Processing photos in Photoshop. Artistic photo processing in the style of Rarindra Prakarsa

Not so long ago, I noticed that only a few photographers create photographs that resemble a still-frame from a film in their style. A couple of renowned photographers in this genre live here in New York. I arranged a meeting with them not only to tell us about their personal projects, but also to tell us how they get a cinematic effect on their photographs.

Whether you like this kind of processing or not, I personally find this intersection of action and freeze frame quite interesting.

For this project, I invited two photographers who shoot in this style and who live in New York: Dennis Cacho and Andrew Morer. If you still do not quite understand what style in question, just below I give illustrative examples photographs with cinematic processing.

Some of Andrew's photos:

Andrew, recalling how he came to this style, says that at first he wondered about the composition of the frame. The next step was the interest in working with color. Andrew eventually shaped his style in an attempt to capture photographs like frozen scenes from a movie.

You can find out a little more information in this short interview:

Dennis also demonstrates the skill and vision of cinematic photography in his photographs:

Andrew and Dennis both share a love of storytelling. When I asked them what exactly drives them to take this kind of photography, Dennis intervened: “I love seeing how much photography alone can convey and tell a story that doesn't exist. If we talk about what attracted me to this genre, then perhaps it is the drama with which certain scenes are illuminated in the pictures and the peculiarity of framing ”.

How it goes

Dennis and Andrew shoot the same cameras, but their approaches are slightly different. Andrew mostly shoots with Carl Zeiss gimbals and adjusts focus manually using the LCD screen. Dennis changes optics, but prefers to shoot in a more traditional way - using the viewfinder.

We spent a couple of hours with Andrew and Dennis walking the streets of the city and taking pictures. The main task was to tell the history of the city, but with one nuance - the narration should be from the perspective of the photographer. It was interesting to see how the same plot can be played in different ways by different people.

Several photos of the guys at work:

Andrew (left) and Dennis (right)

Manual focus with lensCarl Zeiss

Sam tailor, business owner. After a couple of shots, he began to persistently invite us to try on his costumes.

Another heroine is Helen. Lives on the next street for about 50 years.

As Dennis pointed out, the challenge is not only to capture an interesting subject. It is not only the person in the photo that is important, but what surrounds this person is no less significant. Sometimes, before you press the shutter button, you need to observe the person in the frame.

Andrew shares a similar view. It is imperative to provide the viewer with an interesting perspective. Compose a beautiful shot in street conditions, when nothing depends on you, sometimes it is very difficult. Sometimes you guess what the course of events will be, and sometimes not - that is the problem. On the one hand, such spontaneity sometimes causes difficulty, but on the other hand, this is what captures a similar genre of photography.

Some photos of Dennis:

Posing Sam.

And some pictures from Andrew:

Helen agreed to pose

Andrew captured Sam while he scans passers-by, looking for a buyer who could buy the suit from him.

Are the guys really telling a story that can be tied together? The history of a city where everything is interconnected. It's up to us, the audience, to decide.

Benefits in working with clients

Funnily enough, for both photographers the practice in this genre has become useful in working with clients. Andrew explains:

“I met my favorite photographers from all over the world who came to New York to visit me. I happened to be a part advertising campaigns, collaborated with Canon - Asia, Carl Zeiss Lenses - Germany ”. I have also done commercial shoots for large hotels and business projects in New York. And in this moment I am working on a video series with Dj Premier.

Dennis also used cinematic effect in his client work:

“This genre has helped me gain several commercial clients. Once I was asked to shoot an engagement in this style, the couple wanted to get away from traditional photography. "

How to get a cinematic effect in your photos

I asked the guys how they get this movie effect. Both concluded that there is no magic formula that can be applied to all photographs. But, despite the fact that each individual frame has a lot of its own nuances, nevertheless, there is one general approach.

Andrew described his approach as follows:

I start processing in DPP (Digital Photo Professional), here I straighten the RAW file. I correct the tones and play with the curves a bit, then load the photo into Lightroom. In Lightroom, I'm already doing color grading, perspective straightening, and cropping. Finishing touches I add to Photoshop if needed.

