How to get the Patrick Hoelck look?

[eosguy]

Hi all,

Really enjoy reading through the forums and getting some ideas on retouching techniques. Does anyone here know how Patrick Hoelck gets his colors? I love his low key work - and it seems some fair amount of retouching goes into them.

www.patrickhoelck.com

[Flora]

Hi eosguy,

welcome to RP!!

Patrick Hoelck's retouching reminded me of a 'similar' retouching style dealt with in this Thread.

Hope this helps...

[superkoax]

to get the look is to go to school for 3years and study studio lighting, then experiment with set ups and F/stop vs light and so on! he has a nice picture were he have explained the ligt,så you can see how much effect the light has to the models face

http://www.patrickhoelck.com/color/porsche2.jpg LOOK HERE!



Gerry

[Faust]

I love it when people say things like "this is just masterful studio lighting and excellent makeup", adding even more mystery I work with up to 12 strobes in studio and can honestly say this has nothing to do with it, same as with Andrzej Dragan, Loretta Lux and other "mystical" icons, the lighting setup is obviously very simple and the light itself flat and soft, even a big softbox and maybe a contra light would do the job. to me it seems as a combination of the basic illustrated look with color tweaking towards cyan/green + lowering the contrast and brightness using curves, underexposing the background, maybe using a ND filter on the lens itself. sorry for my terrible english

[Andyroo]

I actually read an article last month that Hoelck did in a big photography magazine - although I can't recall which. He claims that he doesn't use too much post, and that the majority of his effects/look are acheived through lighting. He's said to have spent many hours on tweaking things for certain shots.

I wouldn't have believed it myself unless I read it. I've seen his portfolio before and there are obvious (although flawless) digital things going on in some shots, but I could understand how a lot of the stuff is done with lighting.

[TheVeed]

He has some work done in post, but the majority IS in lighting. I recognize some of the retouching on it (Marcus Klinko & Indrani primarily.) It's a lot of good photography and lighting. Obviously a retoucher tweaks things and brings in more colors, etc, but not to that extent.

[Faust]

of course, it always sounds much better to state "I am simply a great photographer", then admitting that your pictures are actually very common and it´s "just" a lot of photoshop. on the contrary, people like Loretta Lux spread urban legends like the one that she spends up to 6 months on a single picture etc I don´t believe this at all, at´s a LOT of (very good) postprocessing, including the colours, highlights, the circular vignete, probably even the underexposed background is masked. anyone who actually works with studio lighting knows that there is no way how to achieve these in preprocess and that his lighting is obviously very simple and flat on most of the pictures. this is no disrespect to the artist, but I think that people often tend to create mysteries and some secret techniques, that don´t even exist

[superkoax]

It's so bad to take all the glory for a picture when sometimes the pictures only 50%of the job! sometimespictures is even less...I've seen work on the net where retouchers do all the manipulation and the photographer sits back and relaxes for a few weeks...collects the new pictures, sends them out to the wolrd and dod't give the retouchers any recognition...

If I some day get a picture out I will give teh retouchers equal recognition...

Probably the best way is to have a crew...1 photographer, 1 stylist and 1 retoucher...And go under a name nick name of some sort...then everybody get's the recognition....


hmmmm....


Gerry

[superkoax]

Me and a buddy of mine had a photoshoot the other day, we experimented with one flash against a silver reflector...i think that there is some patrick hoelck in this...picture...please state your comments on how to get it more right

the picture is taken by my buddy, Jorgen I'm holding the flash adn reflectore...I have one more picture I will share...

Gerry

[superkoax]

here is the other one....

taken by me

[superkoax]

one more...think this is looking better..adjustet the dark and mask out down under the feet and face...

his pictures is more about dark and shadows...and the back lighting is very nice...

Gerry

[Johnny Blood]

I guarantee you that much of his work is accomplished with studio lighting. While retouching is an intregal component, the 'proverbial' canvas he started with already had some dramatic lighting added to each image.

I also think some people forget how man man hours are probably spent on some of these images. While many want to accomplish the same 'look' in a matter of minutes or hours, I'll be some images take much longer in the digital darkroom. What Hoelck considers 'not much' post-production work may be infinitely more than what many on here are used to.

Johnny

[superkoax]

Johnny....Welcome to RP! Well, my response is that we are all on different hours and seconds on how much is much in post production...But I don't think that PH is doing the post pro on his pictures,...His talent is with lights...when the lighting is good and the models get teh right look in the face, the pictures is set to be great on any camera and anybody...But his pictures is fantastic due to posproduction...I don't think that PH has the time to process them all alone...He is quite famous and is heavily used by the hollywooders and celebs of america!

