Okay i've got two select images that i think really show off the moody look really well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/TristeFoc/96286623_0b91974848_o.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/TristeFoc/96286569_82d1c1d527_o.jpg

I kinda understand what's going on here-burning and dodging, increase of saturation and also the use of a circular polariser to get the blue sky...but does anyone else have any other view as to how to achieve this PP?

I'd really love to try it out on portraiture, as in wide angle ones...

TIA!

Well both photos have used a wide angle lens with distortion and very high contrast with high saturation and a somewhat dark tone. For help on how to get that look why don't you post a picture and then ask help on how to change it to look like your examples.

Great idea! phil, i'll just find a suitable picture to use for this scheme....

i just find it extremely interesting how he's able to get the contrast going real high without being jarring...its not as if it's over saturated somehow....

To me those pictures look very similar to the high contrast effect I posted about here:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12660

I would try Mig's method he described in post #5, I think you'll have good success wtih it, just play with varying oppacity of the multiplied and screened layers and use a curves adj. layer to tweak it and I think you'll be able to get the high contrast look very close to what they show in that picture.

Then probably mask out the foreground subject and apply whatever saturation increase to it you want. There's a chance they didn't even add any saturation to it, it could just look that way against that high contrast background.

T

Some other things to note.

there is a dark vignette either post processed or caused by the wide angle lens..

Looks like there is some red channel blending to me as well. Granted a polarizer helps a sky out it seems too dark even for a polarizer.

Try copying the red channel and blending with multiply or color burn..

hmm...i checked out the other post, but the effect's somewhat disimilia(as in the other thread touches on high-key exposures)r....in the examples i've posted-it does seem to be that a lot of dodging and burning has been done besides the extreme saturation...the dodging part i can get...i've tried opening the image in PS and burning further, seems like that's one part of the solution to get the contrast down first.

I'm just extremely how is it that such rich hues are achieved but yet it looks so very moody.what do you guys think?

Whenever I see clouds like that, I think "clarify filter!".

I dug up a bland-looking image I have and did the following in Paintshop Pro X (first attachment is original, second is processed.)

1. Clarify Filter at maximum strength (ran clarify on all three color channels individually.)
2. Used the select color range tool to get the blue part of the sky.
3. Transferred that selection to the alpha channel of a curve adjustment layer. The curve was adjusted to darken the bluer parts of the sky.
4. Added a second curve layer with a radial gradient to add the dark vignette around the edges.
5. Slight desaturation. If I had a car, I'd do this desaturation on everything but the car.

I think this begins to approximate the effect--only took a few minutes. I started with a sub-par image from an old P&S, but it's what I stumbed on first.

Bart

I selected the sky and copied it using mutliply blending mode. The rest I copied to another layer (using photoshop) and used vivid light blending mode. After combining these two layers I used a curves adjustment layer to lighten the center of the picture. I could have used the warp tool in photoshop to distort the image to a wide angle appearing lens but didn't.

bart,

1. Clarify Filter at maximum strength (ran clarify on all three color channels individually.) ok, how did you do this? did you split the channels first or what? and if you split them, when you put them back with the original, how did you combine them and what blend mode(s) did you use?

2. Used the select color range tool to get the blue part of the sky. huh? what 'select color range tool' ?? you talking about the eye dropper or something else?

3. Transferred that selection to the alpha channel of a curve adjustment layer. i know how to get a selection into an alpha channel, but how did you apply it to a curves adjustment layer?
The curve was adjusted to darken the bluer parts of the sky.
4. Added a second curve layer with a radial gradient to add the dark vignette around the edges. and the same here, how did you apply a radial gradient to a curves layer?

boy, it may be time for me to go back and actually read the manual! even the help files have no reference to some of the things you're saying you're doing here.

craig

Quote:
2. Used the select color range tool to get the blue part of the sky.
huh? what 'select color range tool' ?? you talking about the eye dropper or something else?


Go to the menu along the top. There is a menu called SELECT and in there you will find Colour Range. It is a great way to make selections of things such as hair or skin that you want to apply a blur to for example.

There is anothor way of making the sky dark without photoshop post-processing or polariser. You will need very powerful portable flash units to illuminate the car and stop down the lens to very small aperture, setting the exposure 2-3 stops about the ambient light..the flash will overpower the ambient light creating dark moody sky..basically the sky and surrounding are underexposed. If you overdo this, you can turn the day into night :wink:

However your sample photos seem to be done in post-processing because the pipes and the road behind are exposed according to the ambient light level.

shellby,

thank you. found it :)

craig

ok, how did you do this? did you split the channels first or what? and if you split them, when you put them back with the original, how did you combine them and what blend mode(s) did you use?
craig

Yes, you split them first into greyscale versions of the R,G, and B channels. Then run clarify on each of these. Then recombine them.

You can split them using the "split to RGB" menu, and recombine them using the "combine from rgb" command. Both of these are under the "image" menu. I do this so much, I have a script that does the whole thing.

http://home.comcast.net/~zumbari/Scripts/Clarify_RGB.PspScript



huh? what 'select color range tool' ?? you talking about the eye dropper or something else?


