As promised, here is the Photoshop technique I used to create the image at the top of this post. A request was made from a potential client (who is booked in now for March next year) if I did a particular style of photo processing she liked. I was sent a link to another photographer’s folio and asked if I could do this style. This style I have practiced before on a few automotive shoots I did a year or two ago and also for a gallery of images I did to cover a couple of car shows in New South Wales and Canberra. The style only suits certain subject matter, not an entire wedding for example as for one it would be too time consuming and the client would tire of the look over time.

After the jump (Click on the Title of the article) I have a series of screenshots taking you through the steps taken to achieve this look, so feel free to apply this to your own photographs.

Step 1: Camera RAW/Lightroom

Firstly the image is opened in Adobe Camera RAW (in this case the Photoshop CS4 version) to do the adjustments to the RAW file that came from the camera. This step can easily be done in Lightroom if that is your preferred workflow as all of the settings are pretty much identical. This shot was taken in the shade on an overcast day so I needed to bump up the white balance to make it appear warmer. The basis for this edgy look is mainly achieved right in Camera RAW by bumping up the recovery slider to 70 or higher to to tame the highlights. Fill Light is also bumped up, along with the Blacks and Clarity. This gives the dark contrasty look with heavy detail. Setting the fill light too high will result in heavy noise in the shadows and fringing will occur on the edges, so be restrained in the approach. The key to getting the flat look in the colours is to reduce the saturation slider substantially (-48 in this case) and set the Vibrance slider to taste to give the colours some tone (+75). Standard Capture Sharpening is applied along with some noise reduction in the 3rd Adjustment Panel very much like any other photo I would work on. A heavy Vignette is applied as well to darken the edges and give focus to the subjects. You can use the Tinting panel if desired, but further colour work can be done in Photoshop easy enough.

Step 2: Open in Photoshop

By clicking Open Image in Camera RAW (or right click->open in Photoshop in Lightroom) the image will open in your version of Photoshop. I apologise for the small nature of the menus and toolbars, this is a screen shot from a 27″ monitor. The colour space I normally use in all stages of my workflow is sRGB 8Bit, which is the smallest colour gamut, but that is the colour space my photo lab uses, and it is used on the web as well. I only use Adobe RGB 16Bit when I’m working on a very critical piece, like a landscape shot I’ll be printing on large scale. The sRGB colour space is often much smaller in file size so it is not so much a burden on your computer.

Step 3: Selective Brightening Using Blend Layers

This step you can do a number of ways and this way is by far the quickest, easiest and the least stress on the computer because you will be using an adjustment layer rather than a duplicate of the original file which doubles in size every time you do so. Firstly you apply an adjustment layer (either a Curves or Levels layer) by clicking on half black, half white circle and select form the popup menu. Change the layer’s blend mode to ‘Screen’ in the drop down box at the top of the Layers Palette. The new adjustment layer has its own inbuilt mask, which is the key to this step. The mask is white as default, but we need to change it to black by inverting it. The short cut CMD+I (Ctrl+I on PC) will invert the colour. Select the brush tool from the layers palette or press the letter ‘B’ and in the brush tool bar at the top left of the screen, click on the second box along to adjust the brush settings. Set the hardness to 0 to get soft brush edges. Make sure the brush colour is set to white by pressing on your keyboard ‘D’ for default brush colours and ‘X’ to swap the colours from black to white. Adjust the size of the brush using the square bracket keys on your keyboard (above the ‘Enter’ key) to the desired size. Adjust the brushes opacity to about 8-10% and then paint on the areas you want to brighten up. The more you stroke the brush on the same spot the more pronounced the effect.

In this photograph I painted in (or brightened up) the eyes of the couple, their entire bodies and their faces. Over painting can make the adjustment look overdone, so it is best to progressively paint and not be heavy handed. Make sure you colour in the lines too as the subjects can get an obvious halo around them. You can often see in poorly retouched photos this effect and this distracts from the overall photo. This step shouldn’t take more that 3 minutes.

