Paolo Roversi look

[domis]

My client wants the look of this reference picture taken by the skilled Paolo Roversi. I would appreciate any thoughts/tips of how to get close to this "style".

Thanks in advance.

[Ben Sherman]

Can be many different techniques. Selective color. Or in the blue curve.

[DSutherland]

In the curves or levels just pull the blacks out of the separate channels until you get the color you want. Pretty straightforward...I like it for making that "vintage" look.

[luciekout]

I am not sure, blue looks like classical crossprocessing but selectively masked out, I think vintage look might be reached a bit bit by using analog, colors later edited and masked

[crfbillmann]

Hi

I think this one could be done with only a few layers set to color or colorgradient with colors taken from referece objects, after desaturating the whole image.

If you need more information, let me know. And don´t for get that Paolo Roversi is an incredibly good photographer and most of the mood is probably done by lightning while the picture was shot.

Regard Chris

Here is a quick try:

[Rust]

I think a lot of the feel in his pictures has do do with his lightning. He always use natural light as main light source . Then he also use hmi lights, no strobes. Long shutter speeds. And i think crfbillmann picture looks pretty good. I wish i could see some bigger thumbnails

[DSutherland]

Originally Posted by luciekout

I am not sure, blue looks like classical crossprocessing but selectively masked out, I think vintage look might be reached a bit bit by using analog, colors later edited and masked

Sorry, I suppose you could say that I'm not really "up to date" with the terminology. I agree it's classic cross processing, in my book of vocabulary classic sometimes comes out as vintage but I suppose that could be defined as a different look altogether. My bad. I hope you at least understood the basic process of coming up with the result.

[crfbillmann]

hope this might help you to see more

[domis]

Yeah, its def cross processing to achieve the "colorcast" of the pictures.
The colors is one thing, but the feel and the.. how to explain.. the whole "painty" look is not easy to catch. Im i the only one seeing the painty feel over it? I also would say alot it by how its shot, but im sure this also have had its hrs in photoshop.

I can see clearly he have masked out the girl by looking at her legs, which pops lil unatural, but with taste. The skin is smoothed out, but i just cant get over the painty look which i love (its not mutch, but its there).

[Rust]

http://www.paoloroversi.com/images/p...todistrict.pdf
A interview with mr.Roversi for those who are interested
And i agree with domis it really has a painty look.

[jklier]

One possible technique is to do split toning with specific colorizations.

Example: treated and original

To get there: add a hue/sat to desaturate to taste, quite a bit, but not all the way. Then add two more hue/sat layers. The first one with a 'darks' luminosity mask, the second one with the same mask inverted. Then in both layers you select colorize and dial in a blue tone for the darks and a yellow for the brights. Adjust colorization to taste. Takes some experimentation. Then adjust the opacity of those two layers to control the strength of the effect. If you want to get more selective use different luminosity masks - for example split it three ways (dark darks, mid tones, bright bights).

Here's a 3-way split treatment which limits the bleed in the midtones: treatment

But that only gives you the color effect. You need to start with a well lit and well composed image.

[Rust]

A look behind the scene from a Paolo Roversi photoshoot, for those who are interested:
http://www.vogue.it/magazine/supplem...-haute-couture

Looks like the Roversi get his specific look pretty much in camera, maybe with HMI lights with gel. If you look carefully at the video at 00:45-00:55 you can se the pictures pop up on the screen on the right side. It looks like it already then has Roversi`s characteristic look.
Would love to hear some opinions

[ShadowLight]

check 2:27

[Rust]

Yeah i noticed that they tweak the colors. But do you think the look is mainly due to post production, or do they just subtle enhance what`s already there.?

[Mike Needham]

We can all guess, but a picture that you are trying to achieve would be more useful.

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by Rust

Yeah i noticed that they tweak the colors. But do you think the look is mainly due to post production, or do they just subtle enhance what`s already there.?

did you say "post p" enhances things that... are not there?

I think the video shows clearly what's on set as he takes pictures for the session as the video is recorded.

