My turn for a "How's it done?"

[e.rose]

I have been fairly fascinated by images with this type of processing done to them... and I'm trying to figure this out.

CLEARLY... lighting is a huge part of this. I got that. Check. It's been noted.

But *processing*-wise...

What do you reckon he's done?

The only thing that comes to mind is pumping the clarity, but I know that can't ONLY be it. I feel like it would look more... "dirty" and distorted... if that were just the case.

Here's the image:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-7BfQ1eBfHjE/TqDkEf_XmiI/AAAAAAAACBY/r9RZZTHk-2g/s912/chefs.jpg

I came across it on this dude's profile on G+ https://plus.google.com/112027450030109652155/posts (There was no way for me to link you to the photo while it was displayed *on* his profile... so I obviously just linked the photo and his profile separately.)

 

[2WheelPhoto]

This was his blogger comment to someone who asked about the bicycle repair question a few pics down from your linked pic:

Darren Mahuron: thanks William Shevchuk. Unfortunately people don't tend to like the answer. The truth is as far as my process goes it's simply just hours spent in photoshop. Much like a painting I push and pull the image until I feel like it's done. This one took me 22 hours. Most don't take as long but I shot everyone and everything in the image separately due to my limited lighting set up at the time. I'll post a before and after on my page so you can see the process a bit better. I'm sure there are faster ways of going about it, but I am self taught so my process involves a lot of masking, dodging and burning and selective sharpening and blurring. hope that helps! Oct 20, 2011 12:56 PM

 

[joanna_d1576]

This looks like HDR...

 

[Derrel]

Look up Dave Hill effect. It took him 22 HOURS to do this in Photoshop??? That is simply sad. Pathetic, really.

THe ground work for this can be accomplished with three lights. Two flashes with "hot" light give the rim lighting on the outline,hair, and jawline of the man on the left. The guy on the right also has a "hot" flash aimed at him, from camera right. His back takes most of the brunt of the light, as well as the chef's oven mitt on the man on the left. Some of the hot light is visible on his ear, and the blown-out back side of his chef's hat.

Sorry, but 22 HOURS for this??? THere are commercial shooters who light almost every shot this way, and process like this, only with better results. This effect has become rather like selective color to me...in the six years since it became the most-popular gimmick lighting and processing technique in magazines aimed at men (GQ,Esquire, Maxim, Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Men's Health, Muscle & Fitness, etc.,etc., this has become perhaps the single most-copied, most-overused approach of 20-something shooters being hired by 30-something editors.)

GO to the web and look for "Dave Hill Effect + Photoshop tutorial". I got 35,100 results.

 

[e.rose]

This was his blogger comment to someone who asked about the bicycle repair question a few pics down from your linked pic:

Darren Mahuron: thanks William Shevchuk. Unfortunately people don't tend to like the answer. The truth is as far as my process goes it's simply just hours spent in photoshop. Much like a painting I push and pull the image until I feel like it's done. This one took me 22 hours. Most don't take as long but I shot everyone and everything in the image separately due to my limited lighting set up at the time. I'll post a before and after on my page so you can see the process a bit better. I'm sure there are faster ways of going about it, but I am self taught so my process involves a lot of masking, dodging and burning and selective sharpening and blurring. hope that helps! Oct 20, 2011 12:56 PM

Hah... thanks. I missed that one apparently.

S'what happens when you pull all-nighters and effectively forget what the definition of "sleep" is. :lmao:

 

[Dao]

This is the one I found in the past, not quite there, but close. You can see other people post their examples with the same technique.

Flickr: Discussing OT - EUREKA!! the Dave Hill LOOK!!! in Strobist.com

 

[DiskoJoe]

yeah just some lighting and tonemapping. Looks like TOPAZ to me. You could do this in like 5 minutes if you have a good pic to start with.

 

[ghache]

Look up Dave Hill effect. It took him 22 HOURS to do this in Photoshop??? That is simply sad. Pathetic, really.

THe ground work for this can be accomplished with three lights. Two flashes with "hot" light give the rim lighting on the outline,hair, and jawline of the man on the left. The guy on the right also has a "hot" flash aimed at him, