the donor level, you're on the wrong level!!

2. Anything you do can be undone by pressing x and switching to white. You can brush it all back in again. So don't worry about going outside the lines. Right now we're just trying to get a good blend.

After you blend it fairly good, click on the donor layer and tweak your colors. Improve your match in the chest area.



This is not too horrible in the chest area and armpits, but the ribs are terrible and the tits are too shiny. We'll see if we can fix that up in the next lesson......

[stargazer]

First I'm going to touch up the rib cage on the right. It's too light and I can't adjust without screwing the rest up. So, make a copy of the donor layer. Then adjust it to match in that area. Mine looks like this:



Now position the darker layer below the donor layer and put a mask in the donor layer. Use a 10-10 brush to brush over the light area. Brush up anything else that you think might look better darker. If it looks odd, just switch to white and brush it back out. Experiment. Now it looks like this:



Much better. The area under the 1 tit still needs work and the tits are too shiny. By the way, here's a tip: make a copy of the no straps layer and move it to the top. Then you can turn it off and on while you work for as a guide on how it should look. When you're done, merge the darker layer and the donor layer.

Ok, now I'm going to tackle the shine. Select the eyedropper tool in the tool bar, right click it, and set it to average about 5 pixels. Click on an area of the tit that looks good to you to get the color information. Now create a new layer, right click on the paint bucket tool and select "paint bucket".



Click anywhere in the new layer to fill the layer with the color you picked. Move it down below the donor layer and add a mask to the donor layer. Again, with a 10-10 brush, brush and remove until your satisfied with it. Adjust the color and lightness of the color layer if you want to. Try not to get it blotchy. If it looks a bit blotch and flat, we'll fix that up later.

Merge it down and use the same technique for the area under her tit. Do whatever you think needs fixing up.

Then we'll continue............

[stargazer]

At this point I think we've done about all the blending we can do. It's time to start fixing up the edges. You should only have 3 layers: background, donor, and no straps (with the mask). Now is a good time to take a snapshot.

Set your brush to 100-90, click the mask and start removing where you've gone over the lines with your donor. You want to remove the edges back to the donor pic. You might reveal some bathing suit or skin, but that doesn't matter. Ignore what you reveal. Don't touch the areas where you blended. Just do the edges.

At this point it's a good idea to use the pen tool. However, it has a bit of a learning curve and if you don't know how to use it, I suggest looking it up and practicing. It's great for making smooth curves and lines, which is what you want at the edges. For now, we'll just rely on a steady hand.



Notice that some bathing suit is showing by her right tit and some suit and skin is showing between her left arm and rib cage. We're going to remove that now.

Click on the no straps level. Select the image, NOT the mask. We're going to modify this. Use the clone stamp to fill in these areas with the proper stuff. Note that you can't drift into the donor part because it's masked out, so you don't have to worry about wrecking your work. Aren't masks wonderful?

For those who worry about wrecking the no straps layer, here's another way. Actually a better way. Ctrl - click on the mask. This uses the mask to create a selection. Create a new layer above the no straps layer. Make sure the clone stamp is set to sample all layers and you're all set. You can't draw in the masked area.



Okay, that's not too bad. There some touchups and shadowing to do, but the blending part is done. Ordinarily at this point I do NOT merge it down. I leave the layers as they are in case I see something later. All my work after this is done on a new layer.

Next we'll touch up some bad spots.......

[stargazer]

Ok, now we fix up some of the mess we've made. Remember altering the shadows and highlights and how they were left blotchy and flat? We're going to fix that now. We're also going to fix some areas that didn't blend well. Let's start with the blotchiness and flatness on her right tit. I'm going to make a new layer and use the healing brush tool to add some texture back in and remove the blotches. There's also some areas under her tits that I never liked. If you can see any edges from your blending, now is the time to remove them. It's also a good time to remove those moles that the original girl doesn't have.



Time for some shading and lighting......

[stargazer]

Well, this is the part I most suck at. However, I'll do my best.

Take a look at the original pic. See where the sun is coming from? See how the top of the tits shine and there's shadow below? We're going to try and duplicate that on our fake.

