How does he post-process? Help me nail this look.

[fotografkullman]

Hi,

Been into photography for a couple of years now but never really found "my look". No I found this other photographer that has it pretty much down to how I'd like my finished photographs to look. I can't get a reply from the person himself, so I'm turning to all you pro's out there to help me pin-point his post-processing. Here's a gallery: Zach Schrock Photography / Places

From what I can tell he has some purple tone in the shadows, washed-out yellow tone in the highlights, strong contrast and lot of "Clarity" to make those dynamic skies pop. Any suggestions to point me in the right direction are welcome, thanks for your time.

Regards,
Marcus

 

[xrdbear]

bump

 

[drh681]

what appears to be Lightroom presets.

Here are two ways the middle is done in ACR using the clarity and other adjustment then adding some vignette in the FX tab

the third is a further modification in PS applying some HDR and perspective correction.





--
Photons by the bag.
Gravitons no longer shipped outside US or Canada
-----.....------
You got a camera, now go out and get a life; or at least a picture of one!

 

[Jim Hess]

The photographer is either very good at getting the exposure just right, or else he knows how to use his software. It appears to me that the most commonly used technique in most of those images is darkening the edges. I have discovered that in my own work this seems to add impact and a finished look to my images. I use Lightroom for most of my work, and in the effects tab there is an adjustment for post-crop vignetting. I use that quite often as a finishingh touch. It doesn't take a lot, but darkening those edges a little bit seems to add a lot.

 

[mikes]

Maybe Instagram'd

Hi,

Been into photography for a couple of years now but never really found "my look". No I found this other photographer that has it pretty much down to how I'd like my finished photographs to look. I can't get a reply from the person himself, so I'm turning to all you pro's out there to help me pin-point his post-processing. Here's a gallery: Zach Schrock Photography / Places

From what I can tell he has some purple tone in the shadows, washed-out yellow tone in the highlights, strong contrast and lot of "Clarity" to make those dynamic skies pop. Any suggestions to point me in the right direction are welcome, thanks for your time.

Regards,
Marcus

--
Only when you can criticize yourself, should you criticize others. Mikes.

 

[Mark S Abeln]

I would also guess that he is using some film emulation filters, such as DxO FilmPack.

 

[Glen Barrington]

They are all different enough that I think you could get 'there' via a variety of approaches.

But I do see what appears to be some consistencies across those photos. It looks as if he ratchets up the clarity a bit (not a lot, but enough to add some 'pop' in mid tones). He also appears to sort of under exposes a bit to get darker shadows. And some of his photos seem to add a touch of duo-tone to them.

He also seems to use the "Tilt/Shift" filter, found in ACDSee Pro 7 and, in Photoshop (maybe others as well, but them, I know about). Tilt/Shift digitally emulates tilting and shifting the rear film plane on a field camera. This gives some of the unusual focus effects you see in some of his photos.

He is also quite skillful in sharpening his images. I bet he doesn't use some sharpening plug-in, if he does, it isn't some preset he is using, he is doing it the right way.

I like his photos too, and I think one of the things that makes them stand out is that he knows when to stop using those filters he has applied. Knowing when to quit is a valuable skill more photographers need to develop.

 

[toadoftoadhall]

watch this

 

[Glen Barrington]

watch this

--
toadoftoadhall

Or you could look at these:

A simple Youtube search on "Tutorials for < your software name here>" will likely result in some sort of tutorial. Lightroom is hardly the only software than can do this easy stuff.

--
I look good fat, I'm gonna look good old. . .
http://glenbarrington.blogspot.com/

 

[toadoftoadhall]

5 minutes from this





to this





Lightroom 5

dont upgrade to 5.5

--
toadoftoadhall

 

[Glen Barrington]

I know you think that is really cool and all, but that is EASY stuff to do. I'd guess that almost ANY software can do that in 5 minutes.

 

[toadoftoadhall]

just trying to help find a technique. Zach increases the skies, emphasises colours, and increases clarity, like OP wanted. Cool yes. Similar tech to Zach? I think so.

Yes its easy, as I said, 5 minutes, prob less. Any software, no, dont think so. Lightzone, perhaps.

 

[Simon Garrett]

Maybe Instagram'd

Yes, beats me why people take good colours, and change them to look like the faded colours of 50 years ago, when that was the best you could get. ;-)

 

[fotografkullman]

Thank you everyone for your input, I'm getting closer at least. Any more feedback on these shots would be much appreciated.

Cheers, Marcus


Shot using a tilt-shift lens.




Pale skin/purple shadows




Retro tone.

 

[fahyje]

Hi,

I was wondering if you ever found a good approach to getting this look, via emulation, presets or anything else? If so, I'd be really interested in this look too!

Thanks,

John

 

[DFPanno]

Hi,

Been into photography for a couple of years now but never really found "my look". No I found this other photographer that has it pretty much down to how I'd like my finished photographs to look. I can't get a reply from the person himself, so I'm turning to all you pro's out there to help me pin-point his post-processing. Here's a gallery: Zach Schrock Photography / Places

From what I can tell he has some purple tone in the shadows, washed-out yellow tone in the highlights, strong contrast and lot of "Clarity" to make those dynamic skies pop. Any suggestions to point me in the right direction are welcome, thanks for your time.

Regards,
Marcus

My guess is that he is utilizing a split-tone technique + clarity + vignette + a film pack.

Solid work but I wouldn't feel compulsed to emulate it so that it would be my signature look.

 

[Steve Bingham]

What look? I see many.

 

[Alandb]

It also looks like he desaturates all or certain colors.

 

[fotografkullman]

Hi John,

As someone in this thread pointed out, of course it's not just a preset, it's a bit different from image to image. But some things are more or less general, I think I can point you in the right direction:

(This is for Lightroom/RAW photos)

1. De-saturate the whole image, but not too much.

2. Go to the Curves adjustment tool and on the blue curve drag the bottom uppwards a bit (makes the shadows purple) and then drag the top pointer down a bit (makes the highlights more yellow). Don't be too aggressive, it's a fine line before you start to gets to look real retro.

3. Go to the red curve and make a new keyframe by clicking on the curve, if the bottom left corner is 0 and the top right corner is 100, make the keyframe at 25. Hope you understand what I mean... Curve is downwards, so that the red curve looks like a slope.

4. On some images a vignette looks good.

5. If you have a dynamic sky in your shot, add clarity to it with an overlay filter. That's the icon below the histogram that is rectangular with to dots coming out of it on 6 places. Again, hope you understand what i mean.

6. Play with contrast until you feel good about the image.

Please, if anyone have something to add I'm still thankful for any input.

Here's two shots of mine I've made this way:

http://www.fotografkullman.se/portfolio/04.jpg

http://www.fotografkullman.se/portfolio/03.jpg

 

[h2odog]

watch this