Dennis prefers doing basic color manipulation in Lightroom. The work on the image is divided into several simple steps which, in turn, bring about colossal changes.

Step 1

Open your RAW file in Lightroom.

Step 2

Customize color range sliders in the section Split toning... Warm tones have been added for this photo to make the colors even more autumnal.

Step 3

Adjust color saturation and luminace.

Step 4

Adjust dark tones, color temperature and shadows.

Step 5

Add a vignette effect and some noise to make the photo look less digital and more like a film.

Step 6

Export the file to Photoshop.

Step 7

Create a new layer with black fill below the main layer.

Step 8

Use the tool Marquee tool(Rectangular area) and choose fixed values for the height and width of the image. Set the Width to 16 and the Height to 9 to get a widescreen image. Stretch the rectangular area to cover the 16: 9 image area. Then in the menu go to Image> Crop(Image - Cropping).

Step 9

For a fixed value Marquee tool enter values 2.35 for width and 1 for height to create anamorphic cinema format. Select the area, but don't crop it yet. Instead, we go back to the Layers panel and create a layer mask, click on the layer and mask link to detach them from each other.

Step 10

Go back to the layers panel. Right click on the layer mask and select the graph Apply Layer Mask(Apply a Layer Mask).

Step 11

To perfectly fit the image between the black porridge, press Cmd (Ctrl on Windows) and A to select the entire document, then right-click on the Layer Mask and select Apply Layer Mask.

Step 12

Click on the layer, go to the menu Layers - Align Layers to Selection(Layers - Align layers to selection) to align the image vertically, check Vertical Centers(Vertical centers).

More details and detailed instructions on cinematic framing, you will find in this video tutorial:

Conclusion

I hope this article was useful to you, and you can diversify your photos with a new processing style. I think it's a great idea to turn photos into stills from a movie. I am sure that in the future we will see an increase in the popularity of this view of photography, because cinema is something that never goes out of style.

Triple exposure processing. Two exposures are manually superimposed on top of each other in Photoshop. Perspective fixed in CameraRAW. Color adjustment - with Nik Color Efex Pro and VSCO. A different sky is superimposed on the resulting image.

Landscape photography by Peter Stewart is published worldwide. In a short article, he briefly describes the process of processing his photographs.

Here are photos of Stewart in original form how they were filmed on camera, then they are on different stages processing and, finally, ready-to-publish options.

Photo caption:

Photo caption: Working with one frame. Adobe CameraRaw filled the sky with an orange gradient and improved the color. The sunbeams are done in Photoshop. Minor changes colors and exposure with Nik Color Efex Pro.

“I do most of the editing in Photoshop, after working with the image in Adobe CameraRAW,” says the photographer. “I take each of the bracketed frames and make initial adjustments like color temperature, saturation, detail, perspective correction.”

Working with one frame. After adjusting the exposure in CameraRAW, the overexposed image showed details. Nik Color Efex Pro was used to improve color and contrast.

“I like to bring a certain sense of fantasy, surrealism to my photographs,” says Stewart. “Many of the architecture and cityscapes were captured with exposure bracketing. This allows me to preserve brightness on windows, neon signs when I shoot at night, or shadows where I want to draw attention. ”

Photo caption: Triple exposure processing. For HDR, exposure bracketing frames are manually overlaid on top of each other in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro was used to improve color and correct exposure.

Photo caption: Working with one frame. The sky was rendered in Photoshop; the Dodge & Burn technique was also used there (lightening and darkening). Nik Color Efex Pro was used to improve the color.

“I usually use Nik Color Efex for final touches... This plugin for Lightroom and Photoshop, now available for free, has tons of great tools. They allow you to play with a specific color, sharpen, or, conversely, soften some specific details. You can use them as much as you need. ”

Photo caption: Triple exposure processing. For HDR, exposure bracketing frames are manually overlaid on top of each other in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro was used to improve the color.

Photo caption: Triple exposure processing. For HDR, exposure bracketing footage is merged in Photoshop using the Merge To HDR command. Nik Color Efex Pro was used to improve the color. Mount Fuji was added from another shot with a better shutter speed.

