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The New Arcimboldo Archive

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Arcimboldo said:
That reminds me of my very first digital manip ever (well, the first with erotic content). I screened my hard disk...
Obviously I was already interested in wild west scenarios, branding irons and a beautiful actress named... (Melissa surely will find out with the help of a search engine :) ).
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They’re all wearing white hats. Where is @thehangingtree ??? :rolleyes:
 
melissa said:
Kindly sent to me by Bobinder..


How to make smoke like Arcimboldo
Using Photoshop

A demonstration using just these two jpg images -

View attachment 966699 View attachment 966700

If your smoke layer is a black and white image to start with, you can use it as a ready-made 'silhouette' for a layer mask. I.e. you don't need to create the layer mask by dodging and burning etc because it is already black and white with the shades of grey which will work as semi-transparent areas. So, here is how to make a simple layer mask for smoke.

1. Place original subject picture (e.g. 'Alice snarling') as Layer 1 - rename layer as 'Alice'.

2. Paste smoke jpg as Layer 2 - rename layer as 'Smoke'.

3. With only the 'Smoke' layer visible, and as the active layer, in the layer order panel, switch from 'Layers' to 'Channels'.

4. In 'Channels', all channels will appear active. Click on 'Red, 'Green' and 'Blue', highlighting them individually, to see which channel has the highest contrast. In this particular case, the smoke image is already monochrome, so there is almost no difference in contrast between the channels.

5. I chose 'Red'. Click on 'Red', right click and select 'Duplicate Channel'. The box confirms, 'Red copy' - so click, 'OK'.

6. 'Red copy' appears at the bottom of the channels list. With this as the only visible layer, and as the active layer, click on 'Select' on the top row.

7. From the 'Select' drop-down menu, click on 'Load Selection'. The box confirms, 'Untitled/Red copy' - click 'OK'.

8. You will now see part of the image selected. It is a complex shape, but everything necessary has been selected.

9. With the selection loaded, switch back to 'Layers'.

10. If you have the row of seven small icons in the lower right corner, the third one should reveal, 'Add Layer Mask'.
If not, click on 'Layer' on the top row. From the drop-down menu, select 'Layer Mask' which now provides further options - click on 'Reveal Selection'.

11. Either way, the layer mask is created, and it shows in the 'Layers' order panel with a double thumbnail image.

The left image is the visible image - click on that one to make image adjustments (e.g. brightness, contrast etc just like a normal colour image layer). You can enlarge and rotate it - basically treat it exactly the same as if it was a cut-out layer!

The right image is the mask - click on that to make adjustments to the mask. With the 'Smoke' layer active, you can also make adjustments to reduce the opacity of the layer (i.e. make the smoke fainter).

12. Some faint horizontal lines are still visible in the smoke image, so we are going to reduce those by adjusting the mask.

13. Click on the 'Smoke' right thumbnail to activate the mask, and then select the 'Burn' tool from halfway down the left hand toolbar. This has three options which are, 'Dodge Tool', 'Burn Tool' and 'Sponge Tool'. Any one of them might be showing. My 'Burn Tool' has an icon which looks like a closed fist (I don't know why...)

14. The burn tool shows a circle on the screen. Right click to adjust the size of the circle, which provides the area of the 'burn' or darkening effect. I made mine fairly large.

15. With the 'Smoke' mask active, run the 'Burn Tool' over the faint horizontal lines starting in the upper left corner. It will not darken the image (which is the normal effect) because the image is not active. In fact it will lighten the worked area because it is actually increasing the density of part of the mask, and beginning to conceal those faint lines.

16. The 'Burn' stage can be reversed by using the 'Dodge Tool' or a white brush on the same area, to apply the opposite effect to the mask. A black brush will do the same as 'burning'. N.B. for dodging and burning a mask effectively, the 'Dodge Tool' should be set to 'Highlights' and the 'Burn Tool' should be set to 'Shadows'. We can take a closer look at this later. Don't worry too much about it at this stage.

