The demystification of dave hill! let's all help!

[Calvinhollywood]

Hi
No problem to do a webinar where i explain some techniques to get diffrent kinds of looks.
But i dont do a webinar in a name of a other person.
I guess nobody have to pay for a webinar like this.
My last two english webinars was for free too

lg Calvin

[longside1]

Calvin,

Forget about Dave Hill, your work is awesome!

Would you be prepared to do a step by step walkthrough of one of your shots that has the illustrator look that everyone is trying to acheive?

[Calvinhollywood]

Hi
I already did that at the last webinars.
I can do that again. No problem.
I am in new york in october. (oct20 - oct28)
Maybe i can do that there in the evening(online webinar). So i have no time diffrence

lg Calvin

[longside1]

That would be really kind Calvin. Your last webinar was realy useful.

I've downloaded your psd files from the site, and for example the shot with the boxer (i think) looks really good. As you switch on the layers in turn, the picture slowly forms and then when you activate the last layer...wham amazing shot.

I for one would love to see what you do in that top layer...

[HelloPiccadilly]

Originally Posted by Calvinhollywood

Hi
I already did that at the last webinars.
I can do that again. No problem.
I am in new york in october. (oct20 - oct28)
Maybe i can do that there in the evening(online webinar). So i have no time diffrence

lg Calvin

Pls visit some day Moscow )
It would be awesomely awesome ))

[HelloPiccadilly]

Originally Posted by longside1

That would be really kind Calvin. Your last webinar was realy useful.

I've downloaded your psd files from the site, and for example the shot with the boxer (i think) looks really good. As you switch on the layers in turn, the picture slowly forms and then when you activate the last layer...wham amazing shot.

I for one would love to see what you do in that top layer...

what the *psd file do u mean? where I can download that?)))

[Fadewoodarts]

Originally Posted by HelloPiccadilly

what the *psd file do u mean? where I can download that?)))

I think he is talking about the one on Calvin's website under PSD's I think.

Also if I may remind some people, that my "Official Look thread" is still alive, and if you got anything you wanna show or critique that resembles illustrative type work that is the place to do it.

[nmeunier]

Hello

I'm new here, so "Hello everyone".

Here is my contribution http://nmeuni01.free.fr/Elodie-1179-4.jpg

Just light, no Photoshop at all, just a little curve in Lightroom.
95% of Dave Hill style is the light, not Photoshop.

My picture is not really a Dave Hill copy, because I have only two light, but the idea is here.

Regards
Nicolas

[manzneri]

Hello Nicolas!

Welcome to the forum.

I think your picture looks amazing! Could you tell more about your lightning setup and details? And exactly what you did in lightroom...

Maybe a before/after picture as well...

[danny_kino]

Nmeunier. Nice job

the skin smoothing you've done is a little out of lightrooms scope, care to elaborate on this?

dont take this the wrong way, but after 2000 posts most people know that dave hills style is mainly lighting, however there is a fair amount of photoshop work, hence the topic for discussion here at retouchpro.....which is mainly photoshop orientated.

[nmeunier]

Originally Posted by danny_kino

Nmeunier. Nice job

the skin smoothing you've done is a little out of lightrooms scope, care to elaborate on this?

dont take this the wrong way, but after 2000 posts most people know that dave hills style is mainly lighting, however there is a fair amount of photoshop work, hence the topic for discussion here at retouchpro.....which is mainly photoshop orientated.

Skin smoothing in lightroom or photoshop : absolutly not, just a Beauty Dish. That's the point of my first post : everybody see a lot of photoshop, where there is only a good light.

Dodge & Burn on the left... no, just a small soft box with a Nikon SB800.

Here is the completly untouched pictures http://nmeuni01.free.fr/Elodie-1179-untouched.jpg

To achieve the look of the final version, I have only touch the basic modification in lightroom, no local modification (and modifiy just a bit the shape of the skirt) :
- contrast, black, recovery, additional light, clarity.

Regards
Nicolas

[pellepiano]

Nicolas, that is a beautiful shot, and nicely lit. Like it very much.

[danny_kino]

the original looks good nmeunier

here's where i'm at with my dave hill (sort of) look. not there by a long shot, but i'm getting closer. 3 lights, two rear one front in a softbox over head. Dodged and burnt in photoshop using the soft light method.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2479/...a8758d60_o.jpg

[nmeunier]

Originally Posted by danny_kino

the original looks good nmeunier

here's where i'm at with my dave hill (sort of) look. not there by a long shot, but i'm getting closer. 3 lights, two rear one front in a softbox over head. Dodged and burnt in photoshop using the soft light method.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2479/...a8758d60_o.jpg

Very Nice!

I have now 5 flashs, waiting for some softbox to arrive! Hard to wait to experiment!

[jamesbateman]

That's great danny, love the processing and what looks like some expensive bokeh there . Looks more like Joel Grimes than Hill... and that's nothing to scoff at either!

Would you care to elaborate on the D&B method? I assume you are painting on a grey layer set to soft light, but is there any more fine tuning i.e. the use of burning mid-tones to enhance the grittiness?

Don't take this the wrong way nmeunier but the original (in my opinion) is better than the edit... maybe just a tad of contrast on the model/remove dust spots in the sky and you would have a fantastic image out of camera.

