Okay, so I happen to have seen some images in the 'before' state that were extremly light and well lit. It was daytime in an office building full of windows in fact.

And yet, the finished products are these attachments...

Can anyone explain how in the heck this is done?! I've tried levels, exposure, desaturating, channel mixing, color balance...everything but the kitchen sink. I know it's got to be something simple that I'm just missing.

Any takers?!

can you post the original images so we can see what the before looked like?

Looks like allot of vignetting, and burning. possibly layers set to multiply and masked? Hard to say without seeing the original image.

No, I don't have access to the originals. They were just exactly what you see only with bright lighting instead of it looking like night time.

Hi sockolt,
Try the shadow/highlight, adj. the shadows and midtone contrast etc. to taste. Made this one lighter with the s/h adj.
Ray

I've only played in the shadow highlight twice with mixed results. It's going to take some more playing for me to feel totally comfortable, but I would have to say that you're on the money with the idea of using it! Thanks!

You are welcome. Take the lighter version adj. the shadows & midtone contrast to make it look like the darker one.
Ray

like that one???
59665

I've wondered the same thing.


Here's the best example of what I think you mean as well:

original is well lit and lovely
retouch is dark, moody and lovelier.

This is from Amy Dresser's portfolio site.

How's this done?

Sockolt,
My experience has been that these are not anything simple. The workflows are quite complex and often have upwards of 30 layers or more. Most are more successful in building the effect slowly rather than quickly.
Getting someone to share their workflow may be difficult. Most are protected and those from the industry sign non-disclosure agreements.
So, you just have to invent your own !
Best of luck !

yeh, no.

Add a white to black gradient and cycle through the blending modes. Its that easy.

Sometimes just try layering an unrelated image over it and cycling through the blending modes.

In my manipulation here
http://rdelw.deviantart.com/art/Trident-81454813

I copied the clouds in the background , put it on the top layer and linear dodged it. The original pictures (of me) are very well lit and were taken outside on a bright day.