HOw to get the Captain America skin tones?

[hans12]

Hey guys.

I am working on a small project and I tried to adjust the colours of my model to get the same skin colours of the movie "captain America"

I am not really satisfied with my results.

You can take my picture and try to achieve the, lets say, "movie poster skin colours".

Please let me know what u have changed.(Colours, levels, filters...)

Greetings and thx

Have fun

Steve


http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/29/dsc08363p.jpg/

[mikesavi]

I'm in a hurry, and I could only spend about five minutes, but I got the skin tones/saturation kind of close.

Three adjustment layers:

First, a curve to "match" the luminosity of the target face.

Hue/Sat Layer: Saturation -75

Second Hue/Sat Layer: Hue -12

Not all that cool really, but it's something at least. I suggest you dodge/burn the face to match the target luminosity better since the lighting is different on your models face.

Good Luck!

[hans12]

Dude thx for tipps. Helped me a lot. Got what i wanted

Thank you!

[edgework]

You might try to keep some highlights. Can't really duplicate the lighting of the original, but there are some natural facial contours that can be enhanced.

http://edgework.tripod.com/captain_a.jpg

[hans12]

Thx guys. Here is my new color attemp on the pic. What do u think?

Have to enhance the contours on my next pic, thx for the tip!

Btw, nice work edgework! Can u explain me how u achieved that? I think, its really hard to relighten the pic in order that it still looks natural.

Greetings and thx

Steve

[mikesavi]

Nice job!

[Donamai]

Hello everyone!

(This post is about learning and sharing about movie film poster photography)



I decided to ask this question here as Hans12 ignited my curiosity on this subject.

I see the help that other members posted already but as the case of any problem/case, every image is different therefore it requires a different approaches and techniques.

I'd like to ask any fellow members who had had the change to give info or to ask about this subject before to see if I/we can increase my understanding and skills regarding retouching or poster photography manipulation.

I found another poster of Captain America and got curious about the techniques and "retouching" of it to get to the final product.

My questions are:

• What do you think, in terms of software, was used in addition to PS?
  
• Is there a predominant technique in the image?
  
• Could this image be achieved only using PS as the only tool any other plug-in?
  
• I can definitely see coloring, sharpening, high-pass, but to provide the perfect "burn" look perhaps there could be more than the eyes can see?

I know that for every format/medium there are different experties but I'm just curious as to see if the professionals involved in a project like this require more than a few tools and perhaps different set of eyes to get the a final image.

http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content...ca_poster1.jpg

[eraanexact]

Originally Posted by Donamai

My questions are:

• What do you think, in terms of software, was used in addition to PS?
  
• Is there a predominant technique in the image?
  
• Could this image be achieved only using PS as the only tool any other plug-in?
  
• I can definitely see coloring, sharpening, high-pass, but to provide the perfect "burn" look perhaps there could be more than the eyes can see?

I know that for every format/medium there are different experties but I'm just curious as to see if the professionals involved in a project like this require more than a few tools and perhaps different set of eyes to get the a final image.

http://www.filmofilia.com/wp-content...ca_poster1.jpg

-It's probably just photoshop. Maybe some plug-ins, depending on who did the retouching(I don't know any professional retouchers who use them) but it's certainly acheivable with photoshop alone.

-The retouching technique is essentially effective masking and use of contrast to heighten textures. Skin is probably done seperately from clothing, from the shield, etc. The debris flying around was probably masked seperately, put on a layer above the hero, and a motion blur applied. There is some localized burning on the upper shield so that the type reads better.
Overall, it's very contrasty, and usually when you add that much contrast, you have to dial down the color saturation to compensate.

-Yes, you could make this in photoshop without any plug-ins. It's not so much about what software was used and more about the talent of the retoucher and most importantly the talent of the photographer who lit the image well in the first place. No magic buttons here, just lots of attention to detail, tight masks and time.

The photographer who shot this is Michael Muller, btw.
http://www.mullerphoto.com/#/13508

Here's a link to an interview with him:
http://www.rangefinderonline.com/fea...oll-5646.shtml

In the interview, he talks about how many people are involved in a project like this: "Depending on the movie, Muller deals with “multiple ad agencies, the marketing department at the studio, publicists, the actors’ opinions, the director and the script.”" That answers the question about how many eyes are involved in making something like this.

I tried to find out who Muller uses for retouching, and I'm not sure if for this particular project it's this studio, but they seem to work with him often:
http://www.modelcitizenstudio.com/

[Donamai]

WOW Eraanexact!!!

