The demystification of Jill Greenberg!!!

[TimeActor]

Hello @all, this is my first post and i see that this thread is very old. But i heard and saw the amazing pictures of Jill Greenberg yesterday first. I read a lot of your posts above and other in this awesome Community about this Style. I like her pictures as well and i´m going to experiment with this.

Here is my result with a snapshot of my cousins cat called "Gentleman".

Thanx a lot of your replay and sorry for my bad English - i´m German.
I´ve used a lot of Dodging & Burning and PWL.

Kind Regards
Martin

[TimeActor]

Hi again.
ok i think the cat example was not so good!
Here is my first "right" test to learn about the Jill Greenberg Style.
I used a Stockphoto to play with PS.

I hope you like it and i´m where on the "right" Way. I know this work is not perfect and the picture quality to show it here is under 100 kb!

Regards
Martin

[RhMaMoL]

Hi all, this is my first post & as a keen amateur photogrpher i am looking to learn how to enhance my photo's.

TimeActor, i like your examples you posted, can you let me know hw you came to these results, maybe a tutorial or workflow.

Regards
Andy

[Calvinhollywood]

@TimeActor
Sei mir nicht böse aber das hat nichts mit beiden Stilen zu tun.
Start to create the effect in photography not in photoshop.
If you dont have the right pictures you cant do this kind of effekt.
Wrong way....

lg Calvin

[TimeActor]

@Calvin,
warum sollte ich dir böse sein? ;-)
Um dahinter zu kommen muss man viel probieren.
You are right Calvin! The Key is the Picture with the correct Lightset.
At this time i´m at planing to become a Studio and going to buy 2 porty´s for outdoor shootings. When i´ve the right pictures to get this style i´ll post it here.
Thanx in advance!
Martin

[ValugaT]

I am busy trying to get close to the look of Jill Greenberg's toodler photos but to be honest it's not very easy. I'm not even sure if I want to copy her style totally, but when trying out to get there I'll properly learn a lot and also develop my own style & creativity.

A lot of the style is just pure feeling and experience + of course a dose of the right equipment and photoshop knowledge. Therefore I doubt anyone could copy her style 100%.

Anyway I want to share a picture which might get close to it, let me know what you think. I am still battling a little with the skin and overall color...
The light setup wasn't the same as Jill uses so the look differes as well from that too.

!! To prevent any kind of sorrows ...the toodler on the picture is my own son. He didn't got heart or hit while the shooting. It was one or two of about 30 pictures where he got a bit upset and bored at the end, therefore I got that crying shot. There are sveral where he smiles or does any other funny poses. But for the attempt to get close to Jills toodler photo I chose this one.

regards Valuga

[snook305]

Isn't that the same picture Calvin just used in his Online Live tutorial.
Sure looks the same.
In anycase send Calvin an e-mail or watch his next live tutorial if he cares to explain it again. He did copy it rather well.
I like how he change his grey background to that green tone with the softlight layer trick...:+}
Snook

[ValugaT]

Originally Posted by snook305

Isn't that the same picture Calvin just used in his Online Live tutorial.
Sure looks the same.
In anycase send Calvin an e-mail or watch his next live tutorial if he cares to explain it again. He did copy it rather well.
I like how he change his grey background to that green tone with the softlight layer trick...:+}
Snook

Hi Snook,

I was part of the presentation on sunday night.The picture Calvin showed on his presentation is one of the serie I made with my son in the studio. Calvin is a frined of mine and I gave him a one of my RAW files. He wanted to test some of his post production on it.

Meanwhile I worked also on one of it. It's nice to see that be both came to a complete other style of the picture but did almost the same post work on it. Therefore it is so difficult to "copy" someone cause there is a lot of experience, different taste and feeling in it. I think if you have a idol and you try to copy him or her it actually helps you to learn a lot while doing it and better your own style.

here you can see calvin's interpretation: http://calvinhollywood.deviantart.co...YING-127392600

I changed the gray color of the background differently. i used a selective color layer and adjusted the gray tones.

regards

[TimeActor]

Sehr schön Thorsten!
Good work Valuga! For me it seems you are close to the JG style. Can you talk about your lightset and retouching. I think it is a lot of D&B - right?

[snook305]

Originally Posted by ValugaT

Hi Snook,

I was part of the presentation on sunday night.The picture Calvin showed on his presentation is one of the serie I made with my son in the studio. Calvin is a frined of mine and I gave him a one of my RAW files. He wanted to test some of his post production on it.

Meanwhile I worked also on one of it. It's nice to see that be both came to a complete other style of the picture but did almost the same post work on it. Therefore it is so difficult to "copy" someone cause there is a lot of experience, different taste and feeling in it. I think if you have a idol and you try to copy him or her it actually helps you to learn a lot while doing it and better your own style.

here you can see calvin's interpretation: http://calvinhollywood.deviantart.co...YING-127392600

I changed the gray color of the background differently. i used a selective color layer and adjusted the gray tones.

regards

OK. I was confused by your request.
You did a great Job I think. It looks just like a JG shot and post production.
Your should be happy with your results.
I got in late but did not see exactly how Calvin change the background color so easily but remember him talking about it before.
Maybe showing the lighting set up could help some fellow members as you have done a good job.
Be proud of you and your son...