Start with a new layer. Grab an opaque brush and set it to white. Draw a streak where you think the shine should be. Not too big. Something like this:



Now go to the filter menu and select blur --> gaussian blur. Set the blur to something that looks good. I have it set to 11.1. Now adjust the opacity of this layer to something that looks good. We don't want it too garish. Mine actually looks pretty good at 100%, but yours may not. Turn the layer on and off to see the difference. If it's bleeding over into areas you don't want, apply a mask and remove some of it. But be careful!! You'll get brush strokes and blotchinesss very easily. When you're happy, merge it down.



We'll add some shadows next.....

[stargazer]

Ok, shadows are tricky. The shadow under her tits won't be the same shape as the tits because of the angle of her midsection. Also, shadows tend to be sharp or fuzzy depending on the angle. Look at the bikini on her right tit in the original picture. The bottom left half is in shadow. It's still white, but not as white as the upper part. There's also a shadow on her ribs. My attempts are bound to turn out badly, but I can show you how to do it and perhaps you'll be better at it. So let's roll up our sleeves can give it a whirl.

Start with a putting a mask on your faked layer. We'll do one at a time. Open a new layer. Click on an area that looks like a good color for a shadow. We can adjust later so the color and lightness are not super critical. Use the paint bucket and fill your layer with this color. Put this layer below your faked layer. Now grab the lasso tool and select an area which should be in shadow.



Now right click on the paint bucket and select the gradient tool. Set it as I've shown here



Make sure the mask is selected. Now stroke up and to the right a bit. Looks terrible? Try again. The idea is to have the area below the tits dark and have it gradually fade out as it goes up. Play with it until you have it. Don't worry about the arms and other areas. Just get the gradient right. You can press Ctrl-H to hide the marching ants. There should be no discernible edge on the tits.

Next step is to remove the shadow on the arms and stuff. Just brush it out in your mask with a white brush. Don't do anything yet except clean up the edges. Now use your color tools on the shadow layer to change color and lightness of the shadow. Also, adjust the opacity of the shadow layer. When you adjust the opacity, some of the layer below is going to come through. Easiest way to fix this is to make a duplicate of your faked layer, right click in the mask and delete it and move it below your shadow layer.

With a VERY soft and transparent brush, soften the edges of your shadow and remove anything that doesn't look right. Here's mine:



I'm not going to do the other tit because I suck at this. But you should get the idea and be able to apply it however you like. The whole purpose of this method is to get the gradient. Photoshop does this better than you can with a brush, so if you can do it this way, it looks better.....

[stargazer]

It should be noted that I would never have chosen this donor pic for this fake. The donor was done indoors with side lighting and the shadowing makes it horrible to work with. If it was a tough pose to match, I might have used it, but this is an easy pose and it would have been fairly easy to find a better match with the lighting. I saw this before I selected it, but the question I'm most asked is on color matching. So, I decided to use this poor choice so that I could demonstrate some color matching techniques. As soon as I masked out the bathing suit, I saw I was in trouble. In retrospect, I probably should have used a better match because as far as I'm concerned, it still didn't turn out very well. The lighting was SOOO bad in this donor that I was unable to properly adjust it. Maybe with more practice. So, make sure you spend the time to find a good match. It'll save you a lot of work and will make your fakes look more realistic.

I used a lot of different techniques for color adjusting, lighting and shading. Actually these are all interchangeable and we could have use any of them at any point. I used different techniques in order to demonstrate some of the ways of doing it. Every requirement is different and it's good to know several different ways of adjusting colors, shadows and highlights so you can choose the one that works best. Here they are in a nutshell: make a copy of the donor pic, adjust the color and brush it in OR make a separate layer and fill it with the color you want and brush it in OR do the same thing but use the gradient tool instead of a brush OR draw in some lines and blur them. You could also combine them such as adjusting a copy of the donor pic and using the gradient tool on it. Remember that the gradient tool is used on the mask, not the picture. You're after a smooth transition from black to white in the mask.