Step 4: Selective Colour Reduction

Sometimes colour can be a distracting element in a photo, such as, if someone is wearing a really brightly coloured shirt in the background of your photo, but you want it less obvious so the viewer is not distracted from the main subject you can use this technique. You first add a ‘Hue/Saturation’ adjustment layer and in the adjustment dialogue that opens, select from the drop down menu the colour you want to remove. In this case it was Yellows. Once you have selected a colour group you will notice the eye dropper tools become active, click on the left one and this tool is used to sample the colour you want to adjust. The purpose of this layer was to reduce the yellow tone in the skin as in Camera RAW I added some yellow toning to the highlights to make it look warmer, but this gave the couple overly yellow skin so by clicking on the skin I sampled a colour to work with. Photoshop will decide where on the hue scale the selection will be. Reduce the Saturation slider to the desired point, here I only took it to -15. If there was any reason to use a mask, there is one already inbuilt into the adjustment layer.

Step 5: Removing Distracting Elements

This step is not crucial to this overall Photoshop effect, but I wanted to remove the vent in wall in the background. As I shot from a fair distance away with a long lens the depth of field wasn’t shallow enough to loose the wall in soft focus. The first step here is to create a flatten version of the file you are working on. The keyboard short cut requires you to have flexible fingers, but this is how I know how to do it. Press CMD+OPT+Shift+E (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E on PC) and this creates a new layer of all the below layers. Essentially a snap shot of all the adjustments you have made already on the photo. You can now do destructive editing of this new layer rather that damaging the original background layer at the bottom of the stack, so make sure you have it selected (highlighted in light blue). I then use the ‘Polygonal Lasoo Tool’ (shortcut ‘L’) and clicked around a similar shaped brick to the vent. In the tool settings at the top of the screen set you feathering to 1 pixel to get a soft edge to the selection (do this before you click to make a selection). Once I had made a circuit around the brick the marching ants showed me there was an active selection made.

I duplicate the layer the pressing CMD+J (Ctrl+J on PC) and this moves a copy of the selected brick to another layer. The ‘Move Tool’ (Shortcut ‘V’) was used to drag it over the vent. I tweaked its shape by using ‘Free Transform’ shortcut CMD+T (Ctrl+T in PC) and used the warp mode to shape it (right click on the shape and select ‘Warp’). The selection wasn’t perfect but enough not to be noticeable in the final print.

Step 6: Vignette

In almost every photo I work on for a creative print , I will add a vignette or edge darkening as it also known as. This technique has been around since the dawn of the darkroom era to focus the viewers eye to the subject in the photograph as the eye is drawn to the lighter parts of photograph first. This technique is much the same as Step 3, but this time we are darkening, so I added a new adjustment layer (Curves or Levels) and changed its Blend Mode to ‘Multiply’ which is much like combining two versions of the picture and darkening the light values. The photo will turn dark, but we invert the mask (CMD or Ctrl+I) and paint with a white brush the areas we want to make darker, namely the wall and the edges of the photo in this case.

Step 7: Skin Smoothing

This processing technique brings out heaps of detail in the photograph, especially when the Black and Detail sliders are cranked up in Camera RAW, so the bi-product here is emphasised wrinkles, spots and imperfections in the skin of the subject. To alleviate this I created a flattened duplicate layer using the short cut CMD+OPT+Shift+E (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E on PC) and then I duplicated that layer again using CMD+J (Ctrl+J on PC). I have a Skin Smoothing Action I downloaded from the internet for free which makes quick work of this step. I won’t get into how you go about actions as that is beyond the scope of this article, but what it does is simply apply a Surface Blur (Filter->Blur->Surface Blur) to the photo and then it removes it. I then use what is called the ‘History Brush’ using keyboard shortcut ‘Y’ and paint back with a soft brush set to 100% Opacity and 5% Flow the skin, avoiding areas of detail, like the eyes, ears and mouth. If the effect is too strong I lower the layers opacity in the Layers Palette (that is why I duplicated it, so the layer below shows through). Now the skin looks more appealing by being smoother in texture and having less detail.

