Filmic scenery and skin tones

[wrn]

Hey

Flickr is a great source of inspiration and/or frustration.

Let me share few examples of the look i would like to achieve with my photography. Its not overly retouched, the models do not look like cyborgs or dolls. Yet, the tones are so romantic and beautiful. Some were even shot on Nikon d90 which i own.
There are shots with possible makeup (it helps) and there are some without.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/vichi/3293869523/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vichi/3264753379/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vichi/3195654139/

or

http://www.flickr.com/photos/senyoriguana/3159715169/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/senyoriguana/2707497242/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/senyoriguana/2492362300/

How they do it?

I played with brightness and contrast, and exposure in Lightroom and PS.
Also some basic saturation adjustments. It looks better than without but nothing really close.

How do they do it? It almost looks like hassy-shot, yet its not.

Thank you all for possible directions/instructions.

[madclark]

Well the first set are just generally well lit, but you can achieve similar result by overexposing the midtones especially the reds. Do a Hue adjustment and lighten up the reds but adjust levels so the midpoint is lighter.

You can get that hue in the second set by adding and adjusting a color balance layer.

[RokcetScientist]

This is one of those cases where taste is clearly involved. And since that's personal, argueing about it is useless.
To me those photos look rather flat, lifeless, and distinctly lacking color oomph. Part of that is in the posing and/or direction. To get the photographic part of that effect I'd guess a lot of very diffuse light is required. Like on an overcast day. Possibly reflectors to minimize/fill/open up remaining shadows. About 2/3rds stop over exposure, and perhaps a Cokin soft focus filter, or some desaturation in PP. The framing/composition also plays a part.
The rather limited size of the images doesn't help to observe them well.

[wrn]

thanks for your replies so far, any new insight would be appreciated.
some more examples:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotdebz...n/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotdebzdot/2365515077/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dotdebzdot/2320365473/

these minimalist/scandinavian color tones are just amazing

[snook305]

I do not really see the Big deal.
They are obviously shot on a overcast day and the DOF really shallow. Probably f2.8
You might be able to down load an image and check it metedata. Many people do not know to strip it and so it tells you exactly what it was shot at.
They most certainly have a slight vignette put on them and then some slight desaturation.
you could do a Lomo or Holga type look and then back off the opacity a little should get you there....:+}
They are not that strange if you ask me.

not sure if you talking just about the beach shots or the people, but both are done pretty much the same.

Snook

[Tareq]

First of all, they are not coming of the camera this way, so second you have to work on retouch, try and you can achieve something.
as those photos are mostly bright, so i think getting some bright or little over exposed or even well exposed is the key, getting some under exposed slightly shots will not help to get those results mostly.
I will try to shoot someone in studio sooner or later in high key way and will see what i will end with.

[sl3966]

I was looking for the same thing, take your camera and put it on manual and shoot, shoot, shoot. Don't worry about letting the sky go and a nice big white reflector helps. The color shift can be achieved any number of ways that the helpful people in these forums have already covered. Also, slightly less contrast helps.

Edit: The third set she is using a Roli and that is a part of the look as well.

[dennisonb]

:-)

These shots aren't hard. I would bet you for the most part they are just jpegs out of the camera. IT looks mostly like some camera setting- high contrast, high sharpening, flash over exposed a touch, on camera flash. Or overcast day (already soft light) and for the funky color shots? Some generic 'cross processing' filter or iphoto preset.

If thats not what this person is doing- it could be done this way pretty easily. I wouldn't sweat it- if you want pictures like this- then you need to concentrate more on setting up the situation like this. Funky setting, bright strong colors, funny idea. etc...

[Algarve Images]

He has a really cool collection of image sets http://www.flickr.com/photos/vichi/ says he uses natural sunlight where ever possible etc, i think his talent is very diverse in and out of the studio and i do like his style very much...
Gary

[Tareq]

What about cross processing?

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1997/daughter1.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7961/daughters2.jpg

[Tareq]

Here is a shot of my Daughter in studio, first is the original, the 2 more are first correction and second is little retouching for color only

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/895...eroriginal.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/361...iginaledit.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/390...rretouched.jpg