Trying to work out the PP on these....

DekHog

DekHog

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Derek
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I really like this guys street portraits, and have been trying to work out what it is that achieves the 'look' that he's getting, but without any success.

The bokeh is down to FF bodies and wide aperture lenses, but the people in them have a soft, yet hard/sharp look about them, and the colour palette in each shot is very consistent, yet slightly different from the norm....

Ideas?
 
hmm good question, the backgrounds have definitely had different treatment to the foreground as you can see some mistakes on the cutting out of the layers, sometimes you can see bright bits of background at the edges of the person hinting that it's been darkened somewhat, and sometimes the edges of the people have been slightly blurred hinting that the background has also been blurred.
 
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heres the exif data from a couple of them

Camera Maker: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D
Lens: 50.0 mm
Image Date: 2010-01-14 19:25:22 +0100
Focal Length: 50.0mm
Aperture: f/1.8
Exposure Time: 0.020 s (1/50)
ISO equiv: 1250
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Partial
Exposure: Manual
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: Yes (Manual)
Color Space: sRGB
Photographer: Markus Schwarze
Title: Shooting Kati_HH


Camera Maker: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D
Lens: EF35mm f/2
Image Date: 2010-01-20 09:09:15 +0100
Focal Length: 35.0mm
Aperture: f/2.0
Exposure Time: 0.020 s (1/50)
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure Bias: none
Metering Mode: Partial
Exposure: aperture priority (semi-auto)
White Balance: Auto
Flash Fired: No (Manual)
Color Space: sRGB
Photographer: Markus Schwarze
 
Theres a lot of clarity and sharpening going on, maybe a little tweeking of the tonal range.
 
The clarify tool in paint shop pro gives similar results to these. Probably reasonably easy effect to reproduce with none full frame etc:

Process one copy with plenty of blur to give you some nice oof background

Process another copy using the clarify tool in Pain Shop Pro

Combine the two using the face/body from the PSP version, then maybe do a little dodging on the face to raise the highlights, to give a slight fill in flash look.
 
Jimmy_Lemon said:
The clarify tool in paint shop pro gives similar results to these. Probably reasonably easy effect to reproduce with none full frame etc:

Process one copy with plenty of blur to give you some nice oof background

Process another copy using the clarify tool in Pain Shop Pro

Combine the two using the face/body from the PSP version, then maybe do a little dodging on the face to raise the highlights, to give a slight fill in flash look.
Click to expand...

Never used PSP since about 1998! Sounds very similar to 'Clarity' in LR; is the effect much the same, or very different?
 
Very different. In PSP it seems to do a micro contrast effect, as well as making it appear sharper. I am not a fan of Lrs Clarity, it seems to give odd edging/ghosting whenever I use it. I only use PSP for the clarify tool, everything else is done in Lr :p
 
The only quick example I have already edited is:

Original (just sepia effect added):
IMG_1761.jpg


Run through "Clarify" (probably at full whack):
IMG_1761-Edit.jpg
 
DekHog said:
I really like this guys street portraits, and have been trying to work out what it is that achieves the 'look' that he's getting, but without any success.

The bokeh is down to FF bodies and wide aperture lenses, but the people in them have a soft, yet hard/sharp look about them, and the colour palette in each shot is very consistent, yet slightly different from the norm....

Ideas?
Click to expand...

PM moomike :) His street shots are quite similar in terms of colour/sharpness. Has the same "feel" in my opinion.
 
I think a slight desaturation on most of the backgrounds too

hmmm, not quite sure now, maybe it is a slight cooling of the white balance in some of the backgrounds instead.

I like it though!
 
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Thanks to all for the suggestions and ideas.... I'll have a play with clarify in PSP and a couple of other ideas I've got bouncing around now... :thumbs:
 
Just having a look through some of the other shots, it seems the two I picked earlier are maybe the only two that actually look like the clarify effect.....I guess maybe the others are a sharp lens with added high pass sharpening to make them pop.

Agree with all the above on the background etc though.....and they are damn good shots :)
 
This isn't too far off.
Punch up mid tone contrast (unsharp mask high radius medium amount)
Duplicate layer and desaturate, lower opacity to 30-40% ish
Lots of normal sharpening

4978059204_d8afa0def5_z.jpg
 
Wayne, that just looks way over-sharpened to me.....

I think I might be getting close though....

sgnwiv.jpg
 
I think some of them have had some High Pass sharpening

P.S Not advisable for shots of women as it brings out wrinkles!
 
A 2nd layer. USM applyed at Amount 20, Radius 60, Threshold 0, Background then erased.?
 
Pretty good DekHog but I would use a masking layer to lower the contrast of the background, much quicker than playing with sharpening.

Just had look through the entire set and there is some deffo 'Dave on the Hill' style processing too in some of these, just the right amount.
 
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