Step 8: Assess If I Need To Keep Going

There is always a time in a retouching workflow where I stop, zoom out and look at the picture to see if I need to do anymore to the photo. One thing that struck me in this case was the Groom’s suit had an odd colour cast. This can come from the mixed lighting (shade and the overcast sky, which are different in colour temperature to each other) and possibly by the extensive and drastic changes to the RAW file in Camera RAW. I used the Desaturation technique like in Step 4, but I just used the global colour adjustment instead of a certain colour. The layer comes with a layer mask, that I just inverted and then painted in the suit with a white brush to paint away the colour. This gave the suit a more believable colour. I also wanted to darken it slightly to hide the noise present in the shadows of the suit that became pronounced when the Fill Light in Camera RAW was increased. I simply added another Layer Adjustment like in Step 6 and then clicked on the Mask in the Desaturated layer below. I held down OPT (Alt on PC) and dragged with the mouse the layer mask to layer above. It will ask you if you want to replace the mask, so just click ‘Yes.’ Now the suit looks more neutral and doesn’t distract from the beautiful bride.

Step 9: Sharpening

Sharpening is a crucial step in the retouching workflow, whether the photo is for web display or for print. There a many ways to skin a cat, but this technique I used here is especially suited to the look I was going for as it exaggerates the detail and edges in the photo. This technique is called ‘High Pass Sharpening’ and from what I know it applies a filter to the darker light values and adds contrast to the edges of light values to make the edges standout. To apply it I add yet another flattened layer (you should know the shortcut by now) and went to the Menu bar of Photoshop and clicked on Filter->Other->High Pass, which brings up a dialogue box with a slider. The photo will also receive a milky appearance when the High Pass is applied. By sliding the slider to the right the effect becomes more pronounced, so it is a matter of personal choice of how much. In this case I used a value of 67.7 Pixels,which is quite high. Practise with this technique is needed to fully understand what the values will do to a photo.

Once I am happy with the amount, I click OK and then change the layer’s blending mode to ‘Soft Light.’ Don’t ask me what it does, but the results removes the milky overlay and leaves the overly sharpened image behind. you can reduce the layer opacity if it is too aggressive or drag the layer to the trash and start again.

Here is a closeup of the layer stack to show you all the layers used and a better look at the mask thumbnails to give you a sense of the areas painted in the masks. I try to make a habit of renaming the layers (by double clicking on the word) to something meaningful that I understand, so when I return to the Photoshop work file in the future I know what they are.

Here is a sample of the RAW file straight out of camera, which by all means is not much to look at in terms of colour, detail and contrast. This lighting scenario was quite difficult to work to with here, but I used a pop of fill flash to brighten their faces a little as the main source of light was the overcast sky over the top right of the frame.

Kodak Endura Metallic Prints in a traditional Black Gallery Frame with a digital paper coloured matt. 20×30″ Frame size only. Normally $220, now $150 with Free Delivery

16×20″ Kodak Endura Metallic Print on 10mm black craftwood with hand made aluminium ‘U’ channel hanger. Normally $250, Now $180 with Free Delivery

16×20″ Premium Canvas (white edge only, not pictured), Normally $350, Now $260 or 20×30″ Premium Canvas, Normally $600, Now $400 with Free Delivery

How do you order? Just simply send me an email to marcel@mvphotography.com.au and tell me the product you are after out of the list above, along with the image number or description/title (in the case of a landscape prints). Make immediate payment to PayPal using my email address or request my account details for direct deposit. Don’t forget to mention your daytime AND evening delivery addresses. Your orders must be in by midnight Wednesday 28th of July to take advantage of the special prices. happy ordering.