Gerry

[Faust]

Originally Posted by Johnny Blood

I guarantee you that much of his work is accomplished with studio lighting. While retouching is an intregal component, the 'proverbial' canvas he started with already had some dramatic lighting added to each image.
Johnny

well, how can you guarantee? maybe you have a bigger experience with studio lighting than I do, and I really have some, but I dont see much "dramatic lighting" in his pictures. as for the picture that shows his light setup, there are just 3 equal light sources from the very same direction in case it´s a great use of lights with minor postprocess, how come we haven´t seen this effect before the PS era? I have seen so many photographers using obviously very similar workflow and saying things like "it´s my very special way of developing my negatives"/"it´s my very special lighting setup using years of experimenting and experience" etc reminds me of Jill Greenberg and the flamewars about her amazing lighint skills, it all ended when someone discovered her before/after comparison at the website of her retoucher amy dresser

[Faust]

Originally Posted by superkoax

Me and a buddy of mine had a photoshoot the other day, we experimented with one flash against a silver reflector...i think that there is some patrick hoelck in this...picture...please state your comments on how to get it more right

the picture is taken by my buddy, Jorgen I'm holding the flash adn reflectore...I have one more picture I will share...

Gerry

I like the first one the most, I think you got it you masked the background and lowered it´s contrast and brightness + some PWL on the figure, skin tones turned a bit to yellow and bg more to cyan/green, correct?

[superkoax]

faust: In fact i tokk up the yellow abit, but maybe too much...hehe,.,.the typical I can't see whats to much yet...training the eye is what I'm struggling with these days


gerry

[TheVeed]

I'm probably an idiot for asking this, but what is PWL? I'm not familiar with the term.

[Syd]

Veed, it's a fancy term for Dodge and Burn. It's an acronym for Paint With Light, hence: PWL

Syd

[Foga]

Understanding of light and how to usage is very important, but like a good magician that doesn't reveal his tricks, Patrick won't give much credit to retouching, no one does.
And for those who advocate on he only uses light, have a read on this article from a retouching company he works with

http://www.digitalfusion.net/news/fe...0061024-01.php

[neut]

Originally Posted by superkoax

Me and a buddy of mine had a photoshoot the other day, we experimented with one flash against a silver reflector...i think that there is some patrick hoelck in this...picture...please state your comments on how to get it more right

the picture is taken by my buddy, Jorgen I'm holding the flash adn reflectore...I have one more picture I will share...

Gerry

Very nice work there superkoax & your buddy...also inspirational.

With some photographers, I'm in agreement with your <50% contribution from them....especially since I'm responsible for making their wide-gamut rgb images look good in cmyk print. Also had to correct and/or redo all of their attempts at using PS filters, masking, color corrections, compositing. etc.

[_ManWithNoName_]

Problem is, you'll never now. This is what always fascinates me. If I knew what kind of thing comes straight out of the camera, I know I am utterly useless, know what can be achieved and then aim for that.

EVERYTHING has post, subtle PS but lots of PS is the way it is. Now, how much in questions who knows. Im far from an expert, but it doesn't look like lots of lighting and I bet it's quite simple when you know how.

Maan. Would love a studio and the ability to just play with lights aaaaall damn day...

D

[handz]

Hi!
bringing this thread from land of the death,
I must say that Hoelck is for a long time my favorite photographer. His proces as he said uses complicated light scheme but I dont trust him too much, it could be done by some retouching and simplier setup IMO. It looks like he uses lights with snoots for spotlite effects and point them at parts of the subjects body.
There is sure lot of post pro -color balance, darkening, vigneting BG etc, but nothing Greenberg of course.

I made today quick shot at my fathers atelier,nothing fancy, nothing prepared just quick shot for testing. What do you think? When I get more batteries i must test atl east 4 flashes which should be enought to make interesting hightlights.

http://restyle.cz/fotky/tataleck.jpg 

[Ben Sherman]

He use tungsten light? Also heard he uses like 7-8 different gels. He is the master of lighting also

[handz]

Why? And 7-8 gels? c´mon, there are only yellow or purple spoted rimlights on his photos, other is color balance etc.

[Ben Sherman]

No, he mixes the gels, put them on top of each other.

http://cache.krop.com/patrickhoelck-4a6607b9ca5df.jpg

My question is, how is the face lit? With barn doors?

[santoro80]

Probably by softbox with grid?

[handz]

Originally Posted by Ben Sherman

No, he mixes the gels, put them on top of each other.

http://cache.krop.com/patrickhoelck-4a6607b9ca5df.jpg

My question is, how is the face lit? With barn doors?

Ok but this is only color effect, tehre are zillions of gels so you could mix but it wont make your lighting.

Face is probably lit by gridded softbox as someone said. Whole body is usually lit by several snooted / grided mainlights + gerlled rimlights.

[tinemachine]

hi there, this is my first time posting, but thought this might help

I remember many years ago I came across these pics, before the color corrections/retouching:
http://www.starer.ru/images/katie-ho...toshoot/small/

and here is the picture that was run in Mean Magazine
http://www.pointzabriskie.com/wp-con...b-831x1024.jpg

maybe that helps!

[Godmother]

Originally Posted by tinemachine

hi there, this is my first time posting, but thought this might help

I remember many years ago I came across these pics, before the color corrections/retouching:
http://www.starer.ru/images/katie-ho...toshoot/small/

and here is the picture that was run in Mean Magazine
http://www.pointzabriskie.com/wp-con...b-831x1024.jpg

maybe that helps!

Thanks... Most ppl wont ever get that NOT EVERYTHING is photoshop

The work of a great team/many hours of planing and execution is usually the best answer.

x

[MacBurg]

That's one huge collection of celebrity photos right there, kind of cool looking through them and seeing what comes straight outta the camera, but also a great waste of time...