bulldoggie studio's blog » photography

30 Unconventional Portraits That Defy Clichés

classiclori — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 12:47:13 +0000

We have all seen the standard portrait; face forward, smiling, soft focus maybe. While the standard portrait formula works well and produces nice images, it’s often a good exercise to think outside the box.

This grouping of unconventional portraits (including self portraits) is creative work by photographers willing to take the risk to produce something memorable. While you might not find them all pleasing, they do offer a fresh take on an old format.

Author: Peter Carey

Hello, my name is Peter West Carey and I am a freelance writer and photographer living in the Puget Sound region of the USA. Photography has been a passion of mine for many decades and I live by the motto Explore-Inspire-Educate. Photography and my love for travel are conspiring to take me to Africa, Nepal and Iceland this coming year and I encourage you to follow along at The Carey Adventures.Com where I also host a Photo Of The Day feed.

A shot within a shot, this image uses technology to enhance the picture. This image was first shot with the iPhone in the foreground and then shot with strobes aimed at the background to give the silhouette effect. I like how it shifts focus from the foreground to the background and back again, searching for the main subject.

Reflections are a great way to present the ordinary in a new light. They can be tricky however as lighting needs to be considered for two subjects. In this case, the hand and mirror as well as the woman’s face. This image appears to be from a single light source and is taken with a point and shoot camera, showing that simplicity works well.

Another example of unique framing using a real frame. If you click on the image you will be able to explore a number of Kevin’s other photos where he experiments with the use of a frame within the frame.

I love the action and stillness in this photo. This shot was taken with available light and while the image might have been touched up in Photoshop, it is easy to see how the light streaming in from behind the woman is reflected off the ball of wool to help illuminate her face. This photo also does a tremendous job of relating the reality of the work the woman performs.

While this is an HDR image, I feel the artist does a good job of using it to highlight the captain and not overdo it. The timing of the photo is key here to relating a sense of what it must have been like on the water that day. The subject’s total uninterest in the camera also solidifies this portrait.

Everyone has their vices and it’s a good idea to use them in a portrait to help describe the person in a non-verbal manner. In this case, a self portrait of Ben with a nice isolating light engrossed in his MacBook. If you look closely at his right hand, you can see the wireless remote used to fire the camera. Using a grid on the beauty dish (a particular type of flash reflector) helps isolate the light and keep it concentrated on the subject.

While Mike’s portrait is not that unconventional, the story behind the shot is, which I believe adds to the value. Click on the photo to get the whole story. I like what he’s done with the contrast and general ‘grainy’ feel of the photo to help tell the story of this homeless man.

Another of Mike’s photos, completely different from the first showing his versatility. And again, it’s perspective that makes this portrait unconventional. This type of shot requires just a bit of planning and an eye for perspective. Set the camera on the floor, get the camera focused, pick a nice f-stop of cover the needed range and set the self timer (or use a wireless remote).

No one says you have to light the entire face in a portrait. Or open your eyes and smile. This shot does a great job of adding mystery to the photo by removing what we are accustomed to finding in a portrait. Taking the image black and white is a fine choice for this shot.

For the life of me I still can’t figure out exactly how this portrait was shot. Is the subject falling out of the tree? Did he really jump about four and a half feet in the air as his pointed foot suggests? Either way, the photographer’s decision to abandon the conventional strobe and backdrop while still including them in the photo (and the tents as well)is wonderful.

This image is a perfect example of the saying, ‘Don’t try this at home.’ As the photographer notes, this is a self portrait with a high power flash and not something that leaves a good taste in your mouth. But it is a very unique photo and a great tutorial on how certain cavities of the head are connected. Unconventional indeed.

The focus on this could have been a bit tighter on the photographer, but I alike the approach to once again using a reflective surface to mix the main subject with another.

Josh obviously put some forethought into this fun self portrait. It’s a relatively easy setup (except for finding the Superman shirt) and adds a lot of energy to what could be a boring shot. He also employs a radio remote, or sometimes referred to as an infrared remote, depending on the model. As the picture is obviously shot into a mirror, the bounce on the flash helps illuminate without overpowering. Nice work, Josh.

An unconventional portrait can take place when you swap traditional gender roles. Take for instance this shot by eXe_Qt.

