Dear All,

Came across this man:
http://www.studiobild.com/

He is a frequent participant of the dpreview retouching forum where he several times mentioned that he uses Lucisart, mainly Whyeth, plus other techniques.

Can anyone figure out how he does that stuff? I wonder which parts of the image or at which stages of the post-processing the Lucisart is used and how the terrible noise and miscolour produced by the plug-in are overcome and such clear colours and pure details are achieved???

I will highly appreciate your hints!!!

One thing that helps tone down the "Lucis Art" look is using noise reduction software (Neat Image, Noise Ninja, etc.) prior to running Lucis. Another is running Lucis on duped layer, then reducing opacity. Still another is using masks.

One handy mask trick is to activate your image layer by clicking on it, then hitting Ctrl+Alt+~, then hitting the "create layer mask" icon at the bottom of the layers palette. Run Lucis on this layer. Try inverting or running levels on the mask to further refine it. Experiment.

You might also try communication with him directly as he is frequently on DPR. Also, a general question posted to the group will usually get you lots of good tips.


--
Pam
http://www.pbase.com/pam_r
'art is working on something 'til you like it...then leaving it that way'

Good points, Pam! I described my own similar approach to working with Lucis Art and posted examples on this thread (http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/lucisart-support-forum/14631-there-comprehensive-pro-tutorial.html#post133447).

Lucis is great as a base.
You can work from there.

Here some examples from very obvious to hardly noticable.

http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Corine%2020%20Juli%202006%2023.jpg

http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Talentenbeurs%20Corine%20en%20Collin%2027%20augustus%202006%2041.jpg


http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Roosmarijn_21_September_2006_35.jpg

http://www.doorhof.nl/models/albums/userpics/10001/Evelien_voorhuys_23_September_2006-54.jpg

I use mostly whyeth or exposure, and mix them with the original.
ALOT of postprocessing is not needed, but mostly between 20-60 minutes per photo.

The only problem I find is the preview window which is not completly correct, but further I love the plugin. You can really use it to an extend it's not seen as lucis unless you know you used it :D

I love the way Lucis Art works on classic car photos (http://www.plugsnpixels.com/gallery.html)! Your model with the car reminded me.

Thank a lot for the comments!
Yes, "Ctrl+Alt+~" works to considerably improve the "cleanliness" of the result but the skin looks still dirty...

Thank a lot for the comments!
Yes, "Ctrl+Alt+~" works to considerably improve the "cleanliness" of the result but the skin looks still dirty...
Here is how I clean up the skin and leave the rest of the Lucis Art effect intact.
Run Lucis Art on your image. Select All and copy (apple A, apple C on the mac). In your history, go back to the original state and paste (apple v). You should now have two layers with the Lucis Art image layer on top. Select the Lucis Art image layer and apply a layer mask - blending mode normal. Using a soft black brush, lower the oppacity (you may have to pay with the oppacity and size of the brush to get what you want) and paint out what you don't like on the mask.
Hope this helps. :grin:
~Nancy~
____________________________________________________
www.iphotofx.com

Sorry I have been away.

The Lucis algorithm is designed to work on the intensity information in an image. With color images the RGB is converted to Hue Saturation and Luminance (HSL). Lucis works on the L channel. Then the new L is combined with the old HS and converted to RGB. So sometimes you can get color shifts which you may or may not want. You can easily use layers in Photoshop to correct this. This is described in the color correction usage tip at http://www.lucisart.com/pUsage.htm

Basically you assign the colors of the original image to the LucisArt image. Put the LucisArt image on one layer. Then put the original image on the layer above it. On the layer with the original image use the blend mode color. You will see that most of the colors do not change but if you have a few small gray or orange areas they will go away.

If you are seeing drastic image differences between the preview image and the final image and you have installed a cracked or bookleg copy of LucisArt then that is the problem. There are some cracked versions out there that do not work. As mentioned in this site if you have installed a cracked version that does not work then even the correct LucisArt won't work.

Barbara