How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

[Mapogo]

In this example photo it almost looks cartoon-like in its appearance. I'm guessing it's a new sharpened layer using one of the many high contrast sharpening techniques, but I can't quite duplicate the look despite trying several methods. Anyone have any ideas?

[Tulack]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

https://fstoppers.com/product/mike-kelleys-where-art-meets-architecture-1

[Mapogo]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

Thanks for the input, but I use those methods and have that video. He doesn't do anything that resembles this look.

[klev]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

The techniques shown there do apply. Most of it is masking. The sharpening mumbo jumbo won't do much. Available sharpening tools are always pretty limited, so anything difficult and/or detailed comes down to lots of masking as hinted at in that video. That is how they obtained the nice metallic look on the cabinet hardware, that wood tone, and several other aspects. The sheen from those cabinets would otherwise make them appear slightly more washed out.

[Mapogo]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

Hmm, looks like you're just guessing, but unfortunately you're wrong and can't help me. Like I said, I use the techniques in the video myself. The look in the image supplied uses the techniques (some of them) to get the photo, but the particular look is done with a specific "recipe" if you will. I worked with the people who actually took the photo, but not close enough to get the said recipe, hence my request here to see if anyone would know.

That's ok, thanks for the input anyway.

[Tulack]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

What an idiot.

[Mapogo]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

Just because you don't know something doesn't mean you have to add input. It just wastes time. Obviously if the link you posted isn't the solution, no need to take offense to it. Just admit you don't know it. No big deal.

Edit: Actually, pretty juvenile to try to insult people just because your answer wasn't sufficient. Ok so you're a "senior member." Obviously that doesn't speak for itself because you're a moron. This forum is useless if you're "senior." What a clown.

Another Edit: Also, how stupid can you be to think Kelley's style covers every single style in that field? Do you even know anything about it? I hope people don't take your advice on this forum because from my experience you're a joke. Also, what klev says has some merit, but I've seen the workflow of the photographers in question, having worked beside them, and in this particular instance he's wrong. It's good advice in a general sense, but it's misguided in this case.

[klev]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

Hmm, looks like you're just guessing, but unfortunately you're wrong and can't help me. Like I said, I use the techniques in the video myself. The look in the image supplied uses the techniques (some of them) to get the photo, but the particular look is done with a specific "recipe" if you will. I worked with the people who actually took the photo, but not close enough to get the said recipe, hence my request here to see if anyone would know.

That's ok, thanks for the input anyway.

I believe you should reconsider your expectations of random strangers. If you have worked with these people, you should ask them. They may be willing to tell you what they did. You may or may not be able to reproduce it on your own.

When someone asks a question like this, I consider how I would go about it if someone asked me to make a particular image feel similar to this one. I identify what parts would be exceptionally difficult to produce in camera and which things are in direct conflict with respect to color correction. I gave you reasonable advice on how to approach it. If you expected an accurate depiction of how they produced it, you are simply out of line.

[Mapogo]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

No, you're out of line. You totally disregarded that I said I had the video and use the methods yet you still said that the techniques do apply. So I called you out on it, because you were in fact just guessing. Which is fine, because all we can base it on is what we see. I myself am guessing as to how to replicate the look because I don't know.

I think the problem is that you guys think too highly of yourselves. It's ok not to know something.

[klev]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

No, you're out of line. You totally disregarded that I said I had the video and use the methods yet you still said that the techniques do apply. So I called you out on it, because you were in fact just guessing. Which is fine, because all we can base it on is what we see. I myself am guessing as to how to replicate the look because I don't know.

I think the problem is that you guys think too highly of yourselves. It's ok not to know something.

I indicated exactly how I would approach it. I highlighted the need to mask and color correct individual portions, because it's the thing that people seem to skip over most frequently. Beyond that you claim that you have worked with these guys, yet you haven't even shown how close you came to their results. What do you really expect from my response? Why haven't you asked the guys that created that if you actually know them?

[Mapogo]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

What's with the reasoning? Don't you think if I could ask them I wouldn't have bothered asking on this thread? Just because I worked with them in the past doesn't mean we're tight. That's why I said "worked" and not "work."

It's all good. Thanks for trying to answer my question anyway. But stay away from Tulack, he/she is a bad influence and seems to be a moron.

[klev]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

What's with the reasoning? Don't you think if I could ask them I wouldn't have bothered asking on this thread? Just because I worked with them in the past doesn't mean we're tight. That's why I said "worked" and not "work."

Okay fair enough. You can try some other forums as well, but I don't think anyone will have an exact recipe for how to generalize this particular result. Regardless of where you ask, I suspect that most responses will be primarily based on intuition of others and what they would do in your position.

I think you'll have more success with this if you match some of the easily identifiable aspects first. These would be things like relative brightness between floor and cabinetry and certain aspects of color correction. Those should be low hanging fruit, given a sufficiently similar scene. Just keep that and any other references up while you work. Refer back to it while you work.

I don't suspect that sharpening accounts for much or any of this. The image didn't appear to contain any subtle haloing, which I associate with significant sharpening. The very grey cabinetry, the balance between indoor and outdoor brightness, and slightly saturated cabinetry were much more obvious, so I would certainly start there if I needed to work on such a thing. Matching their exact process is likely to be non-trivial unless you're able to work them again.

[Mapogo]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

Ok, cool thanks a lot for that. It's insightful nonetheless.

It's almost a painterly look though, which is done using several methods which are close to a sharpening effect and I've gotten close, but not close enough. Arguably, this look isn't even better than a more natural look, but I'd rather have the option to do it and tweak it and know it as opposed to not quite getting there.

Thanks, klev.

[klev]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

Ok, cool thanks a lot for that. It's insightful nonetheless.

It's almost a painterly look though, which is done using several methods which are close to a sharpening effect and I've gotten close, but not close enough.

That was part of my earlier point. Heavy sharpening introduces blocked up shadows, halos, and other undesirable artifacts. Professional photographers can't show that to their clients, so they have to avoid overuse of such methods.

This is slightly off topic, but here's an example of a sharpening method that uses something other than an approximated gaussian kernel (what unsharp mask does). I've come across a couple implementations of this, and some haloing was still present. I think one of those downloads includes the matlab version of that algorithm, which should also run in Octave. That might be beyond your level of interest, but the comparison to unsharp masking should still be interesting.

Arguably, this look isn't even better than a more natural look, but I'd rather have the option to do it and tweak it and know it as opposed to not quite getting there.

Thanks, klev.

You're welcome. I agree with you on the painterly thing. Painters generally rely on a more narrow palette, so that might be part of it.

[Mapogo]

Re: How to get this high-contrast, sharpened look?

For what it's worth guys, sorry for being argumentative. You must answer a lot of the same questions from people who haven't done the research, so when I just got a link with no explanation I was a bit annoyed and already frustrated from trying to find a solution to my query.

Just because I'm asking doesn't mean I don't know anything. And of what I do know, I feel like I should know the answer to this but I'm just not good enough, really. But like I said, my own final "look" is not arguably any worse, it's just different.

As for the sharpening link, yeah that's interesting.Thanks. I try to ensure that there's no discernible haloing in my own work, and use masks and different methods to attain this.