P.S. how do you do you changing of the background color with select color?
Always interested in new ways of skinning the cat myself..


Snook

[Tareq]

http://fc07.deviantart.com/fs42/f/20...by_Hamrani.jpg

http://fc02.deviantart.com/fs45/f/20...by_Hamrani.jpg

[ValugaT]

Originally Posted by snook305

OK. I was confused by your request.
You did a great Job I think. It looks just like a JG shot and post production.
Your should be happy with your results.
I got in late but did not see exactly how Calvin change the background color so easily but remember him talking about it before.
Maybe showing the lighting set up could help some fellow members as you have done a good job.
Be proud of you and your son...

P.S. how do you do you changing of the background color with select color?
Always interested in new ways of skinning the cat myself..


Snook

Hi Snook,

yes sure, I've attached you a bunch of pictures which explains the light setup (which is anyway the keyto get the look) and a selective color layer. hope that helps you.

sry the lightsetup notes are all ingerman, but I am sure it shows what you need to know.
In order to change the background color with that method you should try to get a neutral gray background. I shoot my son infront of a gray carpet as you can see on the middle picture.

[erikhatt]

Well. I like Jill, Hill and Leibovitz. But what if you combine their style. Will you then get something like those two photos i add here in links?

http://static.photo.net/attachments/...-157167784.jpg

and

http://static.photo.net/attachments/...-154931584.jpg

[ValugaT]

Originally Posted by erikhatt

Well. I like Jill, Hill and Leibovitz. But what if you combine their style. Will you then get something like those two photos i add here in links?

http://static.photo.net/attachments/...-157167784.jpg

and

http://static.photo.net/attachments/...-154931584.jpg

That looks great, maybe you could share the light setup and post work?

[erikhatt]

No broblem: Beautydish and hair light. Drumscan and curves adjustment for the right contrast. A few blemished retouched on the negative before scan.

[PhiladelphiaPro]

Hi,

the psd files are no longer available on the server. Your work replication looks great, I'd like to see the layers.

[FelixTheCat]

ValugaT, I guess you have to mask the person first right?
I have tried your method but the person changes color also...?
With the selective color you have the baby masked off first right?
Thanks
Felix

[namphoto]

jill greenberg and amy dresser are so last year, hello, get with the picture.

[ValugaT]

Originally Posted by FelixTheCat

ValugaT, I guess you have to mask the person first right?
I have tried your method but the person changes color also...?
With the selective color you have the baby masked off first right?
Thanks
Felix

Yes you can mask out the person out, but in that case the color change on the skin wasn't so bad so I left it.

[snook305]

Originally Posted by namphoto

jill greenberg and amy dresser are so last year, hello, get with the picture.

Actually about 2-3 years ago...
Your a year behind yourself.

Snook

[Kengel]

Speaking of old - there's also a faux-tutorial thread from the strobist group here -
http://www.flickr.com/groups/strobis...7686705/page2/

The point is not to copy it so we can do the exact same thing, but to learn how it's done - then take the concepts and apply them to new directions! :-)

[skydog]

thanks kengel...but that post is old as dirt.

[Kengel]

Did I mention? "Speaking of old... "
Nah, maybe not. LOL

[mikedimples]

Here's my attempt. I fumbled through this one for about five hours creating endless adjustment layers for stuff that didn't match Jill's images, probably overwriting my old adjustments with my new ones. I'm aware I didn't succeed, but I learned lots from this attempt.

If anyone wants to wade through my psd (aka unnamed layer hell), write me a message with your email and I'll send it to you. Browse at your own risk...

stock photo courtesy of =ISOstock
http://isostock.deviantart.com/art/People-099-120039281

EDIT: updated image

[garibaldi]

here ya go demystify this

http://marktucker.wordpress.com/2008...rgmccain-mess/

[mikedimples]

Just to give you nightmares, I accidentally created this monstrosity while I was channel mixing (luminosity blended adjustment layer) with the blue channel maxed, and thought it looked interesting enough to save.

[matthio]

I am new to this forum and also haven´t heard before about Jill Greenberg. Anyway and anyhow now I am aware of this photos and also aware of the reactions. especially this guy on the TV, I think THEY are all wrong. Kids cry all day, never been at Wallmart or similar when they dont get the lollipops they se there next to the cashier ??

We should then also blame their parents all day long for just not fullfilling everything of there wishes.

Even this is still different as the "impact" comes from the "outer world", or better said is provoked by the photographer in this case, I don´t think they and up traumatized...they can be very well reintegrated in society after this shot

And if this is all for her (political) message and maybe turns ppl minds about the one or other hing helping that way other children in the long run I can´t see anything what would stand against this type of photos.

I am pretty sure that most of these kids if not all are very proud the day of tomorrow when they have grown up seeing themselfs in such an art

And ppl wearing jeans or sweaters made by children in the 3rd world under inhuman circumstances and suffering a whole childhood not just 5 minutes should´nt blame on this kind of stuff

just my 2 cents

[ShadowLight]

quick try
(edit: img update)

[tetragramaton]

Hi guys, it's been long time since my last visit, and I can see the things are going well for this thread . Last Saturday I tried some think which I like to share with you, I used 5 canon flashes, for light modifiers I use only two umbrellas, that is all I've got... and this is the final result

[jfrancis]

Here is something -

http://www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thread_id=345798