sorry to be posting again so soon but have no idea how to ps and can't ask really ask anywhere else on this.   basically told SO that i'm goin to CA when i'm really goin to Macau/China   (looking more like just Macau bc of time constraint).   so my question is, is there a way to ps a pic of me onto a pic of somewhere in CA that i can "conveniently" show my SO?   


yes i know i got issues.  

lol. I almost woke my SO up laughing at this. Sorry bro, it's difficult and definitely not something you would want to send to her so she has a copy, if you don't already know how to do it. That bring said its best to hit social media and send photos without yourself included. Scenic pics that aren't professional.

How are you going to settle the time difference talking to her? Good luck bro and be prepared for big roaming charges.

[ Last edited by  vinny5443 at 17-7-2013 05:40 ]

Yes, but you'll need to be pretty careful doing it or it's obvious. Go to 'Filter' and choose 'extract' from the drop-down list. You drag the brush around your shape, then 'fill' the part (you) you want PS to extract. With the two photos open beside each other, drag your mugshot onto the false background. You may have to do some resizing to get it looking right ('image' 'size' and experiment). Sometimes you have to clean up edges (use the eraser tool). The smoother/neater/less complex your outline is, the easier it is for PS to extract.
Finally, you can do 'layers' 'flatten' and then save the whole thing as a jpeg (otherwise it's a PS file and bloody obvious what you've done!)
vinny's suggestion is much easier

[ Last edited by  cass at 17-7-2013 05:46 ]

If you do end up sending some kind of fake photo, please be careful of the metadata embedded within photos these days. This can include date/time, GPS location, and even numbers to identify which phone the photos were taken with.

There are online services such as this one for removing metadata, and there are other approaches too.

I agree with vinny5443 that sending a fake photo with you in it is probably a bad idea - so many ways to be discovered.

Perhaps you can actually go to CA en route to Macau, or something like that, then snap some shots.

Also, if you need to remove stamps from your passport, household bleach works very well, dabbed on using a paper towel. But try it on an old passport first!

Gherk

thanks for the replies.   i wasnt planning on sending it to her or anything.   i was just planning on showing it to her on my phone or something.   i'm not a big picture guy so if i had lots of pics or something that would arouse suspicion.  also she's not that active on social media so i guess i couple post scenic pics on fb or something but won't know if she'll see it.

i'm probably gonna use it as a backup if anything.   won't even show her it unless i have to.   "what you talking about i went to hk?  look at this pic of me by the hollywood sign!"

hopefully won't be suspicious as i deliberatley make it a very SHORT trip.  no one in their right mind would think ny----hk in 4.5 days!

Some other issues to deal with are passport stamps, ticket receipts, and baggage tags.  All will be wrong/missing with this "fake" trip.

I've done these trips aswell,  and found ways to fake or obliterate evidence.

Wrong passport stamp:  Showing an HK entry on July 27 2013 might cause a heap of trouble.  (unless you go a lot and just need to smear the date.  If so, do it immediately after they stamp you while he ink is still wet.).  If you need to remove the "Hong Kong Immigration" details completely do what I've done -- blotted ink from a broken pen on it to totally obscure the location.  (I had to do this to a Thai stamp).  You can also ask some immigration to stamp your boarding pass, but many wont.

No Ticket information:  Hmm, you dont have any real info for your fake California trip to show her, and your real ticket purchase shows Hong Kong.  Yikes!  Ahhh, I figured out a solution.  Use an online flight booker (expedia works);  Almost-book the fake CA trip using the proper dates, and complete the full booking right up to the final step before "Confirm".  Print-Screen the final Review page before confirm. (then cancel the booking so it never charges your card). It looks exactly like a completely itinerary:  flights, dates, destination, charges, etc..  Edit/crop the image if you need to remove anything that indicates it is not an official itinerary.  This works great!  Best is to have her view it as you hurriedly run out the door to catch your flight.  She sees it just briefly as you ask her to read off the Flight # or something---  and in those few seconds sees ample evidence that you indeed have a flight booked for CA.  Yet she never sees it long enough to uncover something that might look "off".  Finally, book your REAL ticket to HK with the same website -- so when the credit card "Expedia" charge arrives it all makes sense.  (though crop off the price-paid on your fake one -- dont want to show her one price and then see a credit card bill for one that is much higher).  It really works.  Those few seconds she views the "proof" of your CA trip removes much doubt and greatly inflates your plausible deniability later on if some damning circumstantial evidence should surface (a pack of matches from Escape in your bag, or whatever).  

