How do I achieve...

[meishme]

I'm not sure if you've heard of Dave Hill. I'm a real fan of his photography work. I'm very curious though, how does he achieve his photos?

Dave Hill Photography

They look real, and yet they don't. It's as if the characters were slightly made to look CG, but not completely. I also notice the grainy-ness of the photos.

Anyone have any idea how to achieve the same results?

Thanks!

 

[mrpink]

Lighting, Lighting, some more Lighting, then PP.








p!nK

 

[dustin0479]

Send a PM to Quixilver. I think I remember seeing some of this in his photos as well.
Riccardo Suriano Advertising Photography - Fine Art Portraits, Commercial, Advertisement

 

[manaheim]

Years of practice, study, and vision.

 

[sobolik]

Creating That Dave Hill Look
http://www.diyphotography.net/creating-that-dave-hill-look


Video
Photoshop tutorial - Dave Hill effect.avi

 

[ann]

you might also want to take a look a Lucis Art software

 

[Blake.Oney]

It's mostly about lighting. Off camera flash is one of the keys to the look. To me, another big part is the scene, which in a lot of them I think is created and not photographed. The process that I see over and over again in attempting this is to add gaussian blur and noise for the skin softening, and then apply an unsharp mask filter. There are, of course other things depending on the tutorial you find, but those 3 seem to be a constant in a lot of the different ways I've seen. I love his work too and I hope to be able to recreate the effect at some point.

 

[meishme]

Thanks guys, you've all been very helpful!

 

[o hey tyler]

Wrap around lighting.

Also, metric tons of photoshop. More photoshop than most can handle.

 

[flameshots]

Aren't they just really well lit HDR shots? Maybe not but that's what they look like to me.

 

[Josh66]

then PP.

A ****tonne of PP...

Not a fan, personally, but ... whatever.

 

[cyngus]

his work is not as technically difficult as it seems.. and no it doesnt take LOTS OF LIGHTING.. or TONS OF PP.. it just takes your average amount of everything when shooting advertising photos like these..

the process is simple but its tedious.. everything is a composite generally he shoots a background.. combines multiple exposures .. similar to a HDR effect but he DOES NOT USE ANY WIZWIG hdr software.. like photomatix or lucas..

next he shoot his subject(s) depending on the application of the shot he'll either shoot them on somewhat of the same location as the background.. or he'll just shoot them in studio or a makeshift studio.. as long as he has control of the light .. the light at this stage is important.. otherwise when you composite the subject into the background it wont look ... natural.

he has a good eye for composition.. and he knows how to make things LOOK like they are really in the shot when they are not.. its not something you can be taught its something you just learn over time..

after all that .. the subject(s) are stylized in post to have that.. surreal look about them.. there are a few ways to skin a cat with this STYLE of editing.. but a strong high pass filter.. a properly used unsharp mask.. and some level adjustments and you're pretty much set ..

i would suggest using a ring flash (this helps when compositing the subject into the background.. since it removes almost all shadows it makes things look more natural in almost any background) for the subject and for the background i would just take multiple exposures and make that work for you...


hes a very talented artist and has a lot of patience some of his work is so tedious it is almost psychotic... i love his work and have been a fan for a long time..

 

[o hey tyler]

his work is not as technically difficult as it seems.. and no it doesnt take LOTS OF LIGHTING.. or TONS OF PP.. it just takes your average amount of everything when shooting advertising photos like these..

the process is simple but its tedious.. everything is a composite generally he shoots a background.. combines multiple exposures .. similar to a HDR effect but he DOES NOT USE ANY WIZWIG hdr software.. like photomatix or lucas..

next he shoot his subject(s) depending on the application of the shot he'll either shoot them on somewhat of the same location as the background.. or he'll just shoot them in studio or a makeshift studio.. as long as he has control of the light .. the light at this stage is important.. otherwise when you composite the subject into the background it wont look ... natural.

he has a good eye for composition.. and he knows how to make things LOOK like they are really in the shot when they are not.. its not something you can be taught its something you just learn over time..

after all that .. the subject(s) are stylized in post to have that.. surreal look about them.. there are a few ways to skin a cat with this STYLE of editing.. but a strong high pass filter.. a properly used unsharp mask.. and some level adjustments and you're pretty much set ..

i would suggest using a ring flash (this helps when compositing the subject into the background.. since it removes almost all shadows it makes things look more natural in almost any background) for the subject and for the background i would just take multiple exposures and make that work for you...


hes a very talented artist and has a lot of patience some of his work is so tedious it is almost psychotic... i love his work and have been a fan for a long time..

You disagreed with everyone in this thread (more or less) and then contradicted yourself throughout 6 (SIX) paragraphs.

 

[StillGotIt]

Aren't they just really well lit HDR shots? Maybe not but that's what they look like to me.

i thought the same too.

 

[cyngus]

his work is not as technically difficult as it seems.. and no it doesnt take LOTS OF LIGHTING.. or TONS OF PP.. it just takes your average amount of everything when shooting advertising photos like these..

the process is simple but its tedious.. everything is a composite generally he shoots a background.. combines multiple exposures .. similar to a HDR effect but he DOES NOT USE ANY WIZWIG hdr software.. like photomatix or lucas..

next he shoot his subject(s) depending on the application of the shot he'll either shoot them on somewhat of the same location as the background.. or he'll just shoot them in studio or a makeshift studio.. as long as he has control of the light .. the light at this stage is important.. otherwise when you composite the subject into the background it wont look ... natural.

he has a good eye for composition.. and he knows how to make things LOOK like they are really in the shot when they are not.. its not something you can be taught its something you just learn over time..

after all that .. the subject(s) are stylized in post to have that.. surreal look about them.. there are a few ways to skin a cat with this STYLE of editing.. but a strong high pass filter.. a properly used unsharp mask.. and some level adjustments and you're pretty much set ..

i would suggest using a ring flash (this helps when compositing the subject into the background.. since it removes almost all shadows it makes things look more natural in almost any background) for the subject and for the background i would just take multiple exposures and make that work for you...


hes a very talented artist and has a lot of patience some of his work is so tedious it is almost psychotic... i love his work and have been a fan for a long time..

You disagreed with everyone in this thread (more or less) and then contradicted yourself throughout 6 (SIX) paragraphs.

well if we all agreed with each other then no one would ever learn anything new now would we?

thanks for your input though man lots of help!