How to get these colors please?

[Deydey]

Hi guys! I think it's my first post, congratulation to myself! I was learn alot with all of yours thread! Thanx! I need your help, I want to know I a can have these colors:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDOxjdjJUm8

Like in this commercial (ELLE de YVES ST LAURENT), something dark, blue... Can I have it with photoshop or I need to use lightroom? I ve try some things but it's don't work... Oh and how I can have white skin please?

Thanx for your answers in advance and sorry for my bad english :s

[garibaldi]

Sounds like your looking for a smurf. It has a great deal to do with the lighting

[0lBaldy]

DeyDey, Welcome to RetouchPRO Hope you do well here and make many friends!

You can have the color in Photoshop..

White skin = white layer above picture in Softlight mode maybe after a screen layer of the original.. Depends on how dark the original is..
Or..
Desaturate some then adjust the Brightness/Contrast to suit

[TommyO]

Deydey,
It is hard to say what adjustments were made. However, video technology is very similar to Photoshop. And, there is nothing you can't do in Photoshop.

It has nothing to do with lighting, as garibaldi tried to imply.

You need to obtain a good book on Photoshop and glamour retouching, as well as compositing. You can also begin to read all of the helpful resources here on RetouchPro.

OlBaldy has also mentioned a good technique.

[garibaldi]

Originally Posted by TommyO

It has nothing to do with lighting, as garibaldi tried to imply.

I disagree. To say it has nothing to do with lighting is wrong. It has everything to do with lighting. Relying on PS to fix it in post is not as good as getting it right to begin with. Not to say you cant do coloring and effects in ps, but I could set up that shot and shoot it and get a look like that that would take you hours to get close to in post.

If you dont think that shoot was lit with a ton or lights by someone who is really good then youre dreaming, the same would hold true for a still shot.

[HuBBa]

Im with Garibaldi on this, with the added thing that you also need a mua to even out the skin tones.

"Everything can be done in photoshop" is a truth with a big IF attached to it. There is a reason that you don't just throw a bunch of people together, shoot against a blue wall in the back yard and wham bam you have Star Wars Episode XVIII.

When someone is footing the bill, any post work will most likely be a lot more expensive than having a makeupartist do his/her job, light the set right, get the right filmstock and telecine time in etc. everything before you end up in post.

[TommyO]

Hubba,
Agree... and Deydey, disregard my comment on lighting. I was a bit tired and was simply trying to steer you away from Garibaldi's take on the lighting, as I did not think it was applicable to the video.

It certainly could be though. I personally don't do much video, but I have some consultant colleagues that do. Their take on this video is that the desaturation of the skin tones was done post, as is most often done in video.

In photography, Hubba's and Garibaldi's comments are correct.

[HuBBa]

a little addition to the desaturation. The actual desaturation is often (not always tough) done in post but what a lot of people forget is that to desaturate skin so it looks good, you need to have laid the groundwork first.

If you do not for example have even skin tones (thanx to a model with good skin and a good mua) then when you desaturate you will have blotches of dark grey where you wanted a pale skin and those will need to be fixed or the models look sick. So its really a combination of all of the above.

[ray12]

This video was probably shot with a makeup artist making up the skin for the LOOK...based on previous visual testing beforehand with the model and the art director. It is also from a slightly blue gelled lighting style, and when the editors got it into Adobe After Effects they probably pulled down the color saturation a bit, added a very slight blue cast in areas...and then worked out the final colors on a frame by frame basis using "Color Finesse" Color Correction Plugin Software for Video Color Correction.

Things like this dont all happen by mistake...and they dont rely on chance because of the money and budget and the number of people involved. The agency and its people have to use all elements available to get the look the client is paying the agency $30,000- $200,000 to try to get. Model, makeup, lighting, camera, and post production are all tested ahead of time so the end result is deliberate and predictable.

I dont think anybody dared say...hey lets shoot something...anything...and then lets rely (hope) only on post production to get it all done. Disappointed or Surprised clients dont come back again to an agency that shoots and prays.