Photo caption: Overlay multiple frames with different shutter speeds.

“I understand that not all photographers accept my style of shooting and editing. It's easy to overdo it with HDR, and I'll admit I've done it too, and more than once. But these before and after examples are only collected to show the power of Photoshop, and therefore I have deliberately selected the most explicit and striking examples, ”explains Stewart.

Photo caption: Triple exposure. For HDR, exposure bracketing frames are manually overlaid on top of each other in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro was used to improve the color.

In the century modern technologies cameras are also at their best. An abundance of lenses for different genres of shooting, filters and special lenses help you get a great shot almost on the first try. But here, too, there are those who wish to improve even more. Due to this, various programs for artistic processing of photographs are very popular. Even a child knows the name of the most common of them. Of course, we will talk about "Photoshop".

What is Photoshop?

Everyone who has a computer has come across this program at least once, which is the most advanced graphics editor. It can work with any digital image. The number of tools allows artists and photographers to express their imagination to the fullest. For a beginner, it may seem difficult to understand, but it is worth watching a couple of video tutorials, and everything will fall into place.

Benefits of the editor

How does artistic work in Photoshop differ from work in other programs?

Availability. The demo version is completely free to download and easily installed on a user's computer.
Versatility. Here, both amateurs and professional designers can create their masterpieces. There are tools for basic and artistic photo processing.
A large number of functions. Huge selection of filters and brushes, backgrounds, and more.
Free extensions. You can add the missing options by downloading the add-ons on the Internet.
Ease of learning. If you use the program at an elementary level, it is easy to figure out the processing yourself.
High image quality.

Disadvantages of the program

Difficulty mastering at a professional level. It will take a long time for successful artistic processing of photos in Photoshop. But this can be done gradually, devoting at least an hour every day. For study, not only your own files are suitable, but also those taken from the Internet.
The full version is paid. You will have to pay a specific amount once a month or buy an Adobe suite. Usually you subscribe for an indefinite period. But it can be interrupted by contacting the company 14 days before the next debiting of money.

Opportunities for creativity

With the help of the "Photoshop" editor, in addition to processing photos in artistic style you can perform other tasks: create your own drawings, posters on the wall, images from calendars, covers for magazines and other printed publications, postcards.

Basic working methods

There is a lot of photo processing. It is not necessary to use all of them, but it is better to know the capabilities of the program. Some techniques can be very helpful depending on the idea.

Amplification of lighting. It will be needed to eliminate dark spots and shadows where you don't need it. To do this, on an additional layer, highlight the necessary places and superimpose the original image on it using the ColorDodge tool.
Using levels when working with photography helps to soften tones, get rid of overexposed areas.
Change in tone. You need to create an adjustment layer and experiment with the hue, saturation and brightness settings on it. You can also create several types of fill and superimpose them on top of each other.
Enhanced contrast. Sometimes you want your photo to be clearer and more detailed. Then the contrast of the midtones is increased.
Sunset. Usually, pictures of this part of the day are very beautiful and without additional processing... But sometimes the tones are too cold. To add warmth to the frame, a gradient map is used where appropriate colors are selected.
Change in mood. It so happens that the face in the photograph lacks a smile. This can also be fixed using Puppet Warp.
Skin tone correction is one of the most sought-after artistic photo enhancements. To prevent the person from getting lost in the retouched frame, you can change the hue with a separate soft brush, having previously adjusted the values in the Hue / Saturation tab. The program also helps to give the skin an aristocratic pallor or, on the contrary, to emphasize an expressive relief.
Reducing noise interference. This defect often irritates the eye, resembling small grains of sand that are unnecessary in the frame. It appears when there is a lack of natural light and when shooting indoors. To remove it, use the channel palette.
Create a retro or sepia tone. Achieved with filters.
Giving expressiveness to the eyes. The layer blending mode is "Brightness".

