an awsome effect ...

[amirbwb]

hello, I am a new photographer and i am really taken by photos edited with photoshop or other software ...
what i want to do is taking some photos and making a wonderful effect like the following photo LINK1 .
I am a photoshoper but i don't think that photos like this one are edited with photoshop, is there any other software that are able to do hot effects ?

there is more photos here LINK2, that i really really adored ..

what I want :

to know how to make these effects ?? and how I can reach this level of professional work ...please suggest website, books or any useful thing =)
Thank you

 

[The_Traveler]

I think the generic term for these is cross-processing.

But, you have a long way to go before that.
Learn to compose and produce ordinary shots and then you can use your creative instincts for more adventurous things.

 

[clanthar]

Traveler is correct about the common term used.

Specifically and historically you want to take an E-6 transparency film and process it in C-41 chemistry which ruins the film and/or creates art. The problem with this effect in the art world right now is that it was hugely over-done some 20 years ago and I'm not sure it's ready for a comeback just yet. What you really need is something original.

I knew a guy who used to take his film out to the parking lot and run over it a few times with his car before making prints (honest I swear!) -- that was pretty original and he did have some success at it. It worked better than when he tried to singe and melt the emulsion of his film with a cigarette lighter, but I digress.

If you want to continue looking in to cross-processing you really should get E-6 film and do it "retro." I think you'd have better luck selling authenticity instead of just "shopped" photos.

Anyway, in Photoshop what you want to do is remove any semblance of normal contrast from the photo. One of the characteristics of this effect is a loss of both good blacks and shadows as well as gradated highlights. You can accomplish this just by creating a dupe layer of your photo, setting the blending mode to difference, adjusting down the opacity and then applying a Levels adjustment layer with the midpoint slider pulled to the left. The next big thing is to shift the color to a very sickly yellow/green, but you need to do it disproportionately -- more green in the shadow end and more yellow in the highlights. If you could get real photos of people who have just died from hepatitis and renal failure -- that's the skin color you're looking for.

Joe