Photo Retouching - - The demystification of dave hill! let's all help! - Page 9

Calvinhollywood · #**121** 10-17-2007, 11:39 AM

@Steve

You cant tell me 5 people who can do pictures like Fiscus, Dave Hill or Jill.

So many try that... but only a very few can do it.
That makes the style special, cause its not easy.

lg Calvin

pellepiano · #**122** 10-17-2007, 11:57 AM

Clients most often wants a style they can relate to, be it a George Hurrell hollywood glamour shot or a Dave Hill style jeans ad.

Learning different styles, lightingwise or retouchwise is good for business. And copying a certain style is what this thread is all about.

If a Greenberg action exist and works, I would buy it in notime.

SteveB2005 · #**123** 10-17-2007, 01:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calvinhollywood

@Steve

You cant tell me 5 people who can do pictures like Fiscus, Dave Hill or Jill.

So many try that... but only a very few can do it.
That makes the style special, cause its not easy.

lg Calvin

No, don't get me wrong, I enjoy the Jill Greenburg style. I hadn't seen anything like it until I read an article about her workflow in a photo magazine. When you see an image by JG, you can be assured she did it. Wish I had thought it up, haha and cashed in the chips

The point I am making is that it's fine to learn and experiment and copy things. I do it myself to learn. But they have a formula that works for them and may or may not work for everyone. Many photographers go out and shoot their subject and try to make it look like Jill Greenburg in Photoshop and then get disappointed because it just doesn't match what they do. And yes, there are actions and plug-ins that are available online to imitate some of these effects, anything is possible. That's why she is so vague about her techniques at student lectures, it's her personal style. But also, she is using digital med format and sometimes scanned film with a ring light and shooting at various focus points for sharpness and then masking it all together for a near perfect image directly from the camera, then the PS post work.

But I am certainly seeing more and more attempted JG clones in magazines, because that's what is in at the moment. In a few months, something else will catch on and another hot thing will surface and we'll all be asking how are they doing it? It;s like what's hot now, what's selling, I'll copy it and cash in. That may happen, it may not

JMHO, neither right, nor wrong

LESider · #**124** 10-17-2007, 01:59 PM

I don't know if anyone here reads the strobist blog but there is a good post about a photographer/retoucher named Joey Lawrence who seems to be doing pretty well for a 17 yr old and has the Dave Hill style down pretty good.
There is a link to his site on which he is selling a DVD describing his workflow and techniques. Here is the strobist link
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/10...pher-joey.html

ge0rge · #**125** 10-18-2007, 04:27 PM

What I don't get is that most people refer to it as the Dave Hill or Jill Greenberg look. Maybe its been done before but not in such a mainstream environment. I believe that any attempt made will be instantly labeled "resembling Dave Hill effect/style". What exactly constitutes a picture being of the "Dave Hill style". Everyone sees a photo differently, therefore we could have 100 people doing the same effect and not notice.

RossF · #**126** 10-18-2007, 08:55 PM

Speaking of dave hill, he just put a bunch of new images and behind the scenes videos on his site, some of them give a closer look into his workflow...

Mtmm · #**127** 10-20-2007, 08:49 AM

Dave Hill is a true master of retouching. Question is, are we in need of several Hills? No we are not. We all should find our own style to make photos. There can be only one Dave Hill. His skills are over the top.

www.pakkotoisto.com/mike

pellepiano · #**128** 10-20-2007, 09:11 AM

Mtmm

I dont get it. As a photographer you learn to light the subjects in a variety of styles. It may be classic hollywood lighting a la George Hurrell, Playboy lighting. Why should it not be the same for retouching.Learning differrent styles.

When someone does something unique that gets popular, it will be become a style or genre and used by many others, exactly like some great innovators in music. It makes things go forward, as many people will add to what they learn,

The purpose of this thread is to get the grips on a certain style ( like you obviously have gone thru yourself, with good results ).

Learning about styles is most often the start of something, not the end.

Mtmm · #**129** 10-20-2007, 09:24 AM

I mean that direct copying isn´t so cool anymore. Like in music, Hill is an artist and he has an unique style. Copying that style is like ripping off music. We cannot compare lightning setup to retouch workflow. Light goes from point A to point B and is stricly fysics. You cannot light the subject by so many different ways than you can edit photo in photoshop. But in the end, if person is inspired by Hill´s work(I definitely am), it is a positive thing.

Markzebra · #**130** 10-20-2007, 10:43 AM

That look is not that popular over here - looks too over the top at the moment. With the exception of movie posters. I also think its unfair to credit Dave Hill with having invented or really pioneered that look, I've seem similar things done for years. I think its a good shtick to have though, and very often its beautifully done by his studio, but sometimes a little too mechanical. I think it really starts a long way back here

lxgalang · #**131** 10-20-2007, 11:11 PM

Here's my try at it, just a mixture of D&B, desaturation, Curves, and luminosity blending.

http://www.pbase.com/gmonkeh/image/87579940.jpg

tetragramaton · #**132** 10-21-2007, 05:16 AM

Hi guys,im looking for more than 3 weeks to achive something similar to the Dave look,im not intrest to folow his exact model of retoching ,butin the time ofthe digital photography i think evrebody need to see somethink new and fresh,here is my try
original image
http://www.flickr.com/photos/menandar/1589663445/
affter
http://www.flickr.com/photos/menandar/1590405566/

obosila · #**133** 10-21-2007, 09:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tetragramaton

Hi guys,im looking for more than 3 weeks to achive something similar to the Dave look,im not intrest to folow his exact model of retoching ,butin the time ofthe digital photography i think evrebody need to see somethink new and fresh,here is my try
original image
http://www.flickr.com/photos/menandar/1589663445/
affter
http://www.flickr.com/photos/menandar/1590405566/

Sweet. Can u tell us a bit more abour your PS work?

MR.BIG · #**134** 10-21-2007, 08:53 PM

It is VERY bad , but this is my very first try. Me (far right) with my friends. Starting picture is not so good (Ixus) so .... be gentle : )

5 minutes job, HDR with lucis, but with more , more and more work it can be close

tetragramaton · #**135** 10-22-2007, 11:59 AM

obosila, thanks.
What i've done with the picture was,two HDR conversions,one normal conversion from raw ,and i blended them ,after that i applied some blur to get rid of some overexagerated details like dark places on her skin or some noise as well,because the model couldnt prepare well for the shot,and after that i copied the same layer with the surface blur and apply to it high pas filter,and to the end some dodge and burn ,i didnt have time to apply any cosmetic corrections .
But i'm realising the importance of the output image,i apply the same method to other picture but with different lighting ant background and the result isn't that good.First you need to get good HDR details,but for this you need to control very well your lighting,thats my opinion (any way this picture was't with good lighting)