[jamesbateman]

ps Calvin has a new Webinar coming up that I'm really looking forward to! Hope you're all in

[igot2pman]

nmeunier,

You may not want to do your contrast totally in Lr. Your shadow/highlight transitions have an orange discoloration.

The original's quality is superb, and was kind of destroyed with the over editing. PS has more control and options when it comes to non-destructive options.

Can't wait to see your next work, that D3 is putting out some nice work. Makes me want to upgrade...

-Keven

P.S. Let me know if you want me to take the picture down.

[danny_kino]

jamesbateman

Thanks......I actually was looking at joel grimes work before the shoot, so i'll take that compliment
just re-looking at the PS file. your right there's some other stuff going on, which is quite a lot of the look before the D&B. I used 5 curve layers with luminosity masks. 2 for higlights, 2 for shadows and one for midtones. fine tuned them a bit with the paint brush after applying. the curves were simple one point curves in the right places, pulling up or down. the masks came from the select color, from the select menu. theres better ways of producing these, but i'm happy with the speed of making them this way.These curves achieved a lot of the look.
The dodge and burn was done on a soft light 50% grey layer, painting with white and black low opacity brushes.

all lighting done with speedlights and CLS. and shot on a D80. i do have the 17-55m 2.8 though, such a nice lens. oh if i could only afford some alien bees, but then i'd need to learn how to drive so i could carry all that crap.

[jamesbateman]

igot2pman had a good crack at nmeunier's image. Agree with PS for control of the local adjustments. Sometimes I look back at my images and prefer the original... but then i suppose retouching is an aquired taste, we all get there eventually.

danny, with these curves adjustments... are you saying that its similar to the luminocity masks? (theres a great action available to d/l on this site somewhere). I just cant see what would benifit when d&b would suffice? I have tried the luminocity masks, but found them to be so precise, that I ended up making the image look worse because I had too much control

[danny_kino]

james, yeah they're luminosity masks. ive not used the actions, so cant comment on their usability. For me the luminosity masks are a faster means to an ends. d&b has far more control obviously. i basically set them up and then masked out areas that the luminosity masks screwed up. they don't work great on the whole image. its the carving of certain highlights and shadows that i look for , which can save a bit of time. i'd say most of the time i just use the d&b soft light method, but ive had good success with using them with this type of lighting.

Just had a quick look at your flickr.....will look more tomorrow...."they sink ships" shot looks great!

[islade]

Jamesbateman,

I just checked out your portfolio on flickr, very nice indeed!

With your "Wing It" image, what exactly is involved to achieve that look. You mention "linear gamma conversion" but i have tried googling that without any success.

Would you care to share your workflow for that image, or point me in the right direction?

[jamesbateman]

Cheers danny. I may get a chance to try the curves for luminosity masking at some point. islade, you need to check out the 'christian schmidt look' thread on this site. Linear gamma is some contrived holy grail that in the beginning of the thread, everyone was chasing after someone posted a reply with the AIM profile conversion action. Basically it takes your image and ramps up the gamma to give you a 'clean white look'. Let me know how you get on with it in the other thread

[dazza17]

LightingSource Podcast

Got a bit of in site form this interview with Hill

http://www.studiolighting.net/e058-h...raphy-podcast/

But not as much on technique in this one

http://www.studiolighting.net/e085-h...raphy-podcast/

Cheers
Dazza17

[Bajki]

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/...88d859546c.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/...d85756b43e.jpg

is that a dave hill effect ? (photos are not mine)

[namphoto]

Originally Posted by Bajki

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3510/...88d859546c.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2553/...d85756b43e.jpg

is that a dave hill effect ? (photos are not mine)

........no

[andyned]

Hello you guys ! This is my first try on some presentation photos after I read almost all you're posts here.

Used burn / dodge like hell, some minor contrast change and some levels. The lights on the roof were treated with a new layer and a soft brush painted the white halos.

My try

The result may not be outstanding but i kept myself from exagerating. If you want i'll post the original photo also to se the difference better.

[egnoc]

hey andyned, very cool effect, cn u show b4 and after pls! thanx!

v..long thread....dave hill v.cool....some other peoples also doing smiliar things...

sorry for my bad englsh, im from uae.

[andyned]

Here are some before and after pictures. Nothing planned actualy. Soon I will experiment with some flashes and softboxes.

Many credits to Calvin Hollywood.

pic 1
pic 2
pic 3
pic 4
pic 5

[egnoc]

Andyned,
ur 2nd file is looking like DH, but the others, so - so , i think 2nd one has come better bcoz of the diffused lite from the shop - acting like one huge octobox!

[Tareq]

Originally Posted by egnoc

Andyned,
ur 2nd file is looking like DH, but the others, so - so , i think 2nd one has come better bcoz of the diffused lite from the shop - acting like one huge octobox!

And here is the secret, get the shot with great lit and exposed whatever lights are and then it is not very far by post processing.
I feel people don't take care of the light or exposure, also not interesting composition that much, not telling story and something, then they try to go DH, i am sure even if DH tells his secret still people can't do like him, but to be honest, i saw many people better than him in lighting and posing and composition, i played on some others photos which are perfect or great artwork and i feel i got better than DH look, so please, get the original shot good enough first then do something further later!