Not all portraits need to be happy, smiley photos. In this case Chris does a good job of mixing available light from behind the subject, placing her in an unlikely spot and then balancing the scene with a fill flash that helps add catch light to her eyes.

Changing perspectives again, this shot from above, with the spin thrown in, and the general lack of expression on the model’s face makes this an interesting photo for me. None of these elements alone really would have had the punch all three together can bring to a shot.

Most people would not dream of having their children’s portrait taken in front of armed guards. But that’s what this shot pulls off fairly well. Having one of the guards looking towards the child also adds some attachment to the photo. While the lighting is a bit harsh, the port-production work done to minimize it and draw attention to the child through the use of color appeals to me.

I like this shot for the fact that it does hide the subject but not completely. With the hands making a dark contrast against the screen, the eyes are almost completely hidden, adding a bit of mystery to the scene. Using available light also helped soften the image in a way a flash could not.

Another shot by Derrickt which also uses a number of the elements from pictures above. First, the model is out of focus. Second, the ring in the foreground is used as a frame. And third, the ring is also used to draw attention through the photo. Leaving the model’s face with just enough definition for us to recognize it as such, but blurring it beyond recognition leaves a lasting impression on me.

Silhouettes make excellent portraits when done well. I believe Steph has done an excellent job of providing both a traditional silhouette while letting it define her self portrait. There is clear definition in her facial features and the pose is very elegant. The use of available light from the left makes this a simple setup with great execution.

Tiago ran a Photo365 project, taking and posting one photo a day for an entire year. Near the end of that project he started a series on phobias and I really like what his did with this image depicting, in a comical way, the fear of being photographed.

A portrait within a portrait within.it takes a while to get this one straight. The shot is not edited in Photoshop (except for some sharpening of the inside image, as noted by the photographer) and is a great exercise in truly thinking out a portrait before it is shot. While this shot borders on portraiture, because of the mixed subject matter, I believe it still pulls it off because of the attention drawn to the photo holder.

Self portraits are helped by the fact that it’s fairly easy to be spontaneous. In this case, Erin describes her photograph as ‘I was planning on being productive and clean the kitchen but got distracted’. Placing subjects in their everyday life settings, but in a different manner, helps make a portrait unconventional.

Another picture in a picture, this time using two different expressions. Fairly easy to set up and execute, there is a lot of room for experimenting with this type of self portrait.

Most people would be upset if a shot was taken of them crosseyed. Kim uses the look to add some comedy to this self portrait while grabbing an unlikely prop.

Unconventional can also mean frightening. As with the previous photo, most people would not volunteer to have their photo taken with their mouth wide, wide open. Shot at f/2.8 with a Sony DSC-H1, I’m impressed with the depth of field. I’m also thankful he clipped his nose hairs.

Anthony’s self portrait borders on conventional but what I believe takes it outside the norm is his decision to cover most of his face and crop off the rest. Eyes are key to most any portrait and he has chosen to make them the focus, almost exclusively, in this photo while experimenting with lighting the table from below.

And then we have this example from Kapungo where the focus is more than obviously on the eye(s). Exaggerating any part of the portrait easily takes it out of the conventional realm. As with many of the images here, this is also a self portrait.

There are also times when removing the eyes from the picture works well. As gerlos explains, this photo took a number of tries to get it right, as it is a self portrait. With some vignette added, as well as contrast and saturation, the photo is well framed while exaggerating the size of the binoculars.

Lastly, we end with another self portrait taken with the help of a tripod and self timer. This shot is taken nearly directly at the sun to fully silhouette the model while the forced perspective gives him a larger than life feel. I can only imagine how many shots it must have taken to get this portrait.

Fantastic Tips for Shooting Bravely in the Sun(copy from photo.tutsplus.com)

classiclori — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:28:33 +0000

Author: Elizabeth Halford

Elizabeth Halford is a professional photographer who began her career photographing her own children. She now owns a studio in Hampshire, England. You can visit her online at www.elizabethhalford.com.

The first rule I ever learned about taking photos was to take them with the sun to my back so it lit the subject and didn’t cause what I came to know as ‘backlighting’. This presents a few problems – primarily that if your subject is a person, he/she will be squinting into the bright sun.

