Original Manipulations by Cruxforums Members

[berater]

I made another manip. I saw her both standing on auction, or being led by a chain. I decided to have her led by a chain, as I felt the opertunity is more specific to this picture, with her waist pulled forward. I liked that she is already tanned, and I thought her glistening wet body could pass as sweat,
Unfortunatly, the background got a lot grainer after I increased the contrast to making the sun look scorching.
View attachment 1047122View attachment 1047121

Please make the chain to the collar, looks like she tries to resist...

 

[The Fallen Angel]

Yeah, you are going to be doing it slowly then. No offense, but getting all of the feathery bits of hair in one click is something that photoshop excels at

Do let us in on that method!

 

[Cran]

Please make the chain to the collar, looks like she tries to resist...

Do you mean like this?


Edit:
She looks like she is resisting more if the chain is tight. But unfortunatly, the ring in the front of her collar is still laxed.

 

[Eulalia]

This is what I have done so far. I ended up compromising alot with the background.
I should have removed the plants, before setting the perspective for the window.
View attachment 1047232

A nice view for the muezzin! (When he climbs the minaret to call the faithful to prayer, he gets a vision of the virgins waiting for him in Paradise)

Do you mean like this?
View attachment 1047392

Edit:
She looks like she is resisting more if the chain is tight. But unfortunatly, the ring in the front of her collar is still laxed.
View attachment 1047447

Yes, I think if the chain were tugged tight like that - as well as the ring being pulled up, her head would need to be thrown back.
The top picture is more realistic, she's feeling the weight of the chain, thinking how she's going to have to keep brisk when the march gets going or it will pull so it hurts.

 

[Cran]

A nice view for the muezzin! (When he climbs the minaret to call the faithful to prayer, he gets a vision of the virgins waiting for him in Paradise)


Yes, I think if the chain were tugged tight like that - as well as the ring being pulled up, her head would need to be thrown back.
The top picture is more realistic, she's feeling the weight of the chain, thinking how she's going to have to keep brisk when the march gets going or it will pull so it hurts.

I had a limited choice when looking for a city scape. I didn't want to go for something with a modern setting, or wanted a fantastical setting that is separate from reality, but ultimatley settled on that city.
My internal context for the picture are the two slaves are trying to come to terms with their new situtation, by taking in their new enviroment. Both forcibly separated from their old lives, they can take solace in each other. Although they have both only met each other in their they consider each other their only peers, as they both come from a similar past, and have similar roles in their new lives.

 

[Wragg]

I was going to try masking the girls to try and get the hair detail a bit better, but this screenshot from my PSP shows that they are a bit low res for that, I'm afraid.

 

[Cran]

I was going to try masking the girls to try and get the hair detail a bit better, but this screenshot from my PSP shows that they are a bit low res for that, I'm afraid.

View attachment 1047473

Cropping the grils out, was the first step I did, long before I created the background, so I didn't relize how unrefined it looked at the time.
As well as cropping out an opaque layer, I tried to isolate the peripheral hair by selecting by colour, using select by hue, using the yellow higlight in their hair as a key. I left a lot of broken black sections, which I then tried to remove by selecting by value. For the low quality, it looked okay against the dafault checkard background, but gotten worse when I added a background. Maybe with the background as reference, I can get a more refined look by using the same method, but more carefully adjust the thresholds. There are a few other things I should also fix, like adding a top surface for the window ledge, finding a solution for removing the plants, and making the front part of the loincloths visiable inbetween their legs. I tried to repurpose a shot of the exterior of the window as an interior, which I also compromised by having it at an angle, as I originally wanted a straight shot of a window. I was thinking of copying and pasting duplicate tiles or parts of the window still to cover the plants, but I would have to realign it, as I already set the perspective.

 

[berater]

Do you mean like this?
View attachment 1047392

Edit:
She looks like she is resisting more if the chain is tight. But unfortunatly, the ring in the front of her collar is still laxed.
View attachment 1047447

Great, thanks! Love the first picture (looks more realistic), the second is good, too. Could we see a whole coffle of this slaves in the desert? Maybe you like some pics from my desert collection...

 

[Cran]

Great, thanks! Love the first picture (looks more realistic), the second is good, too. Could we see a whole coffle of this slaves in the desert? Maybe you like some pics from my desert collection...

Thank you, these could be useful. Typically, I like to make pictures where the girl takes a larger position in frame, but if I find some full framed shots of naked women, walking in profile, I could use these.

 

[prtn]

Nice touch, the rope around their ankles

 

[Cran]

Nice touch, the rope around their ankles

Thank you, but they are supposed to be wearing ankle bracelets.

