airbrushed look for cars

[GOLGO-13]

hello,
my first post, so i hope it's in the right place!

i've been looking all over the web for a tutorial on airbrushing or retouching car photos. there are several examples of the type of airbrushing i'm talking about at lexus.com. following are two links to pages where the cars in the header both have the type of "airbrushed" effect i'm talkng about:

http://www.lexus.com/models/is/index.html
http://www.lexus.com/models/sc/index.html

but i'm hoping somebody here might give me some general ideas on how to start? i'm pretty familiar with photoshop, so while i'd LOVE to hear speciffics - general ideas on how you would start, or general methodology would be fine too!

i've got a few differnt cars i'd like to airbrush and/or retouch.. you know, give them that nice shine! so hopefully somebody here can give me some pointers so i can spend more time actually "airbrushing" cars, than figuring out HOW to airbrush them!

thanks!

[Flora]

Hi GOLGO-13,

welcome to RP!!

.... Not really my cup of tea ...

This Tutorial looks very intersting .... Don't be put of by the "Airbrushing Equipment" section... scroll down the page to the "Airbrush Lesson 1" ....

Hope this helps ...

[palms]

Golgo
have a look through this thread maybe this is what you are looking for ?

http://www.nikoncafe.com/vforums/showthread.php?t=71563

Palms

[cainam]

Well, one thing is for sure: I never worked with, or studied tutorials. Tutorials like the one mentioned above are pretty useless.
Why? because the result on that specific car can be achieved in 30 seconds.

I am an advertising illustrator, and about 10 years ago, a lot of it was done with the airbrush. Today I do it digitally, with a mouse, no wacom tablet, although I have one.

You say that you are pretty familiar with PS. That's good, ...nothing further needed for the execution.
This is roughly how I worked on this one:

1. You separate the car from it's background (but in fact you can also do it later).

2. You remove the text and all of the reflections (buildings, ground, sky), and on a separate layer you repaint what you remove.
But before you start repainting things, you must have visualized (in a sketch on paper/pencil maybe) how the car will look like, once finished.

So the most important thing here is: You have to kwow what you want to paint, BEFORE you start painting. Therefore you look at other pictures of cars, and you look carefully how they are illustrated or photographed. Look only for the best photography/illustration as examples. Look how light and shadows are build up, and translate this to your project/car.

Another important thing: SIMPLIFY. Simplify forms, shadows and highlights.

3. Once you have replaced all of the reflections, and have repainted and simplified things, you can adjust levels, contrasts,...the usual stuff.

4. You replace the car's color, and put it on another background.

There are a lot of important things, and the least of it is your PS knowledge, believe me.

[palms]

Cainam interesting ! i have ben meaning to get round to trying the tut i mentioned earllier but will try your way instead first when i get chance/motivation so have bookmarked your post for future use. Thanks

Palms

[SteveB2005]

Hi Flora. Thanks for linking us to that incredible airbrush link. I learned some stuff to help with my own work. It's amazing the resources available on the web.
steve

[GOLGO-13]

Originally Posted by cainam

So the most important thing here is: You have to kwow what you want to paint, BEFORE you start painting... Look how light and shadows are build up, and translate this to your project/car.

Another important thing: SIMPLIFY. Simplify forms, shadows and highlights.

wow cainam!
the examples you've attached are nearly exactly what i meant! seeing your before and after images was also VERY VERY helpfull in terms of understanding your line of thinking for simplifying forms/colors/shadows/etc... not to mention your final image was very cool!

heh heh.. bearing in mind your comment about PS knowledge.. can i ask which tools you found the most helpfull in simplifying the refelctions/forms?

and thanks to EVERYBODY for thier input. this was certainly a great way to be welcomed in!! i'm planning to dig into this project right now, and will be taking a look at all the resources listed in this thread!

[cainam]

Well, take a closer look.

When you simplify, you have to know in advance HOW you want to simplify.
So you have to determine the forms (read: masks), you're going to use.

Once you have determined, you make te mask and fill in.

The more shiny you want your car to be, the more contrasts you''ll have to use.
But as I said, take a closer look, because 'understanding' something is already half of the work.

Mark

[Angel_Ice]

Wow...this one is really grat 3d guyz, this is more useful than any tutorial seen around. It would be cool if u can share with us more of your knowledge, which books to read? how learn this stuff and this approach?

[cspringer]

Originally Posted by palms1

Cainam interesting ! i have ben meaning to get round to trying the tut i mentioned earllier but will try your way instead first when i get chance/motivation so have bookmarked your post for future use. Thanks

Palms

I came up with that tut awhile back. Ray loves using it on cars but you can get totally different effects by adjusting the settings. It isn't the same as the airbrushed look but you could come close (because of the smudge tool).

Illustrated Look

Can't seem to connect to dpreview at the moment but if you do an Illustrated Look you will find many examples.

[Flora]

Hi,


Mark,

welcome to RP!!

Wow here too!!!

Thank you so much for sharing .... You are obviously very talented because, as an absolute profane in this kind of manipulation, the part concerning:

Originally Posted by cainam

When you simplify, you have to know in advance HOW you want to simplify.
So you have to determine the forms (read: masks), you're going to use.

Once you have determined, you make te mask and fill in.

...is the one I'd absolutely love to see explained in the smallest details .... but I know it is practically impossible to do because that's where your 'eye' and great talent play a vital role ... and, alas, unlike technique, talent can't be taught ...

Steve,

so glad you found the link useful!!!

[palms]

Thank you cspringer some great examples there must get down and have a try at this
does it work on most vehicles not just cars i.e. bikes and planes etc ?

thank you again

Palms

[cspringer]

Originally Posted by palms1

Thank you cspringer some great examples there must get down and have a try at this
does it work on most vehicles not just cars i.e. bikes and planes etc ?

thank you again

Palms

Like all edits, it works great on some pictures and not that great on others.
Basically, it is a tonemapping technique that happens from the extreme edits in USM and Shadow/Highlight. Once you find the settings you like it only takes a couple of minutes (depending on smudging).
You can also get a nice pop (but natural look) by adding the original (cleaned up version) as the top layer and playing with the opacity.

a couple from Chris at dpreview.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=19147256
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/re...ssage=19214353


Some more examples that show how the different setting/smudging can change the outcome.
More Illustrated Look

[palms]

Well i have had a go not saying it is perfect by any way but had fun learnt new things ( pen tool from tutorial, never used that before ) used pwl and understood that a bit more, Will give it another go when i have a better photo.

Palms

p.s. hubby was impressed with his "clean car "

[hikjlm1]

Wow this is a great tutorial THANKS

Originally Posted by Flora

Hi GOLGO-13,

welcome to RP!!

.... Not really my cup of tea ...

This Tutorial looks very intersting .... Don't be put of by the "Airbrushing Equipment" section... scroll down the page to the "Airbrush Lesson 1" ....

Hope this helps ...