Sebastian Kim BW Look

[JMAMYCHARLES]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts on Sebastian Kim's black and white retouching technique?

http://www.sebastiankim.com/portraits/#/time-brad-pitt/

http://www.sebastiankim.com/portrait...david-lynch-1/

http://www.sebastiankim.com/portrait...sica-chastain/

Thanks so much!

[insmac]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

I've been in love with his work for years! He's a brilliant photographer, the one who truly merges the style and aesthetics of XX-century masters with a modern twist. And just as with Lindbergh, you can tell from a mile away the shot is Kim's.

But yeah that was just as a side note Whatever agency does his post it's a damn fine job. Kudos to the team or retoucher.

[skoobey]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

Lots of dynamic range in the shaddows(C1) or lifting darks(PS LR) when raw converting + a lot of DNB, some play of the black point in curves and high pass to sharpen.

[AKMac]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

Great stuff. Does anyone know what these were shot with?

[insmac]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

5d markIII, a bunch of sessions done on Nikon (probably D800/e) and I guess phase ones for commercial work... but this does not matter because the postprocessing is heavy and severely alters an initial signal output

[rl-retouch]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

I'm fond of his other work but these are a bit too crunchy and over sharpened for me. The lynch one is the most interesting as the texture suits the subject, but there are some very flat areas in the chastain portrait. From a bit of digging I think he retouches inhouse and probably only outsources overflow work

[skoobey]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

I'm fond of his other work but these are a bit too crunchy and over sharpened for me. The lynch one is the most interesting as the texture suits the subject, but there are some very flat areas in the chastain portrait. From a bit of digging I think he retouches inhouse and probably only outsources overflow work

Eeek! Wrong Answer!

Impact Digital, also girl that worked there and now she's on her own, I can't remember the name(EDIT: Rebecca Handler), I also see some things from Happy Finish... a lot of different people.

[rl-retouch]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

Are you sure it's the wrong answer?? Yes there's is some work on impact digi and other places, but why wouldn't you think that's overflow? A lot of the big photographers have their own retouching teams but you still see their work at other studios occasionally.

[skoobey]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

Are you sure it's the wrong answer?? Yes there's is some work on impact digi and other places, but why wouldn't you think that's overflow? A lot of the big photographers have their own retouching teams but you still see their work at other studios occasionally.

In house is a loose term, yes there is probably a team that does the same thing over and over again, but so often, especially on commercial projects, it's the client(agency) that get's the team together, and you mostly don't even speak to the photographer, but rather the leader of the project.

[JMAMYCHARLES]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

Lots of dynamic range in the shaddows(C1) or lifting darks(PS LR) when raw converting + a lot of DNB, some play of the black point in curves and high pass to sharpen.

Thanks skoobey! What's the best sharpening workflow for this type of look? Do you sharpen at the end in case there's a need to go backwards easily?

[rl-retouch]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

Possibly, but I think that especially on editorial and commercial projects a photographer with a big reputation will use the retoucher of their choice who they have a relationship and trust with, they wouldn't risk putting this in the clients hands. Surely not?!

[skoobey]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

Possibly, but I think that especially on editorial and commercial projects a photographer with a big reputation will use the retoucher of their choice who they have a relationship and trust with, they wouldn't risk putting this in the clients hands. Surely not?!

In editorial yes, but in commercial not so much. Depends on the photographer, of course.

Thanks skoobey! What's the best sharpening workflow for this type of look? Do you sharpen at the end in case there's a need to go backwards easily?

At the end and only at the end. I use a bunch of high passes at different radiuses and masks, to target specific areas of the image, just like any other image.

[rl-retouch]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

I would sharpen after the retouching but below the CC and grain, looks as if there are multiple sharpening passes with varying radiuses

[insmac]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

Regardless of who does his post, it's a damn fine job, all the photos are very much consistent with each other, they have similar tonality, grading etc.

[adtechniques]

Re: Sebastian Kim BW Look

I would sharpen after the retouching but below the CC and grain, looks as if there are multiple sharpening passes with varying radiuses

Can you help some advice how you multiple sharpening? With mask, channel or just use brush to paint where you wanna sharppen?