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

[Verywierd]

Hows this?

[Faust]

:-) thank you, it´s close, but not quite the same I guess:-) this is what I got: http://www.faustyle.com/id13121-1148054596.jpg using levels, photo filter, selective color and everything masked... and seemingly it´s STILL NOT IT, grr

[Arandel]

Creating photos of the caliber you linked to requires time and effort, impossible to reduce to a few measly steps. My spin on this would be to play around with the blue channel and then adding on Hue/Saturation, Selective Color, and Color Fill - variating the opacity as well as blending option. Then on top of this, you would have to go in and paint with light and shadow. There are several methods for this, most of which have been discussed on RetouchPro previously. So sit down and let your creativity go...

Arandel

[Flora]

Closer or already too much?

[leuallen]

Faust,

I don't think you are going to get the results you envision with this type of of photo. Much of the effect of the photos you have linked to as examples depends upon the color of the background being distorted from reality as well as the subject.

The girl on the couch does not have the impact that you expect because there is no color visual clue for the background - the couch could be any color and we would accept it as natural. Thus the background does not appear color distored.

The effect is still present in the subject but the overall effect is lacking - the girl just seems to be abnormally colored in a normal background. If the girl were laying in the woods were the background has color clues, I think the effect would be much more dramatic.

I have attached two images in which I have varied the background color. Maybe it makes my point, maybe not. As for the skin tones, heaven knows what I did. Hue/Sat and Selective color adj. layers with saturation masks.

Larry

[Mig]

Hi Faust,

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but usually i'm pretty good at this type of thing.

Each image is a little different.

Try desaturating the picture to begin with, but not completely. Then go into the channels pallette and duplicate a channel a couple times and make some simple masks, if you know how. What you're going for with the masks is to create ones with varying contrast, so you can get at the darks and lights to varying degrees. You'll need these as you go along. However, the effect can be achieved without masks.

Then think about the hue you want as the primary hue for the pic. This guy likes blues. They're moody. This hue, along with contrast, and the wispy nature of the photos themselves is what tricks the eyes and draws them in and provokes an emotional reaction to the photo. This is the secret.

When you have the hue right, work on the contrast, or vice versa, doesn't matter. His pics are very contrasty.

There's a couple things to help finish it that will make a big difference. You need to either make selections or use the masks as selections that I recommended you make at the beginning. These masks (or selections) would be used to either/or, further boost contrast in specific areas, but more importantly, add subtle changes to hues, and you'd do that by using the tools in ps for colour, such as selective colour, colour balance, or curves, or whatever you're comfortable with. Even variations might work, as would duotones.

Also, consider experimenting with with screen and multiply modes and adding layer masks or just erase if you don't use layer masks. The multiply layers would be for the shadows of the pic, and the screen would be for the highlights. Reduce opacity for both of these layers though.

Also, add a layer on top of the layer order and put black gradients (to transparency) into the corners and darker regions that you want to de-emphasize and play with the layers' opacity. This will further draw the viewers focus into what you want them to be looking at, which in the case of your personal photo is the girl's face, esp her eyes and lips.

I've seen this thread several times here; it's a nice effect he does. With the original photo the effect can be duplicated just as he does it by measuring the hue/sat and other issues with the pic using photoshop's info pallette. This is a worthwhile tool to learn to use. I think most people aren't aware it exists or don't know how to use it.

I hope this helps. You'll have to experiment. A tutorial would be much easier to follow and since seeing this thread repeated several times I considered putting a tutorial together so people could get some ideas on how this is accomplished and return to it later, but last time I wrote one for this site several people trashed it so I'm done with tutorials here. Perhaps I'll put one up for this on my personal site if I get around to it.

I hope this helps anyway - if you like the effect but I was unclear, just pm me.

gl,

mig

[makeovermagic]

Mig, that looks great! i don't know about anyone else, but i'd like to learn more details.

Marsha

[ariana_falerni]

That looks amazing, I'd love to learn from you too. Please let us know if you do a tutorial on it on your site

[Squggle]

Hi, just a thought but have you tried a low opacity grad map and then just brushed the bits back in you want? I'm very impressed with this guy's work....

Have you tried emailing him? I can't see him turning you away.

[Faust]

leuallen: that´s a good point, thank you. it actually crossed my mind as well. Here´s my other picture to play with, I think that the colours and background are much more suitable for emphasizing the effect - http://www.fotoaparat.cz/g/06/05/04/226588_bfff3.jpg

Mig: thank you, I think you are close to the desired look. I know how to use techniques such as painting with light, blue channel etc separately, but just cant figure it out. any tutorial welcome!

Squggle: yes that´s definitely part of the process, I am trying that as well I know the photographer pretty well, but he quite understandably doesn´t want to share his magic sometimes he organizes a small workshop here in Czech Rep., I promise I will share the secret with you all once I take a share in it here are some more pictures if you like his style - http://www.klucivespolek.cz/web/ . P.S.: please forgive me my horrible english

[1STLITE]

Ok, I had to give this a try as well. How's this?

[leuallen]

Tried the new picture you listed.

Feel like I am getting closer but not there yet.

Larry

[1STLITE]

I gave it a try as well with your pic. But I am wondering if it is more the lighting that makes the biggest difference? Maybe if in your image the light were more from the side as in the example you are going for, it would be easier to get a match?

(some rough making here - sorry.)

Dawn

[Faust]

I have to agree with you that it´s the lighting that makes the biggest difference. take a look at a few pictures made by a mate of mine today, with a 500W strobe/flash and softbox above the models. the first one is without ANY ps corrections, just underexposing the background during the shot and changing the white balance from raw... in the second picture, the left part is just slightly saturated with reds and yellows emphasized, the second one a bit desaturated, that´s all... I thing I am selling my CS2 and getting a new softbox guys:o)

http://www.neweselo.com/_galls/ukazka.jpg
http://www.neweselo.com/_galls/ktery.jpg

[1STLITE]

Yeah I am on my way to getting some lighting - wish I could say it was decent lighting. But, I will have to save up for that. Say - how much you want for CS2? lol

As it is I cannot even afford decent strobes. But I know I have alot to learn about lighting, so I will wait to make that investment, after I figure out what I am doing with my cheap-o set of hot lights. BTW - can you use soft boxes with hot lights? Or am I going to be limited to the umbrellas?