Kalle Gustafsson –*How did he do it?

baumatt · #1 02-08-2010, 04:12 PM

http://www.kallegustafsson.com/

I recently came across the page of fashion photograper Kalle Gustafsson and became a real fan of his great coloring.
for exemple: http://kallegustafsson.com/wordpress...bulene-n31.jpg

Do you guys have any idea how he did that?
he seems to have thown out alot of mid-tones, the dark areas seem to go into reddish colors. but with simple curves i dont seem to be able to recreate that effect.
did he maybe make a bw picture and recolor it?

any ideas where to start? except dodge and burn =)

thanks

secretagents · #2 02-08-2010, 05:09 PM

Channel mixer and some masking IMO.

madclark · #3 02-08-2010, 05:31 PM

I would say it's more a selective color layer actually instead of channel mixer.

secretagents · #4 02-08-2010, 05:54 PM

Give us a suitable target image perhaps and we'll try to reproduce the effect. It's just color adjustment so it is fast to experiment with and more fun than just talking.

holgaman · #5 02-08-2010, 10:19 PM

It's more than likely done with a custom gradient map, that way you can choose the colors of the shadows and highlights.

baumatt · #6 02-09-2010, 03:05 AM

well, i've uploaded two smaller versions of the pictures we are working with. for anyone who is interessted to try their luck:
http://webuser.uni-weimar.de/~ixuq44...e1_001_web.tif
http://webuser.uni-weimar.de/~ixuq44...or_002_web.tif
size arround 30 mb each, at 16 bit - rendered from flexcolor.

a little background if anyone is interested: we are a couple of design students and we are making a "mockup" magazine. instead of going black and white like always, we want to get a little crazy with the look =)

secretagents · #7 02-09-2010, 05:37 AM

I've had a go with the older chap. Dunno if that's "crazy" enough and probably not quite the "Kalle Gustafsson look" at all but anyway it's quite lame for design students to try to get their homework done by people on the web, no?

Color alterations just done with the channel mixer btw besides boosting the sat that had gone down due to the use of desaturated layers.

baumatt · #8 02-09-2010, 06:44 AM

it's not homework - more like a free side project, i am trying to exercise with.
i just posted the picture for trying stuff out, but in the end, ill use my own work ofcourse.
@secretagents did you use that blur/highpass technique on it? i like it how the face stands out from the background. but i think its a bit too sharpend for my taste.

here is what i came up with using the color gradient idea. might be a bit bright, but i like it somehow.
edit: after second view i think the shadows are too reddish =)

secretagents · #9 02-09-2010, 07:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baumatt

@secretagents did you use that blur/highpass technique on it? i like it how the face stands out from the background. but i think its a bit too sharpend for my taste.

Yes you're right it's a bit too "sharpened". I have reduced that and I find it better now.

And no, I didn't use that blur/high pass technique, I used the Corel KPT Equalizer plugin, but perhaps I should say yes as it allows to sharpen/blur by frequency range just like the highpass technique does.

Calvinhollywood · #10 02-09-2010, 09:03 AM

If you have the right photoshography its not difficult to create this style.

Just change the "blacks" in the selective color correction.

Also play a little bit with contrast but i think you can do a lot with the sel.color

lg calvin

holgaman · #11 02-09-2010, 10:07 AM

Baumatt,
I should have mentioned, using a gradient map does mess up the tonal range. If you set the blend mode to color, that helps quite a bit. Also, you can copy the original layer and move it above gradient layer and set the blend mode to luminosity. That way you will get the tonal range of the original back (assuming it was close to where you wanted it), and still have the color shift from the gradient layer.

Flashtones · #12 02-09-2010, 10:32 AM

I checked out your portfolio, holgaman. Nice stuff.

baumatt · #13 02-09-2010, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by holgaman

Baumatt,
I should have mentioned, using a gradient map does mess up the tonal range. If you set the blend mode to color, that helps quite a bit. Also, you can copy the original layer and move it above gradient layer and set the blend mode to luminosity. That way you will get the tonal range of the original back (assuming it was close to where you wanted it), and still have the color shift from the gradient layer.

nice! i think thats the way ill continue...i think the photographer clipped some layers (or handpainted them) to only accentuate the shadows and leave out the highlights, but i'll continue fiddeling arround (and trying harder =) ) with the gradient map until i get it right. thanks alot!

mushmush · #14 02-09-2010, 11:50 AM

Heavy Shadow/Hi-light adjustment was done :: see the woman's hair
Hue saturation- decreased Sat by close to 50
Maybe a LAB curve:: A channel slight S curve and B channel- pulled up on the midpoint

holgaman · #15 02-09-2010, 12:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flashtones

I checked out your portfolio, holgaman. Nice stuff.

Flashtones,
Thank you for the nice comment. I've got a few new portraits that can't be posted yet because they haven't been published. Also uploaded a bunch of stuff to foundfolios.com, but that doesn't appear to be live quite yet.

I've really learned a lot from you and many others here, thank you all!

st.james · #16 02-09-2010, 12:11 PM

Nice pictures, thanks for the tip! Any idea how these colors are achieved? besides desaturation and magenta in the shadows?

flexmanta · #17 02-09-2010, 12:39 PM

Quick way... approach it as you would do with a pink-yellow duotone, but set it to soft light.

Flashtones · #18 02-09-2010, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by holgaman

Flashtones,
Thank you for the nice comment. I've got a few new portraits that can't be posted yet because they haven't been published. Also uploaded a bunch of stuff to foundfolios.com, but that doesn't appear to be live quite yet.

I've really learned a lot from you and many others here, thank you all!

I respect your magnanimity but your images have a sensitivity not learned over the internet. Like your personal work.

I'll be sure to check for new stuff from time to time.

st.james · #19 03-17-2010, 12:10 PM

@ flexmanta, how do you split-tone? I tried searching, but couldn't find any.

ezprod · #20 03-17-2010, 12:17 PM

I would be willing to bet that his work is done with film and in the darkroom. From the pics I saw it is simply a cross-processed negative.

blom · #21 03-18-2010, 03:38 AM

I´m willing to bet against that, clients like that dont have the time to wait for the film, and they wanna see every shot on set.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ezprod

I would be willing to bet that his work is done with film and in the darkroom. From the pics I saw it is simply a cross-processed negative.