Sometimes, shooting with the sun at your back can offer a perfectly acceptable solution. I love photographing people with the sunset behind me, lighting their faces with a beautiful golden glow. So let’s get ‘stuck in’ and discuss the various issues surrounding photographing in the sun.

The Golden Hour

The ‘golden hour’ happens twice a day. It is the one hour just after sunrise and before sunset. Shadows are longer, the color is warmer and the light is softer. When photographing people, especially an engagement session (or any session without children who will be cranky and ready for bed) I love suggesting a time two hours before sun down. The first hour is spent getting into the ‘groove’ and, once they’re comfortable, I try to catch the best images using those last few rays of warm sunlight.

Make Shade

Shade can come in many various forms – trees, buildings, crouching down next to a car. If you need shade, but have none, make some! This is where having an extra pair of hands comes in handy. Make shade with an umbrella or even a piece of foam board. In the reflector family of accessories, there are translucent panels which can filter the sun to tone it down a notch.

Make Good Choices

In the above photo, the sun was so blinding that I chose to cut out the faces altogether. I loved the warmth and the strong shadows so I made the split second decision to recompose my shot.

Editing Methods

I have found that the photos I feel require the most careful post production work are those which I shot in the sun. See the before/after below. The before (completely untouched) is dark and muddy. The after actually makes my heart skip a beat. I feel like she is actually staring right into my soul.

One of the methods I have found the most rewarding in the editing process is to consider the option of black and white for the image. I feel this adds such a subtle mystery. People expect images shot in the sun to be colourful or bright, but altering the colours in a way that causes the viewer to stop to contemplate your image (“was that actually taken in the bright sun?”) represents a real achievement.

These images aren’t actually black and white – they have a mocha hue to take advantage of the warmth offered by the sun. I used the free Coffee Bar Lightroom Presets from Coffee Shop.

Use a Flash

I’m a pretty simple girl at times – using a flash in the sun completely blew my mind when I realized it could be done. So not only am I a crazed momarazza chasing my children around on the beach with a ginormous camera, it also has a massive speedlite attached!

I love placing a subject with the sun to their back using a flash. The light just wraps around them. And I love that in this photo of my son, the flash can be seen in his glasses. That wasn’t done on purpose, but was a sweet little surprise when I was going through the photos – take your flash out in the sun and just let the magic happen.

Camera Settings

ISO

The ISO level needs to be higher in low light situations, but luckily with the type we’re talking about today, noise won’t be a problem for you as it is with lower light photography. Set it as low as possible (mine goes down to 100). As with all camera settings, don’t forget to check them before shooting. Imagine if you set your quality to low to take eBay pics and then forgot to reset it to RAW for a wedding the next day. Check, check and recheck that your settings are as they should be before shooting.

Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is like blinking your eye. While aperture dictates how much light enters your camera, shutter speed dictates for how long the eye is open. Higher levels of light mean that your shutter need not be open very long to let that light flood in. Shooting at higher shutter speeds is required for sports, and is great for photographing fast-moving children.

White Balance

When shooting manual, you have the option of setting your white balance which controls the colour temperature. Experiment with settings which you might not normally use for that situation. In the sun, especially on an autumn day, I love using the shade or cloudy settings because it warms the colours up.

You can also use Lightroom develop module to select other white balance settings later on – particularly if you shoot in RAW.

Aperture

Like I just said above, aperture is like the pupil of your eye. When shooting in manual mode, you have to tell the pupil how wide to open. The lower the number in f/stops, the wider the opening and the more light being let in to hit the camera’s sensor. Be careful, though, because lower f/stops (wider apertures) create more shallow depth of field (DOF) and can result in most of the image being blurry apart from a bit of sharpness in the foreground. But since we’re talking sunny, wide open apertures aren’t necessary because you aren’t in low light conditions.

Sunny 16

“Sunny 16″ is the rule that says to set your aperture to 16 (using AV mode on your camera) in bright sun-lit situations. If you’re in full manual mode, remember ISO should be at 100. And for shutter speed, try 1/100 or 1/125. For faster shutter speeds, you may find it helpful to bump up the ISO to 200.

