2020 photography

[justinkmcclure]

what are your thoughts on this guys technique/photos?

https://www.instagram.com/p/BGqB4wDvyZ-/?taken-by=2020photography3

does he get the pore definition from sharpening?

[justinkmcclure]

Re: 2020 photography

this is also one of his photos:

http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/18251902

the work looks rather fake but i can't decipher why. your thoughts?

[skoobey]

Re: 2020 photography

Yes, definitely sharpening. It looks fake because he creates the frequency split, and then paints on the low layer with a too big of a brush, so now the texture "floats".

[justinkmcclure]

Re: 2020 photography

so he paints on the "low" layer to blend the color and sharpens the heck out of the texture?

in your opinion is this bad technique? If so, why is it so popular?

[skoobey]

Re: 2020 photography

It's an improper use of a good technique. It's popular because you get smooth tonal transitions fast. However, I don't think anyone will pay good money for a result like that.

[klev]

Re: 2020 photography

this is also one of his photos:

http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/18251902

the work looks rather fake but i can't decipher why. your thoughts?

The instagram one looked okay. It's a bit sharpened for my taste. These modelmayhem ones look like shit.

The technique is one of the blur + sharpen techniques, all of which are useless. As you can see, this guy moved away from them.

[skoobey]

Re: 2020 photography

Oh yes, 99% of his new glamour work is great!

[justinkmcclure]

Re: 2020 photography

I think his work is great too....

so question: what is he doing 'now' that he wasn't doing in the "awful" modelmayhem portfolio?

in his new work on Instagram, is he still blurring the 'low' layer (in FS)? I'd like to replicate his work and I think I'm getting close, but would love professional input on what he's doing for glamour

[skoobey]

Re: 2020 photography

1. he plans the shoot. Quite clearly there are no random captures.
2. he plans the final look befor he starts retouching. Color palette is clearly defined
3. he uses dodge and burn and color adjustment layers, not just painting in between low and high frequency layers

[klev]

Re: 2020 photography

I think his work is great too....

so question: what is he doing 'now' that he wasn't doing in the "awful" modelmayhem portfolio?

in his new work on Instagram, is he still blurring the 'low' layer (in FS)? I'd like to replicate his work and I think I'm getting close, but would love professional input on what he's doing for glamour

No he isn't. It's really important to get past this focus on the implementation details. They can be useful if you're sure of what you want to accomplish, but good judgement is both extremely important and arguably harder to develop. This is in addition to everything skoobey mentioned.

[3bigmamas]

Re: 2020 photography

I think it's pretty bad... way too overdone.