In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

[danlandoni]

Hey! Love this gold look. Is this accomplished in camera (if so, how) or are they doing it in post? Having a hard time breaking this image down.

http://i.imgur.com/mzPUt9V.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/mzPUt9V.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/IyI5c2j.jpg

[skoobey]

Re: In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

Great images that have been retouched.

[klev]

Re: In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

-Take image with suitable lighting.
-Retouch eyes to stand out.
-Apply some overall adjustments.
-Make background more yellow relative to garments, handbag, and skin.
-Make skin warmer than lip or eye makeup, but not as warm as the background.

Ideally you want minimize how much you move things in opposing directions. You will need some masking for this.

Breaking things down into components gets easier after a while. You may not know with absolute certainty, but you develop an intuition for how some aspect might be accomplished. I could never learn by copying someone else's actions, but comparing to reference is helpful. It's significantly harder to come up with and execute really cool stuff based solely on your own judgement.

[skoobey]

Re: In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

@klev

It's many more steps, but I do agree, one at a time. There is no point going into detail if the OP can't distinguish retouched from unretouched files. He/she will get better at it, but I would advise, as always, to start doing one step at a time, and ask questions about challenges that you're facing in your own workflow. So, do you have an image that you'd like to turn into something similar to the samples?

[flowbox]

Re: In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

This is explained very good in a Calvin Holliwood tutorial named Gold look (Thank you Calvin you are great!)

[klev]

Re: In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

@klev

It's many more steps, but I do agree, one at a time. There is no point going into detail if the OP can't distinguish retouched from unretouched files.

If I tried to break down every step that looks apparent to me, it would be a very long response. Pointing out some details should put him on the right track. Much of the time people treat these things as global adjustments, so they get stuck quickly.

[skoobey]

Re: In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

Much of the time people treat these things as global adjustments, so they get stuck quickly.

So, so true, I know I did when I started out. THe more you look at Photoshop like a painting tool, and less like an automated machine, the easier it will be to understand. THe other thing is that starting point is just as important as the goal, so posting your image to get step-by-step is a must.

[danlandoni]

Re: In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

I think I got it. Had to gel all my strobes with yellow and painted the background metallic gold AND had to use a very large gold reflector.

Result: http://i.imgur.com/d1N9wRw.jpg

Pretty close i think. Still need to step my retouch game up. Practice makes perfect though

Cheers all!

[Aladdin]

Re: In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

I think I got it. Had to gel all my strobes with yellow and painted the background metallic gold AND had to use a very large gold reflector.

Result: http://i.imgur.com/d1N9wRw.jpg

Pretty close i think. Still need to step my retouch game up. Practice makes perfect though

Cheers all!

You got it. Good job.

[Renato Gonçalve]

Re: In camera or done during post? Breakdown help

I think I got it. Had to gel all my strobes with yellow and painted the background metallic gold AND had to use a very large gold reflector.

Result: http://i.imgur.com/d1N9wRw.jpg

Pretty close i think. Still need to step my retouch game up. Practice makes perfect though

Cheers all!

There's absolutely no reason to gel everything on the lights. It just adds unecessary complexity to the shot since you run the risk of burning separate channels while exposing it and you could just move the color temperature to the right tone.