A variation of Sunny 16 is to set your shutter speed nearest to the reciprocal of the ISO speed and the aperture accordingly. The following table from the Wikipedia Sunny 16 entry should help:

Aperture	Lighting Conditions	Shadow Detail
f/16	Sunny	Distinct
f/11	Slight Overcast	Soft around edges
f/8	Overcast	Barely visible
f/5.6	Heavy Overcast	No shadows

Reflectors

Reflectors are my all time favorite accessory for shooting outdoors. Whether purchased or home made, they can make a huge difference to the quality of your images. Reflectors do exactly what they say on the box: reflect light. They are used to aim light into the dark spots on a subject to fill them with light and diffuse unwanted shadows.

As I’ve already established previously, we can get stunning results when we position models back-to-the-sun and place ourselves facing the sun. I mentioned the option of using a flash to light the subject from the front, but you also have the option of using a reflector. The result is a subject beautifully lit by the sun from both the front and the back.

There are a very wide range of reflectors available for purchase, coming in many different shapes, sizes and colours as well as ones with handles or even stands so you don’t need an assistant to hold it. Here is a basic rundown of the colours available and their effect on the colour and light quality on your subject.

Gold – Creates warm tones and makes your subject’s skin appear a little more tanned.
White - Neutral colour effect. Gathers the existing light and softly fills in shadows to light your subject. Great for brides because they don’t alter the white of the dress.
Blue – Cool tones.
Silver – Neutral in colour although brighter than white.
Translucent – There are translucent panels in this accessory family which can be used to filter harsh rays beautifully like a thin layer of clouds in the sky.

Another advantage to using reflectors is the catchlights they can produce. Catchlights are when the light source is visible in your subject’s eyes (look closely at the image above to see the catchlights resulting from the use of the reflector). Catchlights can add life and sparkle to the eyes. Unlike using flash to fill the shadows, using a reflector gives you control of the catchlights as you can direct your assistant who will be holding the reflector for you.

Lens Hoods

Lens hoods are devices which attach to the end of your lens to block streams of sunlight from causing unwanted glare and lens flare. If you’re like me, you’ll find they’re also useful for protecting your glass when you forget to put your lens cap back on.

If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join ‘Em

Then there’s always the option of chilling out and letting the sun do it’s own thing. Go wild – take the lens hood off and allow the sun flare. You may be very pleasantly surprised.

Safety

When the sun is concerned, there are safety measures which should always be taken. Always use appropriate sun protection (although it is difficult to wear sunglasses while looking through a viewfinder) and never ever look at the sun, not even through your lens. The camera may feel like a safety measure, but looking at the sun through the camera is just as dangerous.

Finally

Finally, the sun can be your greatest ally or a pain in the neck. Anyone can hide from the sun but it takes guts to boldly stand out and say, ‘you don’t scare me!’

Creating a Stunning High Pass, “lll Effect” Portrait

classiclori — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 04:46:24 +0000

Step 1

In every portrait work, the original photo is the most important part, so make sure to choose your image wisely. I am going to use a photo of my friend Kevin I took in a studio environment, but since we are going to get rid of the background eventually, the whole studio thing isn’t necessary. Just choose a picture you feel is the best for your project and start working!

Step 2

Since we are working with a portrait photo, let’s make sure that we have a tight close-up on the person. We can crop out all of the unnecessary bits of the picture using the Crop Tool (Shortcut – “C”). Crop out his left arm, so that we focus on his right arm only and leave no space above Kevin’s head. Now we have a nice close-up we can work with and the attention is mostly drawn to the face, not the body, which is what we need.

Step 3

Duplicate the original layer and leave it, because we might need it for later. It is a good practice to save the original, and if you don’t follow it, you should. Convert the layer you are working with to a smart object (Right-Click – Convert to Smart Object). Call your layer “S/H”

Step 4

Now go to Image – Adjustments – Shadows/Highlights. This is where the magic begins. The tool is basically adjusting the highlights and shadows to a point where the needed contrast between the values is achieved. Put up the values as in the picture below, and don’t worry about color correction as we will work on it later.

If you’re working with your own picture, you will adjust the values according to your picture. Don’t be afraid to spend a considerable amount of time on them, those are the values that require the longest time to perfect.