Baggage tags.  I got into the habit of ALWAYS removing my bag-tags immediately upon landing ("They're a nuisance" -- even on valid flights with her beside me at baggage claim.  Just a habit she knew I had and saw me do it innocently enough many times.  This explains why I always come back from trips with no bag-tags.  

Time-Zones:  Yeah, you better plan to call her (sober) at some odd hours that "simulate" the timezone you are supposed to be in.

And --- google the local weather and headlines for the city you are "supposed" to be in daily!  If something major happened (Heat wave, fire, riot, bombing, queen's visit, etc.) you better know all about it.

You may end of needing none of these tricks..., as she wasnt suspicious anyway.  But you NEED to be prepared for easy, comfortable answers; and remove any damning evidence.

Make sure she doesn't ever see your mobile phone billing.

Even if you turn it off at the airport, use a punting phone, and only turn it back on upon returning to home airport--the absence of calls from California will raise red flags.  This of course a month or so after the fact.

I've never done this but if you really want a photo try fiverr dot com. Thereare many that could mmanipulate a photo for you and should not be expensive. Mind you, I've never done it and agree with others that it could be dangerous. Otherwise try something like elance.com to post a project and see what comes back. It will be alot more professional but it will be more expensive.

Wander is the man on the other details. Pay homage to the master...... Hehe.

Wander, although I like your technique, the household bleach technique works ridiculously well on passport stamps, and avoids leaving any offending marks in your passport.

The only thing I've found that it doesn't work well on is ball point pen, where the officer sometimes writes a date on top of a stamp (i.e.: "valid until" date). Even then, you get left with a date but no incriminating stamp.

Since this works so well, let me expand on the technique a little.

Step 1: Buy some household bleach, the same stuff used to disinfect a floor or to help laundry be white. Clorox is a good brand, but any brand will do.

Step 2: Take a paper towel, and moisten a portion of it with the bleach. No need for it to be soaking wet, because you don't want to flood your passport. I suppose you might want to wear rubber gloves, but I never have, and have never suffered any consequences beyond having disinfected hands. But you wouldn't want to be rubbing your eyes until you've washed your hands!

Step 3: Dab, don't rub or wipe, the passport stamp. Just one second is enough. The stamp and the paper it is sitting on will become wet. Wait 10 to 20 seconds, and watch with glee as the stamp gradually disappears. If it disappears completely, you're done. If not, dab again and again until it is all gone. I have found that this process usually takes me all of about 2 minutes to complete.

Step 4: At this point, realize that you've done it! Just leave the passport open to dry for half an hour, and that's all there is to it.

I have tried this with friends using passports from the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia, and it works very well. I've used it on Macau stamps, Thai stamps, and even a PI stamp. It does not change the color of the paper at all. It does not "look funny" under ultraviolet light, it looks normal (yes, I've checked). And, most importantly, it seems to pass muster when presented to immigration officials the next time you enter a country.

Just in case it doesn't work well with your kind of passport, try it on an old expired passport if you can.

But in my experience, it has worked very well.

Gherk


[ Last edited by  ggherkin at 16-7-2013 15:59 ]

BSD: One more thing:

When your wife needs to reach you urgently, and phones your hotel in CA, what will she find? To really do this properly, you'd need to go to CA, check in, then carry on to your punting destination. Then, when your wife phones the hotel, you at least will be checked in, even if she cannot reach you.

One time, my wife could not reach my cell phone for reasons that perhaps had something to do with the network. She phoned my hotel, and thank goodness she didn't find I wasn't even registered there. Although it could be explained away, each such explanation erodes a trust that you probably don't want to be eroded (at least I don't).

In other words: Prepare for the worst before going and doing your best

Gherk

[ Last edited by  ggherkin at 16-7-2013 17:08 ]

HK arnt stamping visitors passports any more just a label which you can easily remove.

Although Macau are still stamping

If you staying HK you have no issues with that - as for photoshop you are asking for trouble.