Result -

View attachment 966701 Smoking damages your health. Please do not try this at home.
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Very interesting.

For those using other tools, such as Paint Shop Pro, I found I could produce a similar effect with just a few steps.

Step 1 and step 2 as above
3. in the smoke layer properties select "Screen" and set the opacity to around 65%
4. go to the Brightness/contrast control bump up the smoke layer contrast by a good amount, between 25 and 50

voila, result as attached achieved in under a minute. Not as subtle as the longer instructions above and it benefits from the high contrast of the original smoke image, but pretty effective. It could be improved with more playing and adjusting, I'm sure, but what you see is achievable quite quickly in PSP and probably in Photoshop.

Thanks to Melissa and Bob for raising this as an interesting effect within everyone's grasp

AliceSmoke.jpg
 
phlebas said:
Very interesting.

For those using other tools, such as Paint Shop Pro, I found I could produce a similar effect with just a few steps.

Step 1 and step 2 as above
3. in the smoke layer properties select "Screen" and set the opacity to around 65%
4. go to the Brightness/contrast control bump up the smoke layer by a good amount, between 25 and 50

voila, result as attached achieved in under a minute. Not as subtle as the longer instructions above and it benefits from the high contrast of the original smoke image, but pretty effective. It could be improved with more playing and adjusting, I'm sure, but what you see is achievable quite quickly in PSP and probably in Photoshop.

Thanks to Melissa and Bob for raising this as an interesting effect within everyone's grasp

View attachment 967001
Click to expand...
That's how I've been doing it in Photoshop as well--with things like smoke and flames. Depending on whether it is white smoke or dark smoke, of course, there are the choices of "screen" (or lighten") and "multiply" (or "darken"). The problem with this approach is that you can only get white smoke or dark smoke out of that layer and not the combo effect that Bob accomplished in his version (that subtleness you were referring to). In order to do that, I'd have to add more layers of smoke set to different modes. It might still be easier (for me anyway) than the mask thing Bob likes, though. That masking process is totally hi-tech to me, and I can never get going with it without having a tutorial open in front of me and following it step by step.
 
Reminds me of a manip I did in photoshop. In that case, however, I think I reduced the opacity of the figure, rather than the smoke/steam to give a surreal effect.
Coffee01.jpg
 
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phlebas said:
Thanks to Melissa and Bob for raising this as an interesting effect within everyone's grasp
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Thanks, Phlebas. The 'Screen' blending mode gives a white smoke effect, similar to my layer mask, whereas Arcimboldo's inverted 'Multiply' blending mode produces dark clouds of smoke. I note that he refers to a combination of four semi-transparent layers to produce his smoky atmosphere.

Alternatively, you can simply cut out the smoke and steam with the lasso, and paste the sections in a number of layers of varying opacity. ;)

Barbarossanova Episode 3 lubylft1.jpg​
 
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bobinder said:
Thanks, Phlebas. The 'Screen' blending mode gives a white smoke effect, similar to my layer mask, whereas Arcimboldo's inverted 'Multiply' blending mode produces dark clouds of smoke. I note that he refers to a combination of four semi-transparent layers to produce his smoky atmosphere.

Alternatively, you can simply cut out the smoke and steam with the lasso, and paste the sections in a number of layers of varying opacity. ;)

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Is that a rescue or an abduction? :D
 
MahaShiva said:
That's how I've been doing it in Photoshop as well--with things like smoke and flames. Depending on whether it is white smoke or dark smoke, of course, there are the choices of "screen" (or lighten") and "multiply" (or "darken"). The problem with this approach is that you can only get white smoke or dark smoke out of that layer and not the combo effect that Bob accomplished in his version (that subtleness you were referring to). In order to do that, I'd have to add more layers of smoke set to different modes. It might still be easier (for me anyway) than the mask thing Bob likes, though. That masking process is totally hi-tech to me, and I can never get going with it without having a tutorial open in front of me and following it step by step.
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I take my hat off to Bobinder, Phlebas and MahaShiva. Contrary to the general opinion I am an amateur in these photo editing tools. Mostly my method is trial-and-error: testing the diverse layer modes, the contrast and colour adjustment, the opacity and so on...
 
