how to achieve these warm tones

[adamk]

Hello
Does anyone have any clues how to get the warm creamy tones similar to Jamie Hawkesworths work? I know he shoots film but am hoping we could achieve this in digital. His images have an overall warm yellow/red feelings to them but also very deep and rich, while nice contrast through ought nothing feels overall contrasty and getting clipped. Can this be done in digital?

Here is a recent shoot and mostly interested in the colour images: http://www.mapltd.com/artist/jamieha.../portfolio/11/
Here is his portfolio and you can see his colour work has those same qualities throughout : http://www.mapltd.com/artist/jamieha.../portfolio/11/

any tips would be appreciated

EDIT: here is the fashion shoot I meant to link to , I linked to his portfolio twice in my original post: http://www.mapltd.com/post/jamiehawk...swearforloewe/

[klev]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

I worked with a guy years ago that had a very similar style. He used natural light wherever possible. You may need to bring the shadows or background down in places to create a bit of extra separation, and these clearly have a little extra balancing on eyes and lips. Getting the warm/yellow thing isn't difficult. You'll spend more time getting the overall densities to look right.

[skoobey]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

I swear I'm gonna give lectures on "light is light".

On another note, klev is right, it's about getting densities even.

I can tell you that you should use masks to unify color, and DNB to push the tones, but apart from that, there really isn't "here is how", because it all depends from the starting point, even in sample images, they haven't all started out looking cohesive.

[adamk]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

Thanks for your response and I understand light is light, but here are my caveats.
In the fashion spread that was the first link, there are photos that were artificially lit, most of Jamie's work is available light. He is able to get the same warmth out of the available light work as in the artificially lit work.


Yes the fashion work has lots of retouching in it, but for his personal documentary work, I can't imagine there are hours of masks being created for each image as its documentary portrait photography.

So yes, he shoots at times of day when the light is in his favor to make the image style he wants and getting the densities he needs. BUT the question is, how do i get those warm creamy yellows that are throughout all of his images. I have not been able to achieve this and that is why I am coming to this message board. While we are talking about densities, this fashion shoot: http://www.mapltd.com/post/jamiehawk...nswearforloewe
is stylistically different then his other work as fas as strong artificial light, but he is still able to get those tones i am referring too

a link to his personal work: http://www.jamiehawkesworth.com/section432782.html

EDIT: here is the fashion shoot I meant to link to , I linked to his portfolio twice in my original post: http://www.mapltd.com/post/jamiehawk...swearforloewe/

[Flashtones]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

Got a before image that is of similar character to an after image you'd like to match?

[skoobey]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

OK. There is no such thing as available vs. artificial light. There is: color, size relative to subject, direction. If you know light, you know light. That is why it can look the same, photographer knows how to light the subject.

Yes, there is time spent on everything. Doesn't mean photographer did everything himself.

Density and color are something that is done in post. It's not in camera, you'll never get it in camera. Shooting correctly is only one of three stages. Preparation, shoot, post.

Answer: reference the image you like. Want part of your image lighter? Lighten it. Want it darker? Darken it. Want something more yellow, use color adjustment.

Masks don't really need to be super precise, neither does DNB, but the overall effect is hardly hidden, all the answers are in the image. I advise you to hire a retoucher if you find this type of work to be too hard, it really does tike time to get your skills to this level, we're talking about top photographer that uses top retouchers.

[Flashtones]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

I think too much is being made of it. Looks mostly like color balance and saturation adjustments to me. Mostly global. And art direction: knowing what colors to include in a scene and what to avoid.

[klev]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

OK. There is no such thing as available vs. artificial light. There is: color, size relative to subject, direction. If you know light, you know light. That is why it can look the same, photographer knows how to light the subject.

It can be very costly and complex to get something that resembles natural lighting from strobes, mostly due to the typical size and amount of diffusion that's necessary to achieve that. Sometimes you might have to pull the background down a little to emphasize the subject (obvious example where that was done, you can tell this because the background still has the contrast of something that was well exposed), as they're both similarly lit. I don't think the densities need a lot of work in post here. I mentioned a couple details, but a lot of that can be achieved through lighting, then you can just obtain the yellowish tones through selective color and a few other things. Here's an example from that site of eyes that appear to have been adjusted a bit to appear more focused.

Anyway compared to a lot of what is posted here, you can do most of this in camera with minimal equipment. It's actually one of the more approachable goals out of any of these threads. I see a lot of the same stuff. Subject is shot under natural and fairly broad lighting. Shadows might be slightly brought down in spots on a selective basis. Eyes have some touchups to guard against the common glassy eyed look typical of those conditions. Backgrounds adjusted to make subjects pop out. Like I said it's a good goal, because it's attainable on a strict budget.

[Aladdin]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

Here is how to do it:

Create Photo Filter adjustment layer on top of the background layer of interest, do not select any filter preset, instead, select "Color", set color value to #cb9f5c , check off "Preserve Luminosity" , bring "Density" slider up to 100%.

Leave layer opacity set at 100%, duplicate this photo filter layer, this time, set opacity to 50% on the duplicated layer. You may mask out certain areas of the image if required, you might vary the opacity of the black brush as not to remove the effect completely.

Keep in mind, that there is some sort of soft smoothing of skin texture that is applied to female skin, utilizing some sort of noise removal, very light.

Place the two photo filter layers in folder, lower opacity of folder to taste.

[photoGrant]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

I know Jamie.

He shoots everything on film.

[klev]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

I know Jamie.

He shoots everything on film.

Even if that's the case, I don't feel uncomfortable giving suggestions on how someone might approach this digitally. The quality of available equipment is at a point where you should be able to reproduce a lot of the similarity without degrading the file to the point where noise or banding become a problem.

[photoGrant]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

Even if that's the case, I don't feel uncomfortable giving suggestions on how someone might approach this digitally. The quality of available equipment is at a point where you should be able to reproduce a lot of the similarity without degrading the file to the point where noise or banding become a problem.

Not detracting from anyone's advice, just giving the direction into how it's really done.

[klev]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

Not detracting from anyone's advice, just giving the direction into how it's really done.

Ah that's nice. I was slightly surprised to read it, because I haven't heard of anyone shooting film in several years.

[skoobey]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

It can only be about the marketing, as retouching is digital anyway. If it is true.

[insmac]

Re: how to achieve these warm tones

Ah that's nice. I was slightly surprised to read it, because I haven't heard of anyone shooting film in several years.

I'm thinking:

Vincent Peters
Alasdair McLellan

to name a few from the 'world top'... the before mentioned shots have a lot in common with McLellan's work especially with regard to the warm tones.