The "Pale Face" Effect - How?

[ChicaFlaquita]

I have been obsessed with this effect, but have never been able to manage it (at least not on pictures of me). Apparently it's not a secret, because people have figured it out, like in these two album covers I have attached. (Fallen by Evanescence and Burlesque) Now, I also realize it's possible that Photoshop may be the only program that can achieve this (with the masking tool maybe?) and Paint.net can't. That's okay. I just need to know these things. It's difficult for me to attempt to look up what I'd like to know because I have no idea how to phrase my question without photos. So, I am all ears. Any plug-ins that might help? Other considerations? Anything?

Thanks for your time,

V

[pdnnoob]

Yes, it can be done. There's a few plugins that might help you, though...

The first (burlesque) look like it was done with a mask.

1. Duplicate the layer twice and increase the contrast of the top until the lips are completely black and the area around them is white. Use the brush tool to color everything else white.

2. Select everything and press ctrl+c. Turn off the visibility of the layer and go to the second layer.

3. Press ctrl+shift+g to turn it black and white (or decrease the saturation using the hue/saturation adjustment)

4. Use alpha mask with the "paste from clipboard" box checked.

5. Flatten the image and you're done.

The second one (evanescence) can be achieved by simply using the color tint effect. This is definitely the easier method of the two as you don't need to isolate the lips with a mask.

Increasing the contrast of the image will help, too. In some cases, it may be all you need if you're lucky.