Step 5

Duplicate the original layer, call the new layer “Sharp” and put it on top of the “S/H”. Go to Filter – Sharpen – Smart Sharpen. Put up the amount to 150% and the Radius to 5,0 as shown in the picture. Click OK.

Feel free to change those figures: the larger the radius and amount, the sharper the picture will be. If needed, extra sharpness can be applied to chosen areas using the mask layer.

Step 6

Put the “Sharp” layer’s blending mode to Hard Light and lower its opacity to 40%. After these two basic adjustments, we have a nice, sharp and crisp image already.

Step 7

Beyond this step, the process becomes more creative. Any adjustments I make may need to be adjusted and changed for your specific image.

Create a new layer on top and fill it with 50% gray. Put the blending mode to Overlay (Layer – New – Layer. Mode: Overlay, tick the “Fill with Overlay-neutral color (50% gray) option). Call the layer “Burn”.

Choose the Burn tool (Shortcut “O”, if you still don’t see it, click and hold the Dodge tool and select Burn tool from the list). Put the brush size to 70px, the Exposure to 15% to over-do the burning and the Range to Highlights. Now using the Burn Tool on the Dodge/Burn layer, go over every wrinkle. Changing the range to Shadows go over the shadows – under the chin, under the eyes, etc. Work with the Burn tool until you achieve the result you want. Here is what I have had after 5-10 minutes of burning.

Step 8

Duplicate all of our three layers (Burn, Sharp, S/H) and merge the duplicates, leaving the originals untouched. Call the new merged layer “Hi-Pass”.

Go to Filter – Other – High Pass. Check that the preview is on, and try to make sure that the Radius figure is big but there is little or no color surrounding the object we are “high-passing”. Put the layer’s blending mode to Hard Light. I hope you like this “ultimate sharpening effect” that the filter gave us. Lower the layers opacity to 90%, so that the layer doesn’t look fake.

Step 9

Now that we are more or less finished with the textures, let’s work on the color and tones. Create a new Black & White adjustment layer (Layer – New Adjustment Layer – Black & White). Put up the values as shown in the picture and change the layer’s opacity to 30%. If you’re not exactly happy with the effect, you can try tweaking those sliders until you’re satisfied with the final result.

Step 10

After you’re done with Black and White adjustment, add another layer – this time the Hue/Saturation one. Lower the Saturation to -40 to color the picture down and make the person’s face pale. Apply mask to the adjustment layer, to hide everything but the body.

Don’t be too precise with the selection of the body or its edges will stand out and look fake . Select the areas roughly and then Alt-Click the mask layer’s thumbnail (will take you to the actual mask layer; to go back Alt-Click the thumbnail again) and apply Gaussian Blur Filter (50px) to the mask to make the transition smoother.

Step 11

Ctrl-Click the mask thumbnail to select the area that is filled. Now create a new adjustment layer – Levels. The adjustment will immediately apply to the unmasked area we selected. In the adjustments, increase the highlights (move the white slider to the right as shown in the picture).

Step 12

Now select the image background using pen tool. Create a new layer and apply the mask from selections made before to it. After that, go to Filter – Render – Clouds. Lower the layer’s opacity to 40% so that the clouds don’t give away that they are clouds too much.

Apply the Gradient Overlay Style to the layer (to do so, click the “fx” button at the bottom of the layers tab and choose Gradient Overlay). Create a new gradient to work with using #8e5c25 and rich black (#000000) colors. Put opacity to 70%, Style – Radial, Angle – 90, Scale – 65%.

Step 13

With the result we have right now, the image is finished. The sky is the limit for you now, as there are enormous amounts of adjustments you can apply depending on the result you’re looking for. Work with filters, adjustment layers, precise selections and more to find what you’re looking for.

Final Step

Now in terms of the picture I have finalized here, and not to get into the detail, for my result I have adjusted color balance and the gradient layer, added more burning to the skin, adjusted the exposure and many more little tweaks that make the final result so different and individual

Conclusion

This technique I’ve shown you creates a very strong effect – the use of which can be endless. To finish off I would to showcase more examples of this effect in action. Below you can see 4 more pictures that were created using the very same technique shown above:

Recreating a Professional Studio Lighting Effect

classiclori — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:03:59 +0000

There is little doubt that studio photography is very popular – it’s just a shame that it is such an expensive hobby! Despite the high costs of a full studio setup, it’s relatively easy to achieve a similar effect if you know how to. In this tutorial we’re going through a few steps that can allow you to achieve a studio-standard lighting effect for very little cost.

