weird style...are they retouched?

[superkoax]

came across this guy long time ago, but by accident revisited his site today! his style is somewhat special and weird! His styles doesn't always work, but in most cases it fits the feeling! I see some dodge and burn! but I can't seem to get the whole retouching down!

LINK:

http://www.photosig.com/go/users/userphotos?id=163264

http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/vi...0&forward=user

http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/vi...8&forward=user

http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/vi...4&forward=user

http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/vi...5&forward=user

http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/vi...4&forward=user

http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/vi...5&forward=user

anybody else wants to share their feelings around his portraits! Thanks!

PS: Searched to see if anybody else have posted his style before...nothing came up.

[pixelzombie]

i hate sites that require registration in order to see anything bigger than a thumbnail...

[byRo]

Originally Posted by pixelzombie

i hate sites that require registration in order to see anything bigger than a thumbnail...

You can see the first few images full-size.

Looks like a combination of good 'ol Dragan and some 3-D enhancement effects.

For Dragan technique you can look up (or you've probably already seen) a couple of hundred posts.

3-D enhancement: Could be good control of D&B technique, or could be using "local contrast enhancement" (can't remember the name now - it's something like that) - Basically a blurred copy overlaid on the original to enhance highlights and shadows.

When it works, it is quite impressive.

Rô

[byRo]

http://www.photosig.com/go/photos/vi...1&forward=user
(near the end)

As far as the process....the process takes quite a bit of time and is done manually...no actions or plug-ins. I work with a ton of layers and masks with the gamma in exposure played with quite a bit and rendering lighting in most cases. Curves play a big part in the process (with the input and output down to around 255 and 95 respectfully) as do levels and blending modes but each image requires different steps. And that's not being evasive but truthful. Whew!!! That's about it for now. Thanks again

Ray

Rô

[superkoax]

OH?! hehe...he has a tutorial?!....must read!

THANKS a lot byro!

[mrbeagle]

looks like a bad dragan action to me

[xfx]

My sample.

[superkoax]

besides a nice retouch here, your style isn't similar...yours is better, but his "hillbilly" models really punch trough it with rough skin texture in some of the pictures...

thanks for sharing!

[xfx]

I think lighting is also different here. He is using a single light to create contrast for the bumps to show. Thanks superkoax.