(This post is about learning and sharing about movie film poster photography: Michael Muller, poster design, compositing, costume retouching and possible post-production retouching from/ for movie film)



---Thank you so much for the information about the photographer , the process, and the way movie posters are made.
I can definitely appreciate your time and effort into searching and providing the information. I have to say that I enjoyed reading about it as well as increasing my knowledge of it. Why? I’m very interested in developing and learning about what is involved in the process. I have found through the years that living in Hollywood makes me aware of the many “techniques” or visions of many creative artists in this city; from the posters I see glued to old buildings to the big billboards of the streets here in LA.
I checked out the Muller website and I must confess, I spend time really looking at those poster/images. I still have to read the full interview yet the bits and pieces I got are shaping a clear understanding on lack of knowledge I had/still carry.

(I’m adding more questions and my opinions here to see if this can be answered or expanded by other’s opinions)


---The Photographer has a vision for the images but does he have the vision for the poster? The photographer does a terrific job, and as the case of Muller, the idea that get creates provides a fantastic vision but does the photographer has an image in mind that clearly comes out in the final poster?

---- In the article “How A Photo Becomes A Movie Poster,” Muller states, “I always read the script beforehand, because I want to really know the characters I’m shooting,” Muller explains of this unique challenge. “And Wolverine’s got this dark side to him, this troubled beginning, so I tried to tap into that and convey it in a subconscious way.” This undoubtedly tells me he does his homework to research for a “Photo based poster” pretty amazing. Idea + vision + homework = final images.


----While I believe that images (skin and/or objects) could be retouched and worked on in PS, I also think that some other parts of the images are definitely created with other programs, this based on what I have seen so far and taking in my own conclusions. As in the poster of captain America, for example, the suit could have been replicated in a 3D program and later brought to PS to finalize it. Why I believe so? Well, I have tried and tried so many times to photograph fabric, costumes and sometimes armors to see if I could at least replicate the look in the post-production and so far I only get to a very amateurish look (adding the fact that I don’t have a green screen or CGI system to do so). But I don’t discard the idea that things can be replicated and created in PS and used with 3D rendition as the example of the Wonder woman outfit made to fake the Wonder woman part for Megan fox in the worder-who.com site.

---- Also, the final poster has composition and design involved. Even it if just a pair of letters giving the title of the movie or the date, there has to be a layout design and a compound array of tryout to make it work. This also makes me curious as to what direction the changes take; perhaps adding backgrounds to provide a story to tell, adding props, adding special effects to blend the foreground and the background, the creators seem to put a final image together. Also, this will account for the mere fact that if shots are taken directly from a finished processed movie film the programs used for it have added the colors and contrast necessary to create a mood or a look. (Check out the images I uploaded of the movie 300 before production and post production) **
Here is a link I found about this:

http://www.fastcompany.com/1815812/t...poster-designs

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011...poster-design/

----Finally, my goal by getting interested in this kind of retouching is to learn how to make that perfect image that seems to be a direct shot taken from the actual movie as opposed to just a photo with a surmounted amount of techniques applied to it which might still look as amateurish as the previous attempt. Though I’m looking more for a discovering of the process to a final process , I’m not looking for a superiority complex on this.


Take a look at these movie posters, some may look simple and other look as really processed.

http://www.webdesignerdepot.com/2011...poster-design/

References:
About movie poster making:
http://www.popphoto.com/how-to/2010/...s-movie-poster

About movie poster awards:
http://www.impawards.com/index.html

Fake Wonder woman poster (Megan Fox)
http://www.wonder-who.com/wwposter5.html

Movie posters I found interesting:
http://psd.tutsplus.com/articles/ins...movie-posters/

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspir...movie-posters/

The psychology behind movie posters:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1815812/t...poster-designs


>>>Thank you again Eraanexact!!

-

[eraanexact]

Originally Posted by Donamai

----While I believe that images (skin and/or objects) could be retouched and worked on in PS, I also think that some other parts of the images are definitely created with other programs, this based on what I have seen so far and taking in my own conclusions. As in the poster of captain America, for example, the suit could have been replicated in a 3D program and later brought to PS to finalize it. Why I believe so? Well, I have tried and tried so many times to photograph fabric, costumes and sometimes armors to see if I could at least replicate the look in the post-production and so far I only get to a very amateurish look (adding the fact that I don’t have a green screen or CGI system to do so). But I don’t discard the idea that things can be replicated and created in PS and used with 3D rendition as the example of the Wonder woman outfit made to fake the Wonder woman part for Megan fox in the worder-who.com site.

I don't think the clothes are CGI. Those are movie-grade costumes made by costume designers at the top of their craft that are photographed with very high resolutions backs. Muller mentions the Phase One IQ180, that's a huge file, 260mb and 10,000x7,000 pixels...lots of detail captured. Even if he used a P+65 back, again, it's a huge file. You can get that kind of detail out of much smaller files with the right combination of contrast and sharpening, let alone what you can get from those phase one backs. I'm not saying there definitely isn't any cgi there, but it's possible and more likely that it's just great photography and some skilled retouching.