On 25 Jul 2005 17:39:39 -0700, "blen" wrote:
basically i have some photos taken from a digital camera, i was wondering what adjustment to do to achieve this type of photos. the photos look saturated and sharpen but not the same though when i try to do it. can anyone help me?
http://www.8ung.at/yavin/scans/007_avril_lavigne_rolling_sto ne_sept02_yavin.jpg
Come over to the ‘rec.photo.digital.slr-systems’ NG and ask it again there. The most stunning aspects of these images isn’t what’s been done in photoshop – it’s lighting at the time of taking the photograph.
For a portrait like this, look at the model’s eyes and you’ll often see a reflection of the lighting setup (occasionally this is tidied up in photoshop, destroying that information, but often not). For Avril, first note the shadow on the left side of the image, cast by her hair onto her face, and the reflection in her eye from that light source. (The main light). This light is located at the left side of the image, but slightly forward of the model (closer to the camera). It was slightly higher than her too – look at the chin shadow caused by this light.
Light #2 is a hair light, from the far right of the image. It’s quite high (as usual) too, you can see the hot spot on her left breast, and it’s also responsible for the brightest light falling on her right elbow (the arm with the tatoo).
Add a fan to lift her hair from her face, and a backdrop of a baseball field and click away.
http://tv.yahoo.com/tvpdb?d=tvi&id=1808649617&cf=ph& amp;pgid=&photoid=572375&pid=23
Check the shadow from the croc’s head. The main is a diffused light source, high and off to the left. The second light is slightly less powerful (or further away) and is high, to the right. A fairly even foreground lighting setup designed not to cast any sharp shadows.
This was probably an on-location shot due to the size of that rock, the artificial lighting has been set to be significantly stronger than the ambient lighting at the time (it looks like dusk), which although unnatural, brings your attention to the subject.
http://tv.yahoo.com/tvpdb?d=tvi&id=1808649617&cf=ph& amp;pgid=&photoid=566560&pid=110
From the models eye catch light, I’d say the main light is almost directly front on, originating from above, the camera position. It’s probably a large diffused source. Note that with portrait photography, it’s common to use a zoom lens (100mm or more), which means the photographer is further away from the model than you might expect. The light source is often behind or just beside him.
The background has been evenly lit with it’s own lights that are beside or behind the model.
The subtle final light source I can see here is responsible for a warm glint on the hair on the bright-side of her face. Probably a gold reflector, beside and maybe slightly behind the model, bouncing light from the main source back onto her face to kill shadows on that side.
Photoshop:
There is a saying: "You can’t polish a turd." So, no doubt, all of these images did go through photoshop and had some final adjustments made – detailed facial shadows removed – slight color adjustments, stray hair removal – you know, normal stuff. But none of these photos started as turds, so they end up being powerful images. You can’t expect to do this with just any random digicam shot.
—
Owamanga!
http://www.pbase.com/owamanga