I do not reccomed photoshopping.  It is much easier to take real photos and just claim they are in CA.  For example, take one at the airport.  Just make sure there is no writing behind you or too many Asians.  Or take one at the beach.  They all basically look the same.  In the Venetian Casino is an In-and-Out burger, which is famous in Southern California, so you could do that too.  Take a photo of you eating the burger with the wrapper showing (or drinking the soda) and be careful of the background.

If you are really worried, tell her your trip has changed to Las Vegas.  Then you can take a load of photos at Wynn or Venetian in Macau and no one will know the difference.

Wow, this is quite a thread. LOL

You can actually book a ticket all the way through. I know with the big airlines, have only tried United, you can cancel your flight within 24 hours of booking your flight, so you can book it, get the confirmation email and print out your itinerary, then cancel it free of charge.

One thing you have to worry about is the long flights where you have no access to phone/internet. I think this creates the biggest problem depending on how often you're in contact with her. Make sure to make prior arrangements on contact before you leave.

I thought the same as whome, although I use the frequent visitor lane. I know that the china border is printing a ticket and stapling it in your passport. China and Macau still stamp though, I believe.

Thanks for all the advice.    I have a lot to learn it seems.   I thought I was bad but it is comforting to know that I have many kindred spirits here!

@kaleu thanks for the in and out burger.   I thought about tge vegas aspect with the venetian. But ive been rhere so many time that she knows I dont want to go to vegas.  

@wander.  Letting her glance at the California "tickets" is a good idea.   I'm in the process of getting s secret credit card.  Going to try to set it up paperless do I dont get a bill in the mail
. And just go to the bank or whatever to pay it. Not seeing a charge on the credit card fir tickets can be explained by saying my friend is buying my ticket.  

@ gherkin.  The calling her back and passport is my biggest issue right now.  She pays the phone bill so there is no way I can call her with my phone from hk.   She will be suspicous if I use a caller id blicked phone.  (Wirse than nit calling at all)   I might just conveniently leave my charger at home and just whatsapp her once I get there and turn off my phone to "save" batteries.  Thats the best I can think of for that.   

As for the passport I was just gonna wing it and hope she dont look through it right away.   Finding out in the future wont matter as much I guess. If I have an old passport to try I will definitely experiment with it.    I just applied for my hkid last year.  My relatives should have it in hk.  Should I use that?  That will get me into hk and macau without a stamp right?   How about when I reenter us? Will I get a rentry stamp ?

You should use your HKID, but in order to use it to enter Macau, you'll need to register it. I'm not a HKID holder, so my knowledge of how to do this is very fuzzy. Perhaps someone with an HKID can say what the procedure is.

The reason I know this is because while lining up in Macau last time, a lady said to an official "My HKID isn't working". He said something like "Ah, you need to register it, then it will work."

About the phone: Mmm. This is an issue. Perhaps you lost your phone on the plane, but they'll mail it back to you. But for the future, you need a better solution, or else you will get caught sooner or later.

Gherk

From a logistical standpoint (not judging your actions) this is too much IMHO.  There is a difference between having a HK trip and sneaking a Macau run, or having a CA trip and sneaking to Vegas, and having a CA trip and sneaking to HK.  I would say you have to assume you will be caught.  It sounds from your posts that you are actually okay with getting caught.

If you have relatives in HK just go visit them.  Come up with whatever reason you want for a spur of the moment trip, even if there will be some concequences at home when you return.

The key is to use as small a lie as you can.  Right now your lies are way too big.  Unless you actually want to get caught.  You can hide the activities in HK, but you can't hide the ticket, phone, and passport.  So start thinking about a plausible reason for going to HK.  Since you have relatives there I would say you can figure something out.

Unless you know a great FA artist, i would say NO.  The biggest problem here is matching the lighting and camera angle/perspective.  This would be a silly idea.  

Do what Kaleu is suggesting.....

Agree with kaleu and scootr. Too many chances of getting caught in this and changing countries is already a complication. From hk, was thinking about taking a friend to thailand but too many risks, fall ack here is macau, excuse? Gambling between old friends... At no point am I lying, am just telling my SO the part she wants to hear!!

For a perfct ps work you need same light, same aperture, matching shadows etc... Very tough to achieve properly!

But am amazed, you guys work for some secret services or something?