Author: Robin Wissink

Robin Wissink is a young and talented photographer based in the Netherlands. At the age of 18, Robin founded his first company which offers pretty much everything in the field of marketing and multimedia production. Robin Wissink develops everything with his passion: “Design that changes lifes, makes life wunderfull”.

Final Preview

Before we get started, let’s take a look at the photo we’ll be creating. This photo is taken in a completely bright room and has a studio look all over it.

Step 1

In this tutorial I will show you what you need to add a studio look to your photography. We will take a look at the tools you need, the setup for this effect, camera and speedlight settings as well as the post processing in Adobe Photoshop.

You can use this effect for several reasons. As said before, studio photography is very popular but expensive – this is a simple way to experiment cheaply. But you could also use this effect when you’re not near a studio and quickly want to take a few more shots of your model.

Here are the tools you’ll need for this effect:

A Digital SLR. Preferably a SLR that supports triggering an external speedlight like the Nikon creative lighting system. In most Canon cases you’ll have to buy an external transmitter.
An external speedlight. You’ll need a stand for your speedlight to make sure it doesn’t fall off your tripod.
A tripod. Any tripod will do, since you’re photographing inside.
And of course you’ll need a model to stand in front of your camera. You could use this technique on more of your photography, and I will show some examples in the last step of this tutorial.

Step 2

Now it’s time to set up the scene. It’s important to make sure that there is no light pointed towards the model from the front. You should use at least one light source from the side, which will be the speedlight in our case. In this tutorial we’ll use one light entering from the right, leaving a very interesting fading effect in the final image. Although this effect can be achieved in a very bright area, you should not place your model close to the background.

Here is a top view of my setup:

Step 3

Notice: In this step you should not use your speedlight, yet!

This technique shows a way of creating an image in a bright room. So we have to find a perfect balance between our shutter speed, ISO and aperture. First let’s take a look at the aperture. Since we’re creating a photo were the model stands out from a completely black background, we don’t have to use a low aperture to create a low depth of field. In my case, I used an aperture of f4.8.

I recommend always to use the lowest ISO value as possible to prevent as much noise as you can. So we’ll use ISO 100, or 200 if that’s the lowest ISO value on your camera. With the aperture and ISO chosen let’s find the shutter speed that’s going to leave your picture completely black. Depending on the brightness of the room you’re standing in, it can vary from 1/2500 to 1/4000.

Now we’ve set up the stage and have our camera settings perfected, it’s time to activate the speedlight. Usually an external flash is used for extra light in photographs. But this time the external flash is used for the only light that is being captured by the camera. Now connect your camera to your external speedlight and take photos!

If you don’t know how to connect your camera to a speedlight, go on with Step 4, otherwise go to Step 5. This is my result straight from the camera:

Step 4

This step will show how to wirelessly connect your speedlight to your camera. The principles with Nikon and Canon SLR’s are pretty much the same – you have to make sure that the speedlight and camera are on the same channel (in most cases 1,2,3 or 4).

Nikon

Most Nikon models come with the Nikon creative lighting system which is very powerful. You won’t have to buy extra gadgets to wirelessly connect a speedlight. To connect a Nikon to a speedlight go to the Menu -> Custom settings menu -> Built-in flash. In this menu select the commander mode.

Now it’s time to select what flash lights you want to use, the built in flash, group A or/and group B. If you are using one external flash set group A to TTL and leave the built-in flash and group B unchecked. The channel doesn’t matter as long you set the same channel on your speedlight.

Canon

I’m not a Canon photographer, but I’ll do my best. The new Canon 7D is the first Canon camera that has the feature to trigger a flash directly from it’s body. So for all the other models, you’re going to need a wireless transmitter or a extra speedlight which can be used as master.

Once you have the transmitter attached, go to Menu -> External speedlight controls -> Flash func. settings -> Wireless -> Enable wireless and set the speedlights to the right channel.

