Simulated merging of reflective bodies

[DidgeFrank]

I did a photoshoot with two people in close contact while both are wearing shiny outfits.
I want to add an effect such that it looks like the material flows into each other.
I did some experiments with the Liquify tool, but so far I am not satisfied with the results.
Do I have to use a completely different approach or just practice long enough?
Please bear with me and don't expect a vast Photoshop knowledge from me.

 

[gedstar]

Hi and welcome to PSG

Could you upload the photo's it may help our members to help you

 

[DidgeFrank]

Hi and welcome to PSG

Could you upload the photo's it may help our members to help you

Hey, thanks for the reply.
Since I am a little bit concerned about sharing my pictures I will show you just a cut out of the whole thing.
I hope it will suffice to get the gist of it.

 

[agentmoeller]

Do you want to keep the two different outfit colors?

 

[DidgeFrank]

Do you want to keep the two different outfit colors?

It would be nice to keep the two colors but it could get too complicated, I guess.
An intermediate color between pink and blue could als be nice.
Perhaps like in these pictures (I cut out some representative parts because its too explicit otherwise).

I am not sure what went wrong but I cannot delete my post, so I hope the pictures are acceptable.

 

[IamSam]

Hello.

There are many ways to accomplish this effect..........here's one.

I did this very fast so it's not perfect. One problem is that your trying two blend different colors unlike your example in which the two suits are the same color.

I duplicated the original since we will be working directly on a copy. I then used the Smudge Tool to make the initial "flow". I then used the Brush Tool for blending and touch up.
Next I created a new layer for the highlight which I made with the Pen Tool. I did this on the new layer so I had better control over how they appeared. Here the highlight is very subdued as it lays in a shadowed area.


When it come to covering hands............you will need to borrow material. In other words, select, copy and paste material over the hand, then use the above described method to blend.
This will require some drawing/painting skills.

Good luck............big project.

 

[DidgeFrank]

Thanks! This already looks very nice! I will try to use the suggested workflow, but I think it will take some time...
Are there any special adjustments for the smudge and brush or did you modify them during the painting (I mean except for size obviously).

 

[IamSam]

Are there any special adjustments for the smudge and brush or did you modify them during the painting (I mean except for size obviously).

I did set the Smudge tool to about 90% strength and I used various settings on the Brush Tool, mainly used a soft brush and lowered the the flow to around 4%...............I was using a Wacom Tablet so you may not get the same effect with the mouse. You will just have to experiment.

 

[DidgeFrank]

Well, you were right about having to have "some drawing/painting skills" for this project...糞！

 

[IamSam]

Well, you were right about having to have "some drawing/painting skills" for this project...糞！

Yeah............. Post and update if you feel like it, I would like to see how's it going.

 

[DidgeFrank]

Well, my main problem is with the loss of structure after smudging and honestly I am not really able to introduce realistic looking shadows with the brush tool...