Getting the feel of this photo

[kewldude]

Hi. First and foremost, I want to give props to the owner of this photo from deviant art (punkitubella).

And now to my question, my question is how do you get this kind of "feel" using photoshop cs3? It seems there were some play of colors here (Color Balance?). I tried using photoshop, but I cant seem to get the right mix. Any leads?

[Vernon]

In my cursory view of the image it appears to me that a blue layer (think cooling filter on a camera) may have been used, then areas masked out to allow "normal" colors to show through.

I see what may be smudging on skin (forearms, and eyelids), but it may just the monitor I'm viewing this through.

[kewldude]

Thanks for the reply Vernon. Anymore leads? thanks.

[TommyO]

Normally, I just email the artist and ask. They are often very willing to share their basic work flow, or parts of it. They just prefer to retain anything they consider a "trade secret". Most have been very helpful in the past.

[holgaman]

That photo looks like it could have been run through a plug-in such as Alienskin Exposure. Maybe a combination of a little bit of cross-processing and a Polaroid effect.

[kewldude]

so you mean to say, this is not possible via plain photoshop work?

[kapalika]

i suggest to take it to ps and try to achive most natural look
my try is attached below
and then you can assume how it was possibly done

What i got from this:
-yellow cast in highlights
-blue cast in shadows
-and then in mid tones cyan, green, blue cast
-little bit more saturation
-more contrast

of course result can be slightly different it depends how " natural" you get it at first

[holgaman]

I think it could be done in Photoshop (I haven't tried myself), but the plug-in would make getting to the final result quicker and easier. The result in the photo you posted looked similar to effects I've been able to get using Exposure, so that's what made me think if it.

[Maya]

Hi,

it looks to me that this is done with an Action, to start with. Later there was some fine-tuning with contrasts and brigtness and/or with curves.

DeviantArt has many free actions and action-sets with the same kind of "feel". You can download an action that comes close, duplicate it and make a new adjusted action of it. Be careful not to let the action merge and flatten the layers, before you are content with the look and you can experiment longer with the modes.

Maya

portfolio

www.artwanted.com/gabrielle

[0lBaldy]

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[DJSoulglo]

It's overblown, so the levels are pushed way too far. Then there's just some playing with color, selective color/playing with color sliders in the levels dialog. Then some grain added.