Step 5

Let’s take a look at the post-processing in Adobe Photoshop. Import your photo in Camera RAW, and we’re going to take a look at correcting the exposure. First of all, adjust the exposure as you wish in Camera RAW. In my case I had to set the exposure to 1.30 to make it right. I also used a clarity of 20 to give the skin a little more structure.

Step 6

I’m not completely happy with the detail in the photograph, so we’re going to take a look at sharpening. Let’s duplicate the photo (Ctrl + J) -> Go to Filter -> Other -> High Pass, enter a value of 4 and press ok. Now set the blending mode to hard light.

Step 7

For the color correction we’ll first apply a curve as an adjustment layer. With the RGB curve selected draw a S shaped curve to create more contrast. See the first image below. Hit Ctrl+A to select everything -> Go to Edit -> Copy Merged and hit Ctrl+V to paste.

This way we have all of our layers in one new layer. Now take the dodge tool, select the right brush size, and paint over the blue areas. Make sure you have highlights selected for the range, as in the second image below.

The third image below is our final result so far.

Step 8

It takes one more step to complete this image. This is to take the “rule of thirds” into account, and improve the composition of the image. The rule of thirds essentially involves a grid, and the process of connecting the points of the grid with specific points in your photo to make it align better You can find more about the rule of thirds here. Here is my image with the composition slightly adjusted:

Conclusion

You can use this technique on a huge range of different subject – both stationary, and at high speed. Try it all out, and have fun!

Manipulating the Color of an Automobile in Photoshop

classiclori — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 23:36:33 +0000

I have a client who’s automotive collection I shoot from time to time. He collects and restores vintage Volkswagen busses and pickups. All of his collection so far has been authentic restorations, so the color of the vehicle is always exactly what it was from the factory. But he had been telling me about his next project which would be “street modified”, not aiming for the traditional stock look. He had no idea what different colors would look like on his vehicle and didn’t want to make a mistake on an $8,000 paint job.

I said; “Really? I have a solution”. He agreed to my Photoshop proposal, and I asked him to email through decent images of the car colors he wanted. He also sent me a line drawing of his vehicle, thinking I was just going to color it in. I had something way better in store!

Author: Peter Tellone

I am a freelance Photographer, Photographic Writer and Author based in Southern California. I like to do what I love and love to have fun doing it, otherwise it is not worth doing. My website: http://groundupphotos.com/

The Final Effect

Introduction

There are many ways to change color in Photoshop. You could use the Color Replacement tool (located under the Brush Tool) or you could use the menu item Color Replace. But none of those would give me the flexibility I needed for this project. I couldn’t just pick colors at random even if he said “I want a yellow color”. With automotive colors we needed an absolute that the paint shop mixing the paint would know exactly the color we wanted. With this in mind, I needed to sample actual car colors available and duplicate them. There was only one way I knew to do that, and this is the method we’ll be investigating in the tutorial.

The example here relates to an automobiles, but the same technique can be used on many applications, Change the color of a client’s dress, change the paint color of a house before you paint it. Just about anything you can think of.

Step 1

The main processes we are going to be using in Photoshop are: Layers, Layer Masks, Layer Blend Modes and Layer Opacity and Fill. If you aren’t used to using layers and layer masks in Photoshop, it is one thing you should get familiar with. Here are two hints to begin with that are crucial with Layer Masks: Remember that “Black Reveals” (the layer below) and “White Conceals”. Also remember your X key on the keyboard. That is a keyboard short cut for switching between your foreground and background color swatches. (Which should be set to Black and White)

Open your subject image you want to change the color on, In this case we are using one of his stock Volkswagen Double Cab Pickups

The first thing I need to make is a Layer mask; this allows only the parts of the image I want the new color applied to be defined. (And yes there are a million and one ways to make a layer mask and if you have a better way, use it.) I like the paint by hand method for this)

I will start by adding a new Color Fill layer, which I can do from the menu bar at Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color or by clicking the Black/White Cookie symbol on the Layers Palette. At this point it doesn’t matter what color – just one that contrasts with your subject so you can see where you want to keep the lines. But of course this is a big solid color over your image – so how can you see where you want to paint out? Go over to your layer palette and reduce the opacity to about 50%. This will allow you to see your subject below.

