We have so far looked at the photographic and lighting techniques in part 1 & 2 - if you haven't had the chance, please read them first as it will help you understand how the image was created from the start.
Part 1 - Photographic Techniques
Part 2 - Lighting Techniques
In this final article I want to give you the step by step process of creating the 'style' of this image. Where do you start?
First you need to decide what level of digital work you want to apply to the image and there are 3 levels:
- Enhance
- Stylize
- Idolize
Enhance - is a simple boost of the basic adjustments of the image, such as contrast, saturation, levels and curves. The overall image remains very close to the original and tends to represent the image realistically.
Stylize - adds extra digital elements in order to give it a distinct style. This could include shifting color balance and tone in addition you may start applying some retouching and manipulating to the image. The final image is realistic but has a unique feel and look to it.
Idolize - the image is heavily manipulated and retouched. Extra elements are added from other photos or graphics, so that the final version does not resemble the original. The retouching is done to a point where the subject has an illustrative feel to it and can appear surreal.
What level of digital work has been applying to the image above?
Answer: Stylized.
Here's a the before and after:
Step by step guide how I created the digital 'style' of this image:
- Adjust Exposure and Enhance
- Shift Color Balance
- Apply Shadow/Highlight
- Skin Retouching
- Sharpening
Before I go through the steps, its worth noting that there are two software programs I used in the process:
Aperture - this is a RAW processing software to make basic adjustments in steps 1 - 3 (you can also do exactly the same with Lightroom)
Photoshop - this is to add the additional retouching in step 4 - 5 (if you do not have Photoshop and cannot afford the hefty price tag you may want to try the free open source photo manipulation software GIMP.
Follow these 5 steps:
Step 1 - Adjust Exposure and Enhance
For this image I wanted a slightly darker feel so I made sure the image is slightly underexposed - hence the histogram looks like this (learn more about histograms - click here):
Notice the 'blacks' (the left hand side of the histogram) are not 'clipped' (there is a gradual line) - this is important if you want to have detail in an 'underexposed' image.
This is an example of the same image where the blacks are clipped, this will result in loss of detail in the dark areas. Avoid this if you can.
In addition I added some extra enhancements:
- increased contrast
- increased definition
- de-saturated
- took out the vibrancy
Note: the defaults values are (0)
This step adds to the dark edgy feel of the image.
Step 2 - Shift Color Balance
Because desaturating the image can make it look 'dead' or life less, I used this step to give the image a bit more warmth and life.
Here's the original color balance of the image, set at 4775 K, which is very cool:
And here's the adjusted color balance, set at 6754 K, which is very warm:
You can use the sliders to get a feel of what is right your image.
Step 3 - Apply Shadow/Highlight
This adjustments allows you to have extra control over your dark and light areas of your image, as well as increase the contrast in the mid-tones.
For this image I only have to adjust the shadows because I underexposed the image and the highlights are already dark.
For more advanced users there are additional options to work with. I increased the Mid Contrast and shifted the Low Tonal Width, this gives extra control in your shadow areas.
Step 4 - Skin Retouching
This is the point where I export the image as a high resolution Tiff (8-bit) and apply retouching in Photoshop.
Here's the before and after:
Here's how I do it in Photoshop:
1. Duplicate your image so you are working on a new layer.
2. Apply 3 filters
- Gaussian Blur - ensure the image looks 'blurry'
- Noise > Median - adds a further smoothness to the image
- Noise > Add Noise - this adds a texture to the blur to make it more realistic. Keep low 2-3% max.
3. Add a layer mask (to learn more about layer masks click here)
4. Invert the layer mask so it hides everything (fill with black).
5. Click on the layer mask and select a white paintbrush to paint back around skin tone areas. You will now see the 'blur' layer coming through and smoothing out the skin tones.
6. Adjust the layer opacity to blend it with the bottom layer so it does not look over done.
7. Flatten the image
Step 5 - Add Sharpening
This final step simply makes the image appear sharper. I use the following tool in the Photoshop menu:
Filter > Sharper > Unsharpen Mask
Play around with the settings until you are happy. Here's are the settings I used for this image:
Inspiration
Here are a couple of photographers you may want to look at to get further inspiration:
Dave Hill
Jill Greenberg
Summary
This concludes the 3 part series, the principles covered can be applied to any image you take and the key now is to practice to embed all the learning.
Post your comments below and let me know what you think.
If some of this is above your current level, don't worry, you might want read my FREE E-BOOK to understand the process and framework of how to improve your photography. Just sign up in the green box on the right for your free copy.
All the best
PEG
www.photoexpertguy.com