Well one the photographers I get inspired by put up some new photos (Tim Tadder) I've been wanting to get dark/edgy/super detailed shots for a while. So last night I didnt have much to do so I tried out a few things in the studio. I was going for a darker look, but when I loaded the shots on my computer they were to bright and didnt have the look I was going for. So the final result required adding in a lot of fake shadows which never looks good. I have a friend down the street who is into boxing/mma stuff so I think we might get together and shoot a few shots similar to this so I'm trying to figure out ways of improving this. I have a few ideas for backgrounds to composite in too. I was just wondering if you guys have any suggestions on what to do different next time to give it more of a darker look right out of the camera.
http://coreyjenkins.smugmug.com/photos/782184577_tZWHP-L.jpg
Sorry for the lame self portrait haha Needed a subject at 10pm lol The post work is pretty overdone, I was just seeing how much detail I could bring out which I think worked alright. But the skin and tones dont look to realistic, gota figure how to make that work.
Looking at his site, the stuff looks more like paintings than photographs. Nothing wrong with that really, but there's obviously a lot of work done in post. You're not going to get such a synthetic look right out of the camera...
Haha thanks for always making me thing about it another way Steady! This was just a lighting test so I wanted to see how the light would make the fake sweat look. This could be more gritty with some gritty boxing/mma gloves, maybe a few bruises/cuts, and a nice background that would fit the theme of the shot. Thanks for the input!
I'm guessing you aren't a boxer or martial artist: I can tell by your thumbs. For example, take a look at the position of this guy's thumbs. His thumb should be tucked in behind his fingers. Just a friendly pose suggestion to make it more authentic looking. cheers
goudswaard wrote:
I'm guessing you aren't a boxer or martial artist: I can tell by your thumbs. For example, take a look at the position of this guy's thumbs. His thumb should be tucked in behind his fingers. Just a friendly pose suggestion to make it more authentic looking. cheers
Too funny. That was the first thing I noticed, too.
I actually think you done pretty good here with the lighting. I think anything else would come from post processing.
hey, corey, thanks for permission to work on this as a b&w-i did a little burning on the knuckles, which i felt were a little bright, and some of the other brighter areas-then, i lowered exposure a little more than 2/3 stop-added some high radius USM sharpening (15) and then converted-was a great shot to start with, as i mentioned in PM to you
Nik Color EFX has a wonderful filter I've used on just this type of shot called Tonal Contrast. It works wonders in making a subject look tough. I don't have image upload here, nor have I posted it anywhere, but send my your e-mail and I'll shoot you off a copy. It's fabulous for this type of shot.
Thanks for the suggestion of Nik Color EFX. I actually used that a while ago for some stuff, but then stooped because I realized that most professional commercial guys dont use filters like that. Plus tons of people use it, so if I'm going for a signature look I wouldnt want to use a filter that a bunch of other people use. I think its great if you every now and then want to get this kind of look though, it also saves tons of time! And Radioblurs those look great man! Idk why I never thought that lowering the exposure would make it look darker, DUHH haha I really like the second one you posted!
Corey Jenkins wrote:
Thanks for the suggestion of Nik Color EFX. I actually used that a while ago for some stuff, but then stooped because I realized that most professional commercial guys dont use filters like that. Plus tons of people use it, so if I'm going for a signature look I wouldnt want to use a filter that a bunch of other people use. I think its great if you every now and then want to get this kind of look though, it also saves tons of time! And Radioblurs those look great man! Idk why I never thought that lowering the exposure would make it look darker, DUHH haha I really like the second one you posted!...Show more →
I donno the really good ones use whatever tools they need to get their vision captured and get that vision to its final stage. Its the end result that matters not how you get it. I really like it.
well i like the shot you posted, i think the lighting is pretty close to what i think youre talking about. i looked at tim tadders website, it appears a lot of his portraits are lit with a pretty hard lightsource from the front above the camera and strong kicker lights like the ones you did. the hardness and shape of shadows you get will obviously depend on where you put your key light and the size of the light, plus whether or not you use any fill. id also guess theres a fair amount of post done on these, contrast in curves, sharpening with high pass filters, etc. also check out gary land if you havent already, similar style cool stuff