Troubles for wedding photographers

This day is very solemn and hectic at the same time. The person taking the photograph faces many difficulties, and only artistic processing of photographs will help to cope with them. Capricious weather will make the day gloomy and cloudy. Too bright sunlight can overexpose the pictures. "Extra" people will be included in the frame. Suddenly the wind will come, it will rain. The quick change of events does not provide an opportunity to properly debug the settings. A large number of people look at the photographer out of sync.

High quality holiday album

What will help to reanimate even the most lost frames? No professional can do without artistic processing of wedding photography. For a beginner in this area, it will be enough to master the rules of retouching, changing tones and working with color.

The main trends in the design of photographs from the day of the wedding are highlighted.

Retro style. From time to time, the fashion for aged romantic images reappears. But the process of working to achieve this effect is not easy. You need to be an advanced Photoshop user.
Bright colors, glare. Such pictures do not look very natural due to the saturation. More like posters or postcards.
Naturalness. The photographer uses only light from the window for shooting and does not add any additional effects during processing. The result is a very delicate look. Which suits the image of a girl getting married.
Classic. Calm colors are preferred, there are no unnecessary objects in the frame, the exposition is built from what is available at the wedding venue. Unreal backgrounds, fairy-tale characters, etc. are not completed. Attention is paid to emotional state the groom, the bride, their family and friends. At the same time, a very beautiful and mesmerizing shooting is obtained, requiring only a small placement of accents in "Photoshop".
Beauty retouching is used on almost all close-ups and portraits. To the photographer telling beautiful fairy tale about love, it is necessary to make some reasonable adjustments to the imperfections in appearance. It can be slightly dripped or worn makeup, an unsuccessful pose that added an extra fold in an unnecessary place, or the most common pimple that jumped up at the wrong time in the most prominent place. Artistic processing of photos is exactly what is needed for such moments.

Do photographs of children need correction?

Images of babies often look very natural anyway. But with the advent of fashion, upload pictures in social networks quality requirements are increasing. To add expressiveness to the frames, artistic processing of a child's photograph in Photoshop is required. But here you have to be very careful, as busting, even a small one, will lead to unnatural doll faces and artificial eyes, which will repel, not cause tenderness.

How can you avoid retouching?

Choose a good location. It may be a completely normal meadow or a clearing in the park, but the children will be bored here. We need to interest them with something or treat them to make the photo session more fun. Or go where there is some entertainment. Cheerful children swinging on a swing or rolling down a slide will look perfect in the frame.
Reduce duration. Try to shoot as quickly as possible so that children don't get tired. Otherwise, they will start to be capricious and mischievous.
Make the most of everyone who came to the photo session.
Position yourself correctly in relation to the baby. In this case, sometimes you will have to sit down or even lie down, because the growth of the model can be very small.
Shooting is best in Sport mode without flash or aiming the flash to the side. The bright light will irritate the child's sensitive eyes and distract his or her attention. The resulting noise can be easily corrected using the editor.
You will need different lenses for shooting near and at a distance.
Avoid unnecessary bright details and other children getting into the frame. But do not be upset if something still interferes with the idea. You can always remove interfering objects and use a fill.
Try not to endanger the technique, keep it away from children's hands.
Make contact with your baby. You can find out the name of the child and even play with him a little before the photo session. Then it will be easier for you to find mutual language and the photos will be livelier and more joyful.
After filming, it is advisable to thank the model by presenting her with some kind of souvenir or sweetness.

Summing up

As a conclusion, it can be noted that expressive pictures can be taken without an editor. But this requires very good technique and auxiliary equipment: different lenses, backgrounds, filters, reflectors, flashes of different powers, artificial lighting and all other gadgets of professional photographers. And what about ordinary people and those who simply feel uncomfortable with all these things, or rather, from their huge number - traveling photographers and amateurs cannot afford to carry all this with them. You should learn the basics of artistic processing of child and adult photography in Photoshop in order to compensate for the missing tools or skills. This is the secret to success: learn to use this program- get the best shots, admire and enjoy.

To do the processing in vanilla style, or how else it can be called "Vanilla", photos must be given softness, warmth, tenderness and a slightly yellowish tint. I note that many people like this style of processing, and, due to its simplicity, is very popular.

