My try on DRAGAN EFFECT

[suryapuranik]

Hello Everybody,
I found the dragan effect to be great using in portraits to give it a nice antique and mysterious effect. I've attached my try. Though the pic is small, it gives an idea about the effect. Please give your opinions. Thanks!

[bomber]

that looks killer.

[amica999]

As far as being able to see on this real small image I do like what I see, especially this golden skin tone

[djslyda]

very nice, what did u do?

[W.Smith]

Very nice! It has a 'mythical' quality about it. As if I'm looking at an image of a bust of an ancient Greek hero, like Achilles or Hector, or an Olympian god, or some such.
But I would presume it's rather limited in application. To males. I can't see it being very flattering to female heads. Or have you tried that already?

[pelez]

i think you are using dragan action, i ever use it

[santoro80]

Originally Posted by djslyda

very nice, what did u do?

I saw a tutorial to this effect here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZyLBw6xDjs

Anyway, I like the Suryapuranik's result more...

[LaurenW]

i like it alot.. looks like a photo you'd see on the cover of national geographic

[suryapuranik]

Originally Posted by pelez

i think you are using dragan action, i ever use it

Hi Pelez, No I've not used any action or automated script, all work is manual.

[suryapuranik]

Originally Posted by djslyda

very nice, what did u do?

Thanks Dislyda, Using the channel as a new layer above the original (blue channel in this case), some curves adj. to boost the contrast, playing with the color balance. Also, HP filter to exaggerate the fine details of face.

[suryapuranik]

Originally Posted by W.Smith

Very nice! It has a 'mythical' quality about it. As if I'm looking at an image of a bust of an ancient Greek hero, like Achilles or Hector, or an Olympian god, or some such.
But I would presume it's rather limited in application. To males. I can't see it being very flattering to female heads. Or have you tried that already?

Thanks, yes you are right, if we apply this effect to a model with smooth skin it would not look very good, i think it works best with skin having lots of texture, wrinkles, artifacts.

[mikedimples]

Could you post the larger size? I've seen this same before/after from a Dragan video tutorial. I'm confused because the image you posted looks like a screencap from the tutorial. Did you accidentally post the wrong image, or was it your tutorial? If it was your tutorial, why not post the link in this topic?

**confused**

While I'm here, this retouch was inspired by Dragan. It took lots of frequency separation, dodge and burn (limiting the dodge and burn adjustment layers to various luminance levels so it wouldn't get muddy), and channel mixing.

[suryapuranik]

Originally Posted by mikedimples

Could you post the larger size? I've seen this same before/after from a Dragan video tutorial. I'm confused because the image you posted looks like a screencap from the tutorial. Did you accidentally post the wrong image, or was it your tutorial? If it was your tutorial, why not post the link in this topic?

**confused**

Hi Mike, I found the pic while googling about andrzej dragan, I loved the effect he gave on this pic, so I downloaded the pic though it was smaller. However, I've the PSD file for my pic. Thanks.

[mikedimples]

Ah, found it. Your end result looks similar, but it's definitely not the same work. Sorry about my implications! Here's the tutorial to anyone who's interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZyLBw6xDjs

[crater]

Here is my attempt on dragan effect. A get to this my way about 2 years ago. But the main proces is about 4-5 steps. But compleating details is very time comsuming.

[suryapuranik]

Very nice Crater!

[pelez]

could you share the tutorial how to make that? i like the golden color

[suryapuranik]

Hello Pelez, I'd like to share my workflow on this image. Here it is:

Dragan Effect Tutorial:

1. Duplicate Background.
2. On the duplicate layer adjust the color (color balance) you would like on your image (yellowish in this case) blending mode to "COLOR"
3. Copy the blue channel and make it as a new layer on top, blending mode to "MULTIPLY" or "COLOR BURN" whichever looks fine
4. Duplicate again and apply high pass filter just a little so you can see fine details.blending mode to "HARD,VIVID or LINEAR LIGHT"
5. On a new layer on top with 50% gray filled and blending mode to soft light, dodge and burn to bring out shadows and highlights.
6. Lastly, you can use adjustment layers to bring the color or brightness/contrast of hard kind. Thanks.

[pelez]

thanks for share.....

[gamedonechanged]

Originally Posted by mikedimples

Ah, found it. Your end result looks similar, but it's definitely not the same work. Sorry about my implications! Here's the tutorial to anyone who's interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZyLBw6xDjs

Thanks Mike!

I had a play with a random pic I found on sxu.

http://yfrog.com/hq122263040698121beforej

http://yfrog.com/jc122263040698121afterj

[gamedonechanged]

Another one only I also used some luminance masking. I like this one better than my previous attempt. The luminance masking is pretty good for targeted tonal changes.

http://yfrog.com/9g120668840752228beforej

http://yfrog.com/j3120668840752228afterj

[ken frantz]

very cool. I like the color and contrast

[TimeTraveler]

Here's one I made awhile ago. It's not an action.

[mistermonday]

Hi Game, I had the same image so I tried my rendition of a Dragan effect. I prefer to go high on the Detail and accentuate haunting eyes.
Regards, Murray

[gamedonechanged]

Looks good Murray, I like the detail. I went back and re done both my previous ones to add more detail too.

http://yfrog.com/9f120668840752228aftervssj

http://yfrog.com/73122263040698121v2afterj

[shanice01]

Very nice !

[mistermonday]

Game, nice job. I think I needed to desaturate the face more. A Vibrance Adj layer took care of it.
Regards, Murray

[suryapuranik]

Here is my try on the image suggested by gamedonechanged. Thanks.

http://yfrog.com/1nmytryj

[anwer]

i am new member. you guys are doing great. it stirs a desire in me
to be able to do what you guys are able to do.

[Calvinhollywood]

If you like to know the dragan effect i can tell you what it is.

"TIME and FEELING".

I have a interview here where Dragan talk 20 min about his work and his retouching.
And ex explain that it took a lot of time to retouch the picture.
Sometimes weeks.
But most of the time he is thinking what kind of retouching would be good for the picture.

Thats very interesting and i am sure nobody can create the real "dragan-look".

But very nice results here... no dragan but nice.

lg calvin