• The new pricing guide has received much praise from new clients and friends. It details everything you need to know about MV Photography and the range of beautiful printed products available.
• February and March next year is starting to look like a busy period for me, so if there are any couples looking to get married around this period it is best to give me a call soon to book your spot.
• Being the wintery non wedding season it has been time to sort out all the paperwork and business materials, so coming over the next few months will be a Photo Book sample, a beautiful new brochure and new business cards.
• I am still taking registrations of interest for basic Digital SLR training, so if anyone is interested please shoot me an email as the more people I can get the faster the training will come and the cheaper it will be for everyone.
• I’m in discussions with some wedding photographer contacts to present some training at a business level (namely Photoshop  and Adobe Lightroom) skills) to be held at a studio in Malvern, so that should be interesting.
• I myself will be taking in a few seminars and workshops when I can as they come thick and fast in winter.
• I have registered for the 2010 Annual Photo Walk being held in St Kilda on Saturday 24th of July. It’s always fun to catch up with other photography enthusiasts and just take pictures of stuff we would normally pass by. Head over to Scott Kelby’s blog for information if you want to join me.
• My Lowepro CompuTrekka Plus AW photo backpack is for sale as I don’t really use it that much (it looks as good as new) and I’m going to invest in a big road case to carry all my gear to wedding photography jobs. Please email me or call me for details and a price (full review and pictures coming soon).
• Below is an image I retouched to show a potential client if I could do a particular style that she saw on the internet, so I was happy to demonstrate this to her. Soon there will be a full blog post on the step by step on what I did to achieve this look in the photo.

MV Photography Pricelist

After much planning and designing the 2010 MV Photography price list has surfaced. Each page has clear photos of either a past wedding or of one the MV Photography printed products that I proudly offer. Newly announced is the new range of photo book products I offer from one of Australia’s premium book manufactures, including a beautiful premium bound book with heavy weight paper, personalised embossing and matching storage case. I will be creating some samples of these in the coming months.

New wedding clients will be treated to this new professionally designed price list either by email request or with a printed copy from an initial client meeting. Also don’t forget you can follow me on Facebook by clicking on the button on top the page. Until next time have a great day.

Sarah waiting for her Groom

This photo critique takes me back to my first ever wedding I did for a sister of a friend of a friend, which is how most wedding photographers start out really. Back then I didn’t know the pressures of a wedding shoot, but I had with me the bride’s brother who was a keen photographer as well for support. We had pretty basic equipment back then with the addition of a hired SpeedLight from Michael’s Cameras in the city. When I look back this image it goes to show you don’t need the world’s best equipment to take a good photo. You just need to now how to use it and understand where the light is and how to use it. Some, if not all pro wedding photographers will agree that good equipment will make a difference to your images, but I mean it in the general photography sense.

This photo was pretty straight forward to achieve, I just used the light of the window which was softened by the sheer curtain which gives a nice soft light that is perfect for a bride on her wedding day. The room she had gotten ready in was perfect, it was well lit with natural light, had a massive ornate mirror on a stand covered in roses, white ceiling and angled walls to bounce flash off and a light coloured timber floor. Because the room was very open and filled with light, the shadow side of her face had opened up a bit so I didn’t loose too much detail. I tried similar shots with the flash bounced of the walls and ceiling to fill the shadows, but the lack of contrast made it look fairly average.

The expression if I remember correctly is her giggling at the fact I made her look out the window to see if her groom had arrived, but she knew very well he wasn’t there yet. The open space to the right is deliberate as it gives room for he subject to look into by placing the focal point of this image (her eyes and face) in the upper left third of the frame. If I had the opportunity to do this shot over again I would probably rotate her body away from the camera a little more as her shoulders are a little to square to the camera, making them appear too broad and it takes away from the other compositional elements as well and probably crop a little more aggressively and dynamically. I’d also use a lens with a wider aperture to reduce the depth of field to remove distracting elements that didn’t need to be there, like the pattern on the curtain behind her. The blotchy appearance on Sarah’s shoulders and chest come from shadows cast by the lead beading on the glass of this beautiful house.

Post processing of this image the way you see it now took place 3 years after it was actually taken just so I could practice a little in Photoshop. There is nothing drastic here, but I just softened the skin ever so slightly, brightened the eyes with a ‘Screen’ blending mode on an adjustment layer, some slight contrast was introduced and selective sharpening was applied to here eyes, mouth, jewellery and hair. The colour was removed by desaturating and then I introduced a yellow tint using the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. The image is actually reversed from the original as I wanted that orientation for my new price list. I encourage any feedback and comments and don’t forget you can follow me on Facebook by clicking on the link at the top of the page.