Okay, that's as far as I'm going for now. You should be able to apply these methods for your own fakes. There's an infinite number of ways to accomplish the same thing and you'll undoubtedly find other ways. Don't be afraid to experiment. And if you have some tips that would prove useful, post them here. I'm always looking for better ideas too!!!

Have fun!!

[scrat11]

This is really great! Thanks for taking the time to explain how the magic works.

I can't wait to try it out...

[stargazer]

This is really great! Thanks for taking the time to explain how the magic works.

I can't wait to try it out...

I'm glad you found it useful. Let me know how you make out.

[jartrumbo]

I try fakes here and there and I found this very insightful! I will try this on a couple in the next few weeks from the fake request board when I have time. Great job!

[worminator]

Have you posted any thing in the see through thread?

[stargazer]

I try fakes here and there and I found this very insightful! I will try this on a couple in the next few weeks from the fake request board when I have time. Great job!

Thanks. I know you've done some fakes as well, so free to share what you've learned.

[stargazer]

Have you posted any thing in the see through thread?

I have on occasion, but the quality of pics in the amateur xray thread is horrible and C-Through is the master in the celebrity xrays, so I mostly just stick to the fakes.

[kaos42000]

Ok, now we come to one of the most difficult parts of faking. Finding a good donor. Perhaps you're talented enough to draw the tits in, but I'm not. We need a donor pic. Finding a good match can be long and tedious, but there are worse ways to spend your time than looking at naked women, so it's not all bad. I've gathered a LOT of pictures and grouped them by breast size to make it easier. There's certainly no shortage of pictures out there and passwords to sites like Matt's Models, LSG Models, and FTV are pretty easy to find so you have a lot to choose from. Here is what you need to be looking for:

1. Choose a similar breast size and body type. You want it to look real don't you?

2. Try to get a similar pose. The position of her arms affect the way the breast hangs. You also have to go above and below the breasts to blend it in, so a similar pose really makes it easier.

3. The angle of the model. In our picture, the girl is almost facing directly at you. If your donor is standing sideways, it's not going to work. It doesn't matter which way she's facing, as long as it's the same amount. You can easily reverse the direction.

4. The position of the photographer. Most people take a picture standing up at eye level. Nude photographers tend to crouch down and shoot upwards. If your donor pic is like this, it's not going to look right. Also, the dimensions will be off. If you line up her shoulders, her breasts will be too high. You can adjust for this somewhat, but it's a lot better if the angles are the same.

5. Lighting. Our picture is of a girl on a sunny day. If the donor pic has a lot of side lighting, the shadows are going to look funny. Again, this can be adjusted, but it's more work.

6. Skin tone. The two girls will almost never have the same skin tone. You have to adjust one of them, usually the donor. Our girl has a nice skin tone. If your donor girl is really pale, you're going to have to color it up. When you do this, highlights and shadows are going to go funny. Again, a lot of work to fix up.

7. Resolution. Our pic is not huge, but a nice size. If the donor pic is low resolution, you're going to have to blow it up to match it. It will really look horrible. Try to get a donor pic that's at least as big as the one you're faking. Try to get close, anyway.

This is a lot of conditions and your chances of meeting all of them are slim. Try to get as close as you can. The time spent looking for a good donor will be paid back when you're faking. The fake will be much easier and look better when you're done. The donor pic I've selected for this tutorial is good, but not great. I took about 2 minutes finding it. I didn't want it to be TOO good because I want to demonstrate how to adjust for a less than perfect match.

Here is the picture I've selected. I haven't even tried it myself yet, so we're doing this one together. If I can't make it work, I'll have egg on my face so I'm crossing my fingers.



Save this to your computer. Open it up with photoshop and it will come up in a new tab. You can click the tabs to switch between pictures. When you're done this, we'll move on........

This step is by far and away the most time consuming and difficult.......And the biggest reason I don't do a lot of fakes......people just don't appreciate the time and effort it takes to find a good match.......All of the above must be considered..... I appreciate all of your fakes and This tutorial.... Some good suggestions I haven't considered......