We will be creating a lot of adjustment layers, so I will remind you that they are in the Layers tab. It is important that each of them appears in your palette, otherwise you will not be able to change the blending modes and opacity.

Before we start, let's take a look at what we should end up with. If you like the result, then let's not waste any more time!

Step 1

Our original photo in Photoshop.

Step 2

We create New Adjustment Layer - Levels and in the opened dialog box / palette change the value of the slider, which is in the middle, to 1.25

Step 3

Now we make another adjustment layer, but this time it will be Hue / Saturation... We are again interested in the slider in the middle, only now it is called "Saturation". Change its value to -10.

Step 4

Again, as in step 2, we create Levels, but we do not enter any settings. We only change the blending mode of this layer to Soft light

Step 5

We create Fill layer(it is all in the same layers tab) and in the dialog box that opens, select the blending mode Exception and click OK. A palette of colors will appear, where we need to specify a color # 06122f... Depending on the image, you can play with the slider Opacity... In my example, I left this value at 100%.

Step 6

Do another Fill layer, but this time we set the blending mode Multiplication, and select the fill color # faeed0... Transparency to taste, I have 50%.

That's all! our vanilla in the photo is ready. Do not forget that photo processing is a matter of taste for everyone. You can always play with the transparency sliders to get the best results for yourself.

This is how our palette with layers looks in the final:

If you spot an error in the text, select it and press Ctrl + Enter. Thanks!

Hey! My name is Irina Dzhul. I want to tell you a little about processing in Photoshop using one of my photos as an example.
There is a photograph of a baby lying in a crib. The image shows the initial frame and how it will end. As you understand, the key to a good photo is initially nice photo... Then, using Photoshop or Lightroom, you can simply enhance its perception, highlight accents, and make it “delicious”.

You can talk for a long time about how to tint a photo, everyone does it in their own way and in different ways.
Moreover, even the same tinting can be done different ways... How to handle hair, eyes and other details is a topic that deserves a separate article. It is also good to know how to correctly apply texture or correctly process the skin. This is all the knowledge that makes it possible to improve a good photo.
Open the photo in Camera RAW. Lighten the shadows to +70 and raise the exposure a little. In the Detail tab, turn off the sharpness adjustment so that the sharpness does not focus twice and spoil the picture. I do it myself at the end in those areas where it is necessary. I use russified Photoshop, therefore the description is appropriate.

Open the file in Photoshop and first of all remove unnecessary elements in the frame in the corners. Select what needs to be removed using the Lasso tool, then go:
Edit> Fill> Content-Aware.
The program changes this fragment and even draws the direction of the stripes on the fabric.

The next step is darkening the corners and vignetting. I do the shading zone myself to control the areas where I need it. This can be useful if, for example, we have a bright sky and light falls from some side, and we do not need to darken this corner so as not to obstruct the light. I use the Straight Lasso tool and give it a feather edge 200-300, depending on the size of the photo. Next, based on the selection, create a new Curves adjustment layer and darken it as much as I need it (the mask in this curve needs to be inverted with Ctrl + I so that it darkens the required area).

The next adjustment layer is Gradient Map. Here we set the highlights to orange and the shadows to purple. The Blending Mode of this layer is Soft Light with 35% Opacity.

Next, create a Curves Adjustment Layer. In RGB we raise the black point, in the blue channel we tint the light to warm, the shadow to cold.

Make a highlight using a Gradient adjustment layer.
We expose the Radial style, Orange color... Fill in the corner of our picture where the light comes from. Blending mode Screen, opacity 40%.

Merge all layers into one Shift + Ctrl + Alt + E and set the blending mode to Screen, layer opacity 30%, then merge the layers again and set the blending mode to Soft light, layer opacity 40%.
Now the photo is ready, it remains to finalize the details as desired. Brighten eyes, lips, draw hair. I also applied a texture overlay with Soft Light Blending Mode. If necessary, we work with leather, but in children's portraits there is rarely such a need.
Here's what happened as a result. The photo has become brighter, juicier, with interesting lighting that sets the atmosphere.