Previous wedding clients will now see a new lease on their images when purchasing prints and photo books as some of the images allow greater cropping and enlargement options. I’ll even be able to dig up some more images from the archives that I thought weren’t suitable for showing, as now I can change them to better suit my vision from when I took the photograph.

For a full run down on the product and to purchase head to Adobe’s website here.

The last minute of light taken on the Grand Canyon from the South Rim

This particular photo is very precious to my fiance and myself because it is the exact spot where I proposed to her just two minutes later. Only a few minutes before that, we had a crowd of people behind as we sat behind my camera on the tripod waiting for the sun to go down, but luckily not knowing the best light comes when the sun actually goes beyond the horizon, most of them left us alone for me to pop the question. 

Enough of that, how was the picture taken!? This is a series of 5 images taken on a panoramic head on my carbon fibre travel tripod stitched together in Photoshop CS4. 3 images where used in the final image as overlaps where too great, so I didn’t need them all. I first attempted this pano stitch over a year ago on my old PC with Photoshop CS3 and after numerous crashes, the blend was terribly obvious and I chose to abandon the project. After all the post processing I enlarged the file so I could print it at a massive 60×30 inches, not a normal size but I split the file into three TIFs to have printed on Metallic Kodak Endura Paper and mounted on 3 pieces of black edged craftwood. Even with my new iMac with 4GB ram it struggled to handle the 2GB PSD file. The three saved TIFs totalled about 450MB and then they were uploaded to my lab. 

June Catch Up

• We attended the PMA Digital Life Expo on the weekend at the MECC in Melbourne and boy, did I have a great time. I took numerous free training seminars on the Friday night and all day Saturday. I saw the huge range of photo-book and print suppliers and numerous retailers and wholesalers from the photographic industry. I also got to meet and listen to talks by some of my Australian Photographer idols, including having a posing demonstration applied to Belinda and I by world famous wedding photographer Jerry Ghionis. He borrowed Belinda as a model bride not once, not twice, but three times. It was quite a laugh and I learnt heaps.
• Due to PMA I will be changing my Photo-book supplier again, I got to see every supplier’s samples in person and got to talk to some representatives. Some suppliers were top of the tree in terms of quality, but with that comes price. I found one supplier that is only 5 minutes drive from home that has a great range of products and their quality is great. I signed up as a wholesale supplier on the spot as their prices were very competitive even compared to my previous supplier which offered mediochre quality. I will have a special launch price for previous wedding clients when the books are ranged.
• I also found a new printing technology that bonds photographic ink directly to metal. This means prints will pretty much last forever, are water proof, scratch proof and mould resistant. This enable the buyer to hang up prints in high impact areas like bathrooms, kitchens, garages, pool or spa areas and outdoors if you would want. The quality level is outstanding, the company is based in Victoria and the staff are fantastic. I’m excited to give them a go to add a new product to my range of printed products. I will drop my canvas and foam mounted products to make room for them.
• Of course there is a new price list revision coming this week to accommodate the range changes.
• The Annual Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk has been announced, full details here.
• I am still taking registrations of interest for Digital SLR Camera training, so far I have at least 3 interested, I just need at least another 5 to make it worth while for me to go ahead with. Email me from the contact page to submit your details. I am investigating venues to hold the event and planning for a survey of participants is in the works.

Grand Central Terminal, New York, New York

This one is from an image folder I haven’t opened in a while, but I wanted to post this picture as this stood out as an amazing place in New York city. Grand Central Terminal was opened in October 1871 at a cost of $6.4million dollars by ‘Commodore’ Cornelius Vanderbilt. The terminal was restored over the years from 1996 to 1998 to what you see there today including the majestic sky ceiling. I particularly wanted to show this grand interior by tilting my camera up and using an ultra-wide lens to capture as much as possible. I processed the image with Topaz Labs Adjust to get the HDR (High Dynamic Range) look and to bring out the details of the stone work.