Grab a large black soft edge brush and take away the major areas you don’t want the new color applied to, then progressively use smaller brushes and harder tips till you get as exact a mask as you can. Hitting your X Key and switching back and forth between Black and White to correct any area you may gave gone over a line. Remember that the success of this will depend on how good a job you do of masking the image. Just like if you were painting a car, you want to mask off the chrome and not paint it.

When you are done, your mask will look something like this (I hid the background layer)

Step 2

Now it is time to apply color to the image, so go back to your layers palette and bring the opacity back to 100%

I know what you’re thinking: “that looks terrible, it’s just a solid color!” You’re completely correct, but we’ll rectify this in the next stage. Go back to your layer palette and this time to the layer blend mode and drop down the list. Different modes will work better depending on what base color car you have, but for this example we are going to try “Color Burn”.

There’s an immediate, obvious improvement. All the detail, reflections and shadows have come back to the image.

Step 3

Now I want to make it the color I need it to be. So I will open up the image of the car color I want to copy, in this case Corvette Atomic Orange and have that image open along side of this one.

Now, with the Volkswagen shot active, on the layer palette click on the color swatch. This will bring up the color palette but will also make a color picker eyedropper available. Move that Eyedropper over to the Corvette and start sampling areas of the Corvette, You will have to try a few different areas because as we know there is not one color but actually many shades of color in an object. Keep picking until you find one area that makes the Volkswagen look like the Corvette in color.

Note: You don’t have to sample a color, if you are not trying to match a color you can just open the color palette and choose any color you want

And there you have it: our previously off-white Volkswagen is now proudly painted in “Corvette Atomic Orange”!

Save your image as a .psd or .tiff and preserve the layers so that later on you can go back and change the color easily. We ended up with about 8 different color schemes. He wanted a Monotone paint scheme so the bumpers, emblems and wheels are all the same color. But more on this later.

Step 4

If you remember, we used the Color Burn blend mode which worked great in this instance with an off-white object. But as you will find out, the color underneath has a definite influence on how the color above looks. So Color Burn may work excellently with off-white or gray objects but what about other colors?

In this instance I was starting with a Red Ford GT that has a profound influence on the final color

I want to make it Saturn Safari Tan and when I sampled that color it just turned it a nice shade of Pink. I then went through all the modes and none were quite right. But “Color” mode got me into the right color tone, just about 20 shades too dark.

So I had to get creative here. What I did was add a Levels Adjustment layer (Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Levels) and duplicated the layer mask on this layer so that the adjustment only applied to the paint, I held down ctrl + alt and just dragged the mask to the layer above on the layer palette. An adjustment with the midtone slider brought the image to right where I wanted the color to be.

Hint: Using an adjustment layer will be the best way to get purer black or white as a color, otherwise you end up with just a mid-tone Gray.

When working with a Silver Car, “Multiply” mode worked great to make any color look Metallic or Candy Apple effect.

Here, I wanted the red to be a solid red not a metallic looking red, so I solved that by adding a white color layer in between the silver and the red.

The possibilities are endless, and you can experiment with some fairly shocking colors!

In this instance I took a Black Cadillac, turned it White using Linear Dodge blend mode added a Levels adjustment layer to get the white how I wanted it. I then changed the blend mode on the Levels layer to Linear Burn to achieve this Chrome look.

So as you can see, you can make this as simple or as outrageous as you want and you may have to do some experimenting to achieve the perfect adjustment. Try different blend modes, and experiment with the fill and opacity amounts till you get just what you want.

My client was very happy. Even though he had to pay for about 4 hours of edit time (always charge for edit time – don’t give it away!) he knew exactly what he wanted before the restoration project started and saved himself thousands in mistaken color or accessory choices.

And what did he end up choosing? Well, not what we started with, He got rid of the Monotone, and went with a two tone with Chrome Bumpers (I added a new layer, then used Filters > Sketch > Chrome and again masked it just to the bumpers and emblem). Here is his final concept vehicle, a mockup of which he can see it a year before the vehicle will actually be completed!

Edit: After I wrote this, he changed his mind again. Good thing we didn’t use real paint!