Sort of retro processing to pictures from Olympics

[jarabmx]

Excuse me, If I get fooled by this guy but if all the pictures were taken during actual games they are phenomenol! Any ideas how to get this look?

http://carlosserrao.com/


Then go to Special/Olympiad XXIX

Thanks!

[jarabmx]

Doublepost, sorry

[HughSteenk]

Nice looks. Guy's pretty good on first glance. With any "How do I get this look" the answer is the same. You experiment. Helps to know your tools. Be patient and then, do your own thing and stop copying others. Sure we're all influenced, but ... . ...

[jarabmx]

Originally Posted by HughSteenk

Nice looks. Guy's pretty good on first glance. With any "How do I get this look" the answer is the same. You experiment. Helps to know your tools. Be patient and then, do your own thing and stop copying others. Sure we're all influenced, but ... . ...

Well, thanks for your really helpful advice. I am too tired now to explain - that getting to know how was this done is another tool you are talking about.

[pixelzombie]

some very nice photography, disappointed not to see Bolt in any of the images...

[TommyO]

Took a look at those images... very sharp !
Obviously, he started with some very nice shots. The one's I think you're referring to seem to be enhanced by slightly raising the highlights and lowering the shadows. It doesn't look like much else was done, other than (maybe) adding some additional artificial light sources in the same direction as the original light source. Not all of them were enhanced this way.

[Natasa Stojsic]

Originally Posted by jarabmx

Excuse me, If I get fooled by this guy but if all the pictures were taken during actual games they are phenomenol! Any ideas how to get this look?

http://carlosserrao.com/


Then go to Special/Olympiad XXIX

Thanks!

Nice, however I've seen this look/style on Bienalle Paris... I can't remember the artist name but if I do I'll post the link for sure...

[smak]

>Your meatloaf is delicious; can you give me the recipe?

>>>You experiment. Helps to know your tools. Be patient and then, do your own thing and stop copying others. Sure we're all influenced, but ... . ...

> Sorry I asked.

[harkain]

This guy is shooting with a Hasselblad, so those images might have been captured with a 39 megapixel camera for all we know. That's a nice starting point for a good edit.

I'm not taking anything away from the skill of the photographer. But he starts with some very nice files. If you are going to try to imitate the processing and quality, then keep that in mind.

[jarabmx]

Sort of bump? Anybody?

And yeah he uses Hasselblad I googled his name and he is one of AAA photographers for sure. But it is not sharpness or wider dynamic range. It is light mainly - some of the pics look really artificially lit - like light coming exactly from behind to create rims and so on and so on. If you go through your newspaper those picture are not that good even though they are not so heavily post-processed or shot with Hasselblad.

[morpheus1870]

all his backgrounds including track and field events are totally clutter free, no referees or officals or even distance markers so its obvious he does some clonning to isolate the subject in its environment perfectly. Back grounds are also quite flat looking almost like a matte painting and have little contrast (a little like rarindra). Also there is some deffinate artifical light and additional highlights are added for sure..there is also a desaturated look too with some vintage overlay quality...either way they images are awesome, sharp, well composed, great timming and clever post process, i love this guys work.

[garibaldi]

Those images are composites, the backgrounds are fake. I would not be surprised if the athletes are shot in studio or lit and then dropped into the backgound. Its great looking, but look at it from a reality standpoint, you really think you can get back and sidelighting like that on an athlete during olympic competition?, no other competitors or officials around?

[pixelzombie]

it looks like he took those shots during training sessions when the stands would be empty...

[purpletofu]

I would agree with the previous posters that the background may not even be really there in the photo and the athlete was added. Or, he took the picture during the off-hours while the athletes were training.
As for the colour of the photos, it looks as though there are some sepia filters added and he used a cross-processing look. You can get it by making a curve adjustment layer and making the red and green channels s-curves, and the blue channel an inverted s-curve. Then change the opacity, play with blending modes... see what happens.

[dennisonb]

I might be wrong, but I think this is the guy who did the promo for Nikon, and shot all this stuff with the D3. If it is, then it's all shot on location for real. :-)

That said, it looks like flash- lots of guys at sporting events set up wireless SB type units around the field (especially by the finish line) to fire synched to their camera. It's easy enough to dial in an exposure over the ambient and get the shot every time.

Otherwise, it looks like a long lense so the background is blurred, and then standard photoshoping- color filters, playing with blend modes, etc...

It's also doesn't have to be training sessions to have empty stands. They could be photoshoped empty, or were just really empty. Even t the olympics they had big problems with many events not having enough spectators. And if it's something like discus throwing in a stadium for 100,000 people, then they will only use the seats at one end for the event, where people are close enough to see. (Why watch discuss from a football field away? and 100,000 never show up for something like discus or javelin) So it's likely the seats at the end from where the photographer is, are indeed empty. :-)

[jarabmx]

Originally Posted by dennisonb

I might be wrong, but I think this is the guy who did the promo for Nikon, and shot all this stuff with the D3. If it is, then it's all shot on location for real. :-)

That said, it looks like flash- lots of guys at sporting events set up wireless SB type units around the field (especially by the finish line) to fire synched to their camera. It's easy enough to dial in an exposure over the ambient and get the shot every time.

Otherwise, it looks like a long lense so the background is blurred, and then standard photoshoping- color filters, playing with blend modes, etc...

It's also doesn't have to be training sessions to have empty stands. They could be photoshoped empty, or were just really empty. Even t the olympics they had big problems with many events not having enough spectators. And if it's something like discus throwing in a stadium for 100,000 people, then they will only use the seats at one end for the event, where people are close enough to see. (Why watch discuss from a football field away? and 100,000 never show up for something like discus or javelin) So it's likely the seats at the end from where the photographer is, are indeed empty. :-)

I am not so much into this kind of sport but I do not remember any remote flashes around sport fields. If they were allowed every highlight will be followed by a storm of hundreds of photographers' flashes.

[DJSoulglo]

Carlos Serrao is a great photographer that has been shooting for AAA clients for years now. Some of these were shot in a studio (most of the track and field ones), and he doesn't do his own retouching. The rest was probably shot on location with a bunch of lights put on the empty track.

Funny how the Nike Campaign for Olympics (this one) and the adidas campaign

http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/...never-a-given/

Are amazingly similar looking. Like them both.

[jarabmx]

Interesting how everyone quite confidently states how it was shot yet the opinions differ radically!

The conclusion is that no one really know how this was done. Shame. Post-processing is lovely, I guess some curves with masks but do not know what else.