Demystification of Rarindra Prakarsa

[Johann29]

i love how dreamy his photos are. i know this will be easily be demystified by the pros here.

http://photo.net/photos/rarindra

[Der_W]

From what I can see the saturation levels in his photos are higher according to
1.) the original saturation and
2.) the luminosity of the image in combination which is then
3.) enhanced quite a bit in contrast.

So what I'd do is: first extract the luminosity using a Hue/Saturation layer in "Color" mode with saturation set to -100.
Then extract chromaticity by using Selective Color (method: Absolute) with black set to -100% in all the colors, black set to +100% in the non-colors.
Now combine these using the Multiply mode and use "Image"-"Adjustments"-"Equalize" on the result.
Using this as a layer in "Saturation" mode, clip a Gradient Map to it with a gradient from white to red and Smoothness set to 0%.

The rest is finetuning, e.g. adding a vignette in "Luminosity" mode that's cutting the whites, lighting the middle with curves by adding white and opening the midtones and as a final step I had to shift the yellows in my image as they were getting too red.

The PSD file can be downloaded here if you wish to: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7124285/Fore...O/Rarindra.psd

Edit: This is the photo I used as a reference: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=13052956

[Johann29]

wow thats a lot of info there. will try to review it thanks!!

how bout this photo? how did he get the dreamy haze and the tone?

http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=5965103

ty in advance!

[Der_W]

Pretty much the same plus it's overlayed by a dark orange tone to give it the color look.

What you can try to decipher this looks is using something like my Analyze action which I attached you.

This'll create a separate document in which the active file is separated into the original (top left), the luminosity (top right), the saturation (bottom left) and the hue (bottom right).
Now try to see how they interact with each other and you'll probably soon find out how the images work :-).
Putting this knowledge together is another thing, but I outlined one possible approach, if you have questions or need assistance, feel free to ask :-).

[Johann29]

it seems so simple yet so complicated. but will try to study it. im not that familiar with "luminosity" and "chromaticity" and i guess the saturation part on the analyze action is the darker the image the more saturated it is right?
btw how do i combine the extract luminosity and chromaticity by multiply mode? how exactly do i do that? thanks!

[Der_W]

Luminosity is just the brightness information of the image, chromaticity is a form of saturation.
The chromaticity is lowest where the image is black, highest where it's white, so just the other way around :-).

You can either use the "Image"-"Calculations" set the channel 1 to the "Luminosity" channel, the channel 2 to "Chromaticity" channel and use blending mode of "Multiply".
Yet easier just [Ctrl]-/[Cmd]-click on the "Luminosity" channel's thumbnail and then [Shift]+[Alt]+[Ctrl]-/[Cmd]-click on the "Chromaticity" channel, this'll give you the same results without having to go to the calculations dialog (which can be quite overwhelming for starters).

It's just easier for me to say Luminosity*Chromaticity instead of writing the whole procedure ;-).

If you want to, I can do a quick video tutorial about the effect (though I'll just show my image, not one of Prakarsa's because I'm not sure about the copyright).

Edit: I just created an action for this kind of effect (the saturation & vignette part, the color overlay is up to the user).

[Johann29]

yes please im really learning a lot in here.

and thanks for being so unselfish and spending time trying to teach people like me

[Boneappetit]

IMHO, The shots are great, and so are the colors and I guess the process is very professional also, but there is something I don't like: The offset look annoys the eyes, and the blury parts in some of them doesn't match the rest of the photo. Not in every 1 of them thou. But that's just me...

[amica999]

If you have some patience, have a look here: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=24972177

[Der_W]

Here it is :-): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ygwOXNYRAQ

And here are the PSD file and actions: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7124285/YouT...d%20Lights.zip

[=)JC]

Der_W,
Wow, that was a serious things you were talking about. I almost haven't playing with the HSB trio before for my retouching, and now you opened a whole new thing for me. Can you explain once again how to extract the clean hue layer in analysis document, cuz you action didnt work at my pc.
thanks a lot!

[Der_W]

The Hue layer is just a copy of the layer which is then filled with 50% gray using "Luminosity" mode.
It's not raw hue though, but merely hue + saturation, but it works just as fine :-).
If you wanted raw hue, you could for example raise the saturation slider in the Hue/Saturation dialog.

Is there any error message as to why it won't work or does the action simply not run?

[=)JC]

No, that was the only error with this action, but anyway, now i can create those components by myself)
Too bad PS don't have a HSB color mode.
Maybe you know some other useful tricks using manipulation with saturation and hue? Or it just about increasing saturation in this tricky way?

[Der_W]

There's a plugin for HSB mode :-)

For Mac: https://www.adobe.com/support/downlo...jsp?ftpID=4965
and for Windows: https://www.adobe.com/support/downlo...jsp?ftpID=4688

Depends on what kind of tricks your after ;-).
I just looked at the OP's images and tried to recreate them and this way was the first that came to my mind.

[supjak]

Thanks Der_W. I am also learning here. Regards

[hippooo]

great infos here, thanx