Arcimboldo said:
I take my hat off to Bobinder, Phlebas and MahaShiva. Contrary to the general opinion I am an amateur in these photo editing tools. Mostly my method is trial-and-error: testing the diverse layer modes, the contrast and colour adjustment, the opacity and so on...
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Exactly how I learnt to use this thing, too--entirely by guerilla tactics. I have a bad habit of never reading the user's manual or any tutorials until I run into a specific issue that I cannot figure out with the good old method of throwing things on the wall and see what sticks.
 
melissa said:
Here we are. I cropped the face, looked it up and came up with Tom Ellis who plays Lucifer. That is what your search engine came up with.View attachment 966359View attachment 966360
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To dwell on the subject of devils and smoke: Here is a version of "Apostasy" from 2005, better than the one in the old archives.

The accompanying text was:

At the beginning it was a good feeling to suffer on the grid as a brave and firm martyr. But when they added more and more charcoal, the young Christian decided to save her skin and to offer sacrifices to the pagan deities.

Several years later:
Just after she had died an early, but natural and easy death, she realized ...
... that once she had made a big mistake ...
 

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Arcimboldo said:
To dwell on the subject of devils and smoke: Here is a version of "Apostasy" from 2005, better than the one in the old archives.

The accompanying text was:

At the beginning it was a good feeling to suffer on the grid as a brave and firm martyr. But when they added more and more charcoal, the young Christian decided to save her skin and to offer sacrifices to the pagan deities.

Several years later:
Just after she had died an early, but natural and easy death, she realized ...
... that once she had made a big mistake ...
Click to expand...
Excellent! Thank you very much. That is exactly the kind of pic and text that I'm looking for.
 
What is this picture about?
1) A compassionate passer-by decides to fetch a bucket of water to extinguish the threatening flames.
2) The compassionate passer-by is neither compassionate nor a passer-by. She is the slaveholder who has just set light to the wooden baton. Now she is going home to enjoy the grilled chicken menu her remaining household slaves have prepared.
3) The passer-by is going to fetch a bucket of water. By her own fingers she will endearingly spread the cool fluid on the intimate parts of the victim to slow down and extend the refining process.

What could disarm this disgusting scene of cruelty?
1) Hopefully the fire will turn the wood into crumbly charcoal and the stick might break and fall down before the flames might reach the top.
2) They have forgotten to nail the victim's feet. Perhaps she can use them to extinguish the fire? Poor feet...
3) How full is her urinary bladder?
 

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I think it's clearly #2. She is a real mean bitch of a slave owner. No messing about with fiddly ropes for her, an hammer and some bloody great nails not to mention the heavy duty whip she's obviously used. All that exercise has obviously given her an appetite and the aroma of burning flesh has tempted her back to her house where indeed some juicy grilled chicken awaits. I have however no idea what put her in such a mood with her slave and somebody else can figure out the ending.
 
melissa said:
I think it's clearly #2. She is a real mean bitch of a slave owner. No messing about with fiddly ropes for her, an hammer and some bloody great nails not to mention the heavy duty whip she's obviously used. All that exercise has obviously given her an appetite and the aroma of burning flesh has tempted her back to her house where indeed some juicy grilled chicken awaits. I have however no idea what put her in such a mood with her slave and somebody else can figure out the ending.
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Well, the semen on her thighs tells me that the flagellation and the nailing job was done not by herself, but by some male assistants.
And what put her in such a mood? The poledancer had failed to roast some doves to the satisfaction of her mistress the day before.
 
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