Fake model photography

posted by carlos24, Jan 31, 2008 10:35 PM — 21 comments

Here is somthing that you could start of with... (high res click here)


And this is what you will hopefully end up with... (high res click here)


This is quite an effective technique as it enables you to do many different types of photos/graphics. So here is how you do it.

Firstly you will need PhotoShop (PS) to do this, you can always download free trail versions by clicking here . Once you have downloaded it or opened up your own version, you will need to find a suitable image. You can download the high res one of the one i used by clicking here .

Once you have opened it up in PS, press the Q key. Doing this will change to quick mask tool. Once that is done press G to choose gradient tool. Make sure that you have 'reflected gradient', or the button that looks like a cylinder shape selected.

After doing that click and hold the mouse button, Choose where you want the focal point of the photo to be which is normally about halfway between top and bottom of the image.


After you have got somthing like that, press Q to get out of quick mask. Then go to filters --> blur --> lens blur. You will then get a box appear. You can tamper around with the settings to your liking, but as a starter you can use these...


Make sure you click invert. Specular highlight brightness will brighten brighter parts of an image. After you have done this, you will need to mess around with the curves of the image to add the 'fakeness' or feeling of an artificial landscape. To access the curves click on Image --> Adjustments --> Curves. Once you have clicked on that, a window like this will appear.


I suggest that you use the same output - input numbers as I have used. This takes a bit of messing arround to get it to the right numbers depending on what image / graphic you are using.