Advanced color shading - how the hell did he do that?:-)

[Faust]

http://www.fotoaparat.cz/g/05/05/11/102986_fa2c2.jpg
http://www.fotoaparat.cz/g/05/06/28/116535_e11d2.jpg
http://www.fotoaparat.cz/g/05/04/04/94367_7fa0a.jpg
http://www.fotoaparat.cz/g/05/06/07/110712_ecb7a.jpg
http://models.radexakar.com/pic/portret/pict0088.jpg
http://models.radexakar.com/pic/book/consafo.jpg

[Jeronimas]

There was a thread on this forum about one of those photos, just can't remember how to find it. But I'm sure that someone will find it .

p.s. www.fotoaparat.cz/g/05/06/28/116535_e11d2.jpg thats the one, I'm talking about

Found it - http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/sho...ghlight=conrad

[studioj]

I watched this kind of effect in the 4th Season of America's Next Top Model TV Show, and it surprised me.

What I did to have this shades in one picture it's:

1. Choose the main colors, as you can see, you have son dry blues (sorry, the translation sucks, but in spanish it's very good term ), gray, gray navy green and the skin tones are great on real skin + cyan.

2. Mask skin.

3. Mask clothes

4. Mask details (tree, or windows, what ever you want).

Well, I don't really use separated masks, I create paths of each thing.

5. Once I have the background masked or the skin and clothes in a separated chanel, I use the Paint Brush (B Key) with a large size and mode "COLOR", this way the luminosity stays but the shade now it's made of the tone I have on my brush.

I do the same with the skin and the clothes.

Of course I use levels for the final shades, but that's the idea.

If I have the time, I'll do an example.

[studioj]

Ok, here is a quick example, not very detailed but it's clear

As you can see on Attachment 2, there are just solid color layers with blending mode to COLOR, and I use the red chanel invert to mask almost everyone

[Faust]

Jeronimas: thanks a lot man, that´s what i needed, luckily I have chosen this photo as an example:o)

[palomino]

I was just discussing this metallic look with a friend of mine, and we boiled it down to several of the things discussed here...good lighting/makeup/model/photo quality... also the use of a diffuser to prevent any harsh lighting. In PS I think slight overall desaturation, then removal of yellows to give the coolness. Increasing the contrast will really make the highlights pop. This is a photo I pulled off stock exchange to use as an example.

-Kate

[shellby]

Do a search for Paint with Light or Dragon technique.

http://www.fiscusphoto.com/

Also try www.dpreview.com as they discuss these a lot.

another one is www.photoshoptechniques.com

[Gigadals]

Kate,

that's really good! how did you do that?


Giga

[goose443]

I tried the following with very positive results.

1. Make a luminosity selection and tweak it in quick mask with levels or curves so you only have the brightest points of interest in the image. Make sure to keep a featherd gradient towards the darker tones so you don't get a harsh transition.

2. Make a new layer with just the selection

3. Desaturate and lighten this new layer.

4. Create a color overlay at a low opacity with the color blending mode. Choose a cool color that goes with your desired color scheme.

Give this a try and you might be surprised with the results. It maintains the richly colored darker tones while giving you a more desaturated highlight. The color overlay helps create a slight color shift in the direction you want.

Of course as Kate says, it is important to have a good original.

[goose443]

I took a stab at Kate's pic with the above technique. You can see how subtle detail is preserved in the face.

[palomino]

thanks giga, goose yours also looks quite good too. I did a bit more "glamour" type corrections to mine after the color/luminosity adjustments (fixing odd spots/wrinkles etc) but other than that it really just has to do with careful contrast and color adjustments to "cool off" the feel of the photo. Selective color tweaks or desaturation of warm skintones is important. Anyone care to post up another photo they are going for this effect on? That way we can all practice on it!

-Kate

[Faust]

some new stuff from the same photographer (a guy nicknamed Schizza from Prague)

http://www.klucivespolek.cz/web/geis...a-gejsa-FP.jpg
http://www.klucivespolek.cz/web/wind...-gejsa-web.jpg
http://www.klucivespolek.cz/web/sabi...a-louka-01.jpg
http://www.klucivespolek.cz/web/The%...le-Mermaid.jpg
http://www.klucivespolek.cz/web/in%2...he-city-FA.jpg
http://www.klucivespolek.cz/web/castle/zuzka-castle.jpg

[makeovermagic]

hi faust,

is this close to what you're looking for?

[Faust]

In the other thread focused on this style, many people tried to imitate it from a source image from the same photographer - http://www.klucivespolek.cz/web/Lenk...-u-2005-FA.jpg - which is pretty easy, as it´s a low-key picture which seemingly recieved some "treatment" already It´s easy to achieve this cold look on that one just by using selective color/photo filter.

[makeovermagic]

is this any closer? if not, i give up