[Help]How to achieve this kind of effect?

[sayyestwice]

Hey guys I've been seeing photos like this one for a long time already...only that I don't know how to do it and i wanna learn how to do it so badly! April 14th 2008 - Daddy Rocks on Flickr - Photo Sharing! I mean the embossed/painted kinda effect to it? How do you do that?
Any help on this one?? I don't even know what this effect is called?? Is it edited using photoshop cs or others?


Here's another example...

There's a story for every homeless on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Double H]

I'm not seeing anything that looks like embossing or painting in either of the links. They look, to me, like very good, properly shot, well composed photos.

 

[Derrel]

Well, they started with a gel-fitted Vivitar 285 flsh camera left--that is causing a bit of rim lighting along the side of the man's body. A very heavy vignette has been applied to the bottom of the frame--that lightens him up and gives some of that "embossed" look. The weather looks a bit overcast, and his eyes as you can see, are in deep shadow from the underexposure they did, probably to keep the sky dark and ominous-looking. The shot is basically a guy standing in a field, shot with a wide angle lens from a low vantage point, with a flash that is rim-lighting him. The fact that his eye sockets are totally black gives you an idea of how badly underexposed the shot was originally.

Without the yellow gelled flash coming in from the left, this shot would totally suck. It looks okay seen small, but I doubt it would hold up to even 8x10. If you open up the original size, you can see the effect of the un-gelled Canon flash. This effect is commonly called "overpowering daylight with flash", and cloudy,overcast days are the easiest to do this on,especially with most d-slr cameras. if you really want to learn how to do this effect, and shoot it a LOT, you'll buy a cheap Nikon D40 or D70 for its ability to synchronize flash at up to 1/8000 second with a flash hooked up with a PC cord and AS-15 or with a remote triggering system.

The web has many articles on overpowering daylight with flash. A cloudy day is easiest if your camera can only shoot flash at 1/200 second. The D40 and D70 being able to go as high as say 1/2000 second means you can make the sky look VERY,very dark and brooding, and make the subject "embossed" by lighting them up with flash, wile the background unnaturally drops off in intensity--all with basically no PS work needed.

 

[themedicine]

thats a great synopsis!^^

Only qualm i have with it is that I dont feel like the guitar guy is that underexposed. that yellow light is definitely rim light but there is definitely a flash high camera right. explained everything well though man!

 

[stephenpoff]

This is Stephen Poff and the photo that you're referring to is mine. First off, I'd like to say that this photo was not under exposed... and it does hold up in a larger print... cause I have had it printed.

Most of this look comes from the lighting. In almost all of my photos you can read the set up a the bottom of the description. Here's what I wrote:

"Bare Canon 430ex at camera right and a Vivitar 285hv with a yellow gell at camera left as a backlight."

Anytime that you use this kind of lighting scenerio in daylight it's gonna look like it pops off of the page. Mostly because this is not how your eye would have seen it. So the lighting makes it very dramatic. On top of that there was some dodging and burning in post, but that in itself will not give you that look.

You can find more of my photos at Flickr: Stephen Poff's Photostream and I also have a blog where I share some of my tricks and tips at Stephen Poff's Blog

Hope that helps.

Stephen

 

[themedicine]

haha, i knew it. I nailed that lighting setup! By the way stephen, I have seen that before somewhere and i must say, its awesome.

 

[Bynx]

When I saw the two examples my first thought was Dave Hill. Check out Dave Hill Photography

 

[cove26]

Never seen Dave Hill's photos before, astounding! How doe she achieve the effect in hi photos? They look like photos but at the same time look painted? I do alot of automotive photography and that effect would look amazing on some of the shots I have!

Anyone know the process for achieving these effects?

Mike