[Rust]

No. When i say "the look is mainly due to post production" i mean they add color and color casts that are not there. Like different solid color layers set to different blend modes. When i say " enhance what`s already there" i mean "in camera". If they like gelled the lights, and afterward maybe just increase saturation of the tone they have set with the lights.
I don`t necessarily think the video shows it clearly. Because maybe the camera WB neutralize any color casts in the room .

Mike picture like this:
http://models.com/work/vogue-italia-...pplement/58187

In my opinion selective blur,use of texture,grain,color casts gives the pictures a special "feel" that are unique.

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by Rust

In my opinion selective blur,use of texture,grain,color casts gives the pictures a special "feel" that are unique.

or maybe taking the shot through a imperfect mirror (which he did)

btw, if a magical camcorder that removes the blue cast existed like you speculate, you wouldn't have seen the "uncorrected" bluish images on the screen/monitor they were previewing (at the times you, yourself pointed out from the start)

[ShadowLight]

ah... I'm not sure what to comment further...
I'll post a couple of frames from the video and you think about it.

[Rust]

Thanks for the shots, you made it pretty clear So it`s a post thing ( the color/toning). Hmm, the funny thing is that is that he gets that pretty much in lightroom and capture one. Not like with 50 layers i photoshop and with help from top retouchers.
Many people, including me, claimed that he gets his look because he shoot film. But for me ,these pictures looks like they got the pretty same "feel" to it as he gets with his 8x10 polaroids....

[ShadowLight]

it's surprising how much you can achieve with a few curves
(after all, even after 50 layers, unless you add texture, you are just re-adjusting values)

come to think of it... it may be possible to figure out some of his settings,
since we have how the result shows with WB shift and the original model tones from the camcorder.

anyone cares to try it?

[creativeretouch]

Guys, I would suggest to check original Vogue webpage:

http://www.vogue.it/en/magazine/vogu...-haute-couture

I don't see any color shifts, grain or ortifacts provided by cheap flat scanner and huge jpg compression ...

[ShadowLight]

Originally Posted by creativeretouch

Guys, I would suggest to check original Vogue webpage:

http://www.vogue.it/en/magazine/vogu...-haute-couture

I don't see any color shifts, grain or ortifacts provided by cheap flat scanner and huge jpg compression ...

notice the model in the mirror and the resulting image from the capture on the monitor on the right:

http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/att...1&d=1316364281

[creativeretouch]

I am talking about this:

http://models.com/work/vogue-italia-...011-supplement

It looks like a cheap copy of printed magazine ... If you want to be serious while judging a technique, you should check the original, not a bad reproduction.

It looks like most of the work is done in the RAW converter (most probably they have few presets, so client is able to see almost final shot on the screen).

And then some vignetting + D&B suppose to be done.

Edit:
And I think I found one of those sources:
http://postimage.org/image/1ibw4nijo/
http://forums.thefashionspot.com/sho...&postcount=269
http://forums.thefashionspot.com/sho...&postcount=156

[Rust]

My quick try,only with Lightroom 3

[ShadowLight]

Rust, here is the original image of this particular model directly from vogue.it:
http://images.vogue.it/imgs/gallerie...2622_0x440.jpg

keep an eye on the black-point and the tonality (kind of green-blue overall, with slight pinkish skin)....
contrast, 2x Selective Color, Desat. (although done in PS, C1 has Selective Color corrections too)

here's my go at it

[Rust]

Shadowlight, I like your version. I gave it another go with your tips in the back of my head. Added som negative clarity in lightroom before importing to cs5. Then played with some different GM and diffuse glow, HS adj.layer to soft light for giving it desat. contrast. Added slight GB and grain.

[ShadowLight]

Rust, it looks much better now.

I gave mine a second try too, just in PS - curves, 1x selecive color, color balance, levels
(no spot-corrections, so this should be possible to be recreated in C1 as well)

[d3vil4ng3l]

Hereis my try

[mshi]

He talks about his process on youtube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX52qTtvNec