Shellby explained it. Due to a quirk in the tool, you have to make a tiny selection prior to using this tool (~1x1 pixel) on a color in your image you will want to select. Then go to "Selections>modify>select color range". Now go back to the image and click the eyedropper on that selection. Make sure the "add color range" is checked. Slide the tolerance and softness sliders around to modify what colors are being selected. You can see your selection changing dynamically in the "after" window.

To get the amount of sky I wanted, this actually selected too much stuff. So rerun that tool, check the "subtract color range", tighten the tolerance and/or softness, and start removing colors from your selection.


i know how to get a selection into an alpha channel, but how did you apply it to a curves adjustment layer?


When you have selection marqee showing (aka walking ants), go to the layer palette, right mouse click on the active layer, "new adjustment layer->curves". Click okay in the dialog box and the selection will have been automatically put into the alpha channel for the new adjustment layer. If you look at the thumbnail in the layer palette, you will see the selection has been applied to the adjustment layer's alpha channel. I attached my layer palette for this image so you can see the alpha channel impressed into the curve layer (curves 4). If you look closely enough, you'll see the blue parts of the sky are white in the alpha channel and the white parts of the sky are darker. Consequently, the darkening effect of the curve layer applies more strongly to the blue parts of the sky. You can also see I didn't quite get rid of all non-sky areas, but it was close enough. You could get a black brush and paint on that part of the alpha channel to darken all non-sky areas if it mattered.


The curve was adjusted to darken the bluer parts of the sky.
and the same here, how did you apply a radial gradient to a curves layer?


Just select the adjustment layer and flood fill the gradient. The attachment shows the gradient showing -- "curves 1".

Bart

hmmm bart, pretty good example! but what is the equivalent of the clarify filter in photoshop?

or anyone?

I actually spent some time prior to my original post trying to use only photoshop features, and I think I sort of got close using the unsharp mask at radius 40, strength 200, clipping 0 (uncheck the luminance-only box). Then create a blank layer with burn blend mode and paint a light, low saturation blue. That's for the sky. For other parts of the photo, there are probably other combos. Clarify is adaptive--it's behavior varies from one part of the photo to the next based not only on the pixel values, but on the change in pixel values (local contrast). Consequently, it's challenging to mimick with standard filter combinations.

If you look closely at the pictures you posted, you can see evidence of brushing--ie., notice how the sky brightens near the margins between land and sky. So, that author did the sky by hand--probably a burn brush or something like that. I think he probably started with a photo much closer to the correct answer in the first place.

Bart

bart,

thanks :)

i've pretty much been doing the same things. i just didnt know all the technical stuff about the alpha layer and what was going on there. so, your explanation sounded like something odd to me, where it really wasnt. i also dont use the thumbnails in the layer palette. takes up too much room and i can see the thumbs if i roll the mouse over the individual layers, so i almost always leave them off.

now, i had forgotten about the select color range. i've used it before, but sparingly. i normally just use 'edit selection' to correct my selections, but the color range tool was useful in this one. one question there, though. you have both the add and subtract color in the same window and when you go back and forth between those it seems a bit odd. you always have a color selected so when you switch add to subtract or subtract to add, that color is the one that gets affected as you switch. that's not always desirable. is there a way to keep the thing from changing like that? and is there a way to make cumulative changes, other than hitting ok and doing it again? seems like a good tool that could be made great with some cumulative effects.

craig

i also dont use the thumbnails in the layer palette. takes up too much room and i can see the thumbs if i roll the mouse over the individual layers, so i almost always leave them off.


I *love* thumbnails in the layer palette. When I'm working, I keep them small-20 pixels or so--I only temporarily blow them up for posts here to simplify explanations. I was glad that feature finally got added in version X.


now, i had forgotten about the select color range. i've used it before, but sparingly. i normally just use 'edit selection' to correct my selections, but the color range tool was useful in this one.


I use both a lot, although I skipped that here. I use select color range to get it close, then finish up with edit selection.


one question there, though. you have both the add and subtract color in the same window and when you go back and forth between those it seems a bit odd. you always have a color selected so when you switch add to subtract or subtract to add, that color is the one that gets affected as you switch. that's not always desirable. is there a way to keep the thing from changing like that? and is there a way to make cumulative changes, other than hitting ok and doing it again? seems like a good tool that could be made great with some cumulative effects.

craig

I know what you mean about the initial view in the "after" window being completely bizarre until you've actally chosen an approriate color and add/subtract selection. The only way I can think of to alter the behavior of the tool like this is to write a script that pre-loads the dialog and lauches it. Then you could put that script in the menu instead of the tool. You make an "add to selection" and "subtract from selection" script.

To make cumulative changes, you have to hit okay and then restart the tool. I have this tool in my toolbar (along with edit selection), so it's just one button click to bring it up again.

Bart

thanks bart.

yes, scripting might work for the select color range. and yes, for cumulative, that's all i could find too.

i think of all the additions to psp over the years, edit selection is one of my favorites, with digi noise removal a close second.

ah, change the thumb size. that might be acceptable.

glad someone else here knows and uses psp :) trying to translate ps into psp gets old real quick. i think we shld picket doug for a psp forum like ps has ;)

craig