How was this look achie.... you know

jarabmx · #1 08-21-2008, 09:42 AM

http://new.skoda-auto.com/cze/model/...85/15photo.jpg

Similiar to Christian Schmidt washed whites, bit of HDR comics style. Any idea?

DJSoulglo · #2 08-21-2008, 10:58 AM

I must be getting old. I can't really see anything special going on there. Except a lensflare.

Nice pic, colors are balanced, it looks really clean.

smak · #3 08-21-2008, 01:56 PM

Yeah, it looks like an ordinary photo. No special PS.

Michael Bonner · #4 08-22-2008, 02:34 AM

There's a lot of post work going on in those photos- in the one posted, look at the shadow-side of everything - with the sun that low in the sky, the unlit side would be much darker in relation to the lit side. The background definitely exhibits the tonal-range compression of HDR, albeit a very well done, idealized method rather than one pushed to the extreme as we see so often. I'd be quite willing to bet the lens flare was added in post as well- there's no telltale lack of contrast that you'd typically see throughout the photo and it's perfectly placed- I doubt that in such a high-profile advertising campaign they'd leave anything as volatile as lens flare from the sun to chance.

If you browse the other images in the gallery, you'll find some photos very evocative of Christian Schmidt's clean, high key aesthetic: http://new.skoda-auto.com/CZE/model/...85/04photo.jpg

There's also a good deal of compositing in these images and I wouldn't be surprised if the skateboarders were comped into the example image.

Overall, a very involved set of images. As for how to do it in PS, I'd suggest learning to make (near) perfect composites, create convincing HDR renderings, and elevate your skills to the level that a company such as Skoda Auto would hire you to shoot an ad campaign for them.

I'm not too experienced in the actual techniques involved, but I'm sure that looking up layer masks and HDR tutorials would be a great place to start.

jarabmx · #5 08-23-2008, 05:04 AM

Yeah, that is what I was thinking. Very well done shadows lightening, as you would almost say it is overexposed somewhere. Anyway thank you for your attempt, it looks it is bit too much I am asking to be taught right now.

Markzebra · #6 08-23-2008, 05:45 PM

The car bodywork is generally reworked and "simplified" using gradients. Color and tone are re-modeled. Thats how good car work is done. These ones have been quite nicely done to my eye, although there are better examples out there. The car has been shot in situ which helps. The overall feel and light is generally achieved by (burning out) the top 15% or so of the the image, and doing this selectively. And then color and saturation has been simplified.

see this thread where an interesting discussion about how to approach these issues was started …

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/pho...echniques.html

sirespen · #7 08-25-2008, 05:07 AM

Hi!
What do you mean with "the color and saturation has benn simplified" ?

Thanks Sebi

MaximMorin · #8 08-25-2008, 11:03 AM

Well the car look like 3D model, who get more and more use in the industry! (One of Staub studio (montreal) retoucher explain that one day... But for the rest of the photos, most of it seems to been already said

Markzebra · #9 08-25-2008, 03:30 PM

"What do you mean with "the color and saturation has been simplified" - look at the tone of blue on the car as an example - do you think that it looks like it was shot?

What nature does is put subtle inconsistencies in tone and colour across all surfaces - as a surface reflects light, it takes on color from its surroundings and from the light that illuminates it. This has been simplified. 3D software is generally less capable of producing these subtle natural inconsistencies, which is one of the reasons that things can look slightly "unreal". And its true that a lot of the better car stuff is now STARTED using 3D, but not this one I dont think.

Saturation and HUE is pretty consistent across the cars blue bodywork, and while this is completely unnatural, it does have the fortunate bi-product of making things look perfect and flawless. In some studios this cleaning would go even further taking the small reflective lines and repainting/straightening them so that they are perfect too.

garibaldi · #10 08-27-2008, 03:55 PM

How is it done? Its all fake. Mostly CGI, matched in a few photos with some photo elements and a lot of compositing, but it certainly wasnt a real photo. Alot of firms are using CGI to make images now, its supposedly cheaper and offers more control and flex. But its soooooo fake as you can see