 

[Cran]

This is what I have done so far. I ended up compromising alot with the background.
I should have removed the plants, before setting the perspective for the window.
View attachment 1047232

Here is an update.

I removed the plants from underneath the window by duplicating the tiles, added a up facing surface for the window still, added a front part of of the loincloth, visible inbetween the legs, although it turned out quite subtle through the semi transparant fabric surface, added ambiant occlusion infront of the girls, and redid the bangles, as I thought they were to loose the first time. I also added bracelets on the upper arm, but I don't know if I prefer them with or without them, so I included both versions. Also, I noticed the orientation of the pillars, don't line up with the perspective I'm trying to create, and I'm not sure if the wall is to weathered to pass as an interior.

Edit:
I thought the ambiant occlusion was too strong, so I lightened it.

 

[CamCrux]

Is there any advice for cropping out hair against a detailed background. So far, my current solution is to crop out each strand individually, which is difficult when the hairs are indistinct, or have vague boundaries.

It's a delicate job in any case.
With Gimp I use the "select by colour" tool, with a low threshold, and apply it to an area close to the hair that I want removed. I erase the selected pixels manually with the rubber and repeat the process as many times as necessary. Depending on the contrast, sharpness etc. the result can go from good to approximate.

 

[berater]

Do you mean like this?
View attachment 1047392

Edit:
She looks like she is resisting more if the chain is tight. But unfortunatly, the ring in the front of her collar is still laxed.
View attachment 1047447

Strange,

Thank you, these could be useful. Typically, I like to make pictures where the girl takes a larger position in frame, but if I find some full framed shots of naked women, walking in profile, I could use these.

To my mind the best source of this pictures is the hegre art archiv. What do you think of beauties like that?

 

[berater]

Thank you, these could be useful. Typically, I like to make pictures where the girl takes a larger position in frame, but if I find some full framed shots of naked women, walking in profile, I could use these.

Sorry, forget the women from my own archiv...

 

[Madiosi]

Sorry, forget the women from my own archiv...

Here is the Place for manip-results, not for material for manips.
A better place would be:

Photos For Cross-manipulation

With these models, but the photo-manipulators could make new cross-pictures ...

www.cruxforums.com

or

Lovely Ladies Thread

I have a fairly extensive collection of photos and I will post selections of them in this thread, rather then posting new threads. Unless Admin tells me otherwise that is!! First up, the lovely Abby, Feel It Again!!

www.cruxforums.com

Wanted!!...background Pics, Models E.t.c.

I'm wondering if : a) there would be any interest and b) would it be doable. I don't go out without my camera and I often take pictures of things that would make good backgrounds for pictures for the site. I have tons of sky, clouds, and sunsets (mornings aren't my thing), old forts and ruins...

www.cruxforums.com

 

[The Fallen Angel]

Do you mean like this?
View attachment 1047392

Edit:
She looks like she is resisting more if the chain is tight. But unfortunatly, the ring in the front of her collar is still laxed.
View attachment 1047447

I had to take a hammer to it to get it to lift.

 

[Cran]

Strange,

To my mind the best source of this pictures is the hegre art archiv. What do you think of beauties like that?

Sorry, forget the women from my own archiv...

I thought you wanted them led alongside the camels, in which case a lot of these pictures, where the girls are walking towards the camera, will work for the first background you shared.

 

[Cran]

It's a delicate job in any case.
With Gimp I use the "select by colour" tool, with a low threshold, and apply it to an area close to the hair that I want removed. I erase the selected pixels manually with the rubber and repeat the process as many times as necessary. Depending on the contrast, sharpness etc. the result can go from good to approximate.

Thank you for your insight.
That is similar to what I did, but I used Colour to Alpha to erase individual colours. It works great against a blue sky, but a more busy background it leaves me with a camo print, or an oily finish, so I have to be persistant and thorough to make it work, and I am still left with bits I have to crop manually, and the hair didn't turn out as clean as I would like. In a manip I did where the model had bright brown hair against a green background, I was able to remove a large portion of the background with Select by Colour, using Select by HSV Hue, but it left a lot of browns which I had to manually trim, and it brought out the jpg artifacting, which I then had to filter.

 

[berater]

I thought you wanted them led alongside the camels, in which case a lot of these pictures, where the girls are walking towards the camera, will work for the first background you shared.

You are absolutely right! Maybe I love the hegre girls in the first mail too much, but to my mind the second mail have a good balance between front, side and back. Please accept my apology!

And to say sorry to everyone I present a manipulation the great artist Damian made for me. We see a caravan of the typical traditional merchandise of Africa: salt (on the camels), gold (in the box) and slaves (on the ground).
Please visit his homepage damianartwork.com.