What is the post processing in this shot?

I would say there's not a lot of PP there - maybe selective desaturation. The look there is about professional make up and lighting.
 
LIke AndyB says, good make-up and lighting are the key there, although it looks like it's been overexposed a tad and processed to look desaturated and flat (i.e. the contrast levels lowered).
 
I'm not convinced that the effect can't be recreated in PS....

I just don't know how! :D
 
Looks like an infra red filter job to me.
Just my thoughts - probably wrong though!
 
Whilst you could achieve it in post, the amount of time needed to recreate that in post is far far greater than the time required to do it in makeup.

Makeup's considerably cheaper too.

Trying to do it in post isn't worth the effort as you'll be looking at days of work. Same goes for trying to get gold or silver skin, just paint the model it's quicker, easier and cheaper.
 
Make up may be cheaper Jase but I have no clue how to do that either :D

I have found another photographer who has a similar but not as good photo that he says was just done in PS in a few minutes.

attachment.php
 
Make up is a lot more convincing too. These shoots are about forward planning. You need to know the final look you are aiming for and get the makeup and hair right to begin with. There's more to photography than taking pictures you know ;)
 
I had a go at recreating it in PS. I remain unconvinced that the original is makeup rather than processing.

In my rather amateurish attempt I think the skin comes pretty close to the one I am trying to emulate but I've made a mess of the lips. I also should have blurred the skin more. I wish I had used a better photo to start with, it was just one I grabbed off my memory card and had large areas overexposed.

I think that as I am an amateur and it's my first attempt then it wouldn't be unfair to assume that a more adept person could produce a similar image to the original pic in my first post in the same amount of time as it took me, which wasn't very long.

58566_447284156312_588166312_5126714_7141845_n.jpg
 
You'll never recreate good make-up on the computer. There are some very good digital artists out there who can do similar things, but it's still cgi at the end of the day.

DaydreamJay said:
Make up may be cheaper Jase but I have no clue how to do that either :D ...
Click to expand...

That's why photographers hire make-up artists.

PS. I think you have to be registered and logged in to see that retouchpro image you're trying to link to.
 
Last edited:
you maybe onto something with the IR, when using my IR camera blue eyes come out black and brown eyes quite often have a bright halo, if you check at 100% zoom the iris & pupils are looking different directions to the actual eyes (possible cut paste job). Lips generally merge in with the skin but obviously lipstick will make it stand out.

if only i had an attractive model here to have a quick play ;D
 
That's definitely make up but really good make up. A friend of mine is studying stage and film make up at Uni at the moment and she had to do a very similar set up recently. It's interesting that he hid the hairline as that is often the most difficult area to blend the white make up in.

To do this in PP would take days and it would be stupid to go that route considering that make up is so much easier and cheaper. His other photos also show that he uses a really good make up artist.
 
Ruhan said:
That's definitely make up but really good make up. A friend of mine is studying stage and film make up at Uni at the moment and she had to do a very similar set up recently. It's interesting that he hid the hairline as that is often the most difficult area to blend the white make up in.

To do this in PP would take days and it would be stupid to go that route considering that make up is so much easier and cheaper. His other photos also show that he uses a really good make up artist.
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure you are correct. I believe it is not make up after having a bash at it in PS. Also I posted this on retouchPro and nobody mentioned make up there. In the effort that I did, had I blurred the skin a little more then it would have been almost identical to the original (albeit not as good because my original photo was poor.) Seeing as though that only took me about 12 minutes I cannot see why it would take someone who really knew what they were doing much longer.

In the other photo I posted in this thread with the girl with the ginger hair, that is not make up either and the process was fairly quick in Photoshop according to the photographer.
 
DaydreamJay said:
I'm not entirely sure you are correct. I believe it is not make up after having a bash at it in PS. Also I posted this on retouchPro and nobody mentioned make up there. In the effort that I did, had I blurred the skin a little more then it would have been almost identical to the original (albeit not as good because my original photo was poor.) Seeing as though that only took me about 12 minutes I cannot see why it would take someone who really knew what they were doing much longer.

In the other photo I posted in this thread with the girl with the ginger hair, that is not make up either and the process was fairly quick in Photoshop according to the photographer.
Click to expand...

The image you posted is nowhere near what was achieved in the original shot though. I know you just spent a few minutes on it so I am not knocking you at all. It can be achieved via PP but to do it at that level would take considerably longer. I do think you probably answered the OP's question indirectly. If you want to achieve it using PP then that is the way forward and your solution works. Digital make up is applied all of the time.

However it is easier, quicker and often looks better to do it using actual make up. This photographer used a pretty good make up artist in one of his other shots which leads me to believe he used make up for this particular shot. It wouldn't be logical to go to all of that trouble setting up that background, costume, lights etc and not use a make up artist.
 
Ruhan said:
The image you posted is nowhere near what was achieved in the original shot though.
Click to expand...

58566_447284156312_588166312_5126714_7141845_n.jpg
60936_447499066312_588166312_5130779_730560_n.jpg


Nowhere near? To my eyes the skin is almost identical!

How can you say that if an amateur created the copy shot form a poor photograph with few PS skills then a pro couldn't make the original in a similar timeframe i.e. 12 mins?

All I can see is that in the original the artist started out with a much better photograph and a little bit better PS technique. I am not sure anyone can definitely say it is make-up rather than post-processing (apart from the originator.)

I have seen nobody post an argument as to why it is makeup. The image below was created in PS in minutes as the artist gave a little explanation to it on RetouchPRO (I apologise for not linking or crediting him but I have forgotten the relevant topic on there.)

Again, to clarify - I am not saying that the original photo wasn't make-up, but to say that it couldn't be replicated in PS with minimum effort seems clearly incorrect. So therefore we do not know.

60465_447502521312_588166312_5130840_758955_n.jpg
 
Jay is definitely on the right lines, it's even got the telltale red/cyan blotches where the red channel has bottomed out.

What approach did you take Jay? I did a quick "white face" tutorial for someone ages ago which basically just involved diving into LAB and neutralising the A & B channels on the skin. Tried to find the example I posted but it's no longer online. Care to share the method?
 
Well, IMHO, I think thats a really good effort Jason and I like what you have done with your picture. If that was an over exposed shot its been well rescued. I think its very close to the shot you like so much.
 
DaydreamJay said:
I have seen nobody post an argument as to why it is makeup.
Click to expand...

The rules of the competition only allow for the use of editing to prep the image, touching up a portrait is acceptable, but the changing of the skin so dramatically in Post would most likely be considered as excessive in the category it's submitted to as it's not Creative License, it's Fashion.

On the Retouch Pro thread there's some David Skyler retouches linked to which were shot my Melissa Rodwell, David has also retouched similar pure porcelain images, Swarozski Apple campaign, but they all started from a pale model with white makeup.

On the Porcelain Doll image, the amount of edge work to cut in the mask around the flowers, net, hair etc is quite substantial, and would take more time than the 10 minutes it would have taken to put white make-up on the model.

You asked originally what's the post production in the shot, and also for some insight into creating that shot.

It's not a case of you can't recreate something similar in PS, but that's unlikely what's happened in the image you liked to.

The question "how would I recreate this in Photoshop?" would probably have generated a different discussion, but that's not what you asked ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top