How to achieve this photo effect?

[Rebecca9639]

http://postimg.org/image/as0xtb3yn/

http://postimg.org/image/jvapk4bc9/

http://postimg.org/image/6d8ub6wt1/

http://postimg.org/image/s9j0fsmq9/

http://postimg.org/image/k27zzq8cv/

http://postimg.org/image/8zl1p8ltd/


http://postimg.org/image/9uxjjscxd/

All of these images are from the same photographer. I really love the editing done on all of these pictures. Her style is this like muted matte effect. I have photoshop elements 10 and was wondering if anyone can help me out with how to achieve this look? I've tried playing around with curves and stuff but I can't seem to get it accurate.

Thank you!!

 

[Pookeyhead]

Raise the bottom of the curve to reduce blacks, and then play with individual RGB curves... either in Lightroom or Photoshop. Playing with hue, and saturation and split tone sliders a little can give the split toning look... that teal/orange feel that's been done to death in motion picture films.

It's getting a bit tired now as an effect though.... been done to death. I know you like it, and it may be new to you, but why not experiment and find your own look?

 

[juggler]

It looks like the black point has been lifted, the highlights suppressed, the shadows toned blue and the highlights given a slight orange tint.
It also looks as though the hue and saturation of the greens has been tweaked towards a desaturated blue.
The local mid-tone contrast (clarity) has been reduced too, I think, but it's a bit awkward to achieve that effect in PSE without plugins.
There also seems to be a bit of added grain.

I find the skin tones a bit blue in most of the images, but each to their own.
They look a bit like one of the Florabella actions (in fact the Florabella actions often do quite a lot more besides) or one of the film emulation toolkits. I like Florabella for quick edits because she does a good job of toning an image while retaining pleasing skin tones, though you will need to reduce the opacity of her adjustments.

Am I right in thinking PSE10 doesn't have curves adjustment layers? If so, in the levels dialog, trying bringing the output levels endpoints in a touch to lift the black point and suppress the highlights.
To add tone to the shadows and highlights, try adding a gradient map adjustment layer and edit the gradient to go from blue to orange. Reduce the opacity of that layer to around 10% and trying playing with the blend modes - hard light in particular may be useful.
To further lighten the shadows, try duplicating the gradient map adjustment layer and putting it in Screen blending mode.
To alter the greens, a hue / saturation adjustment layer targeting just the greens may do the job.
To add grain, add a pure black layer and add monochromatic noise to it. Put that layer in screen mode. Apply a Gaussian blur to the noise layer and reduce the opacity.

Alternatively, you may get some mileage out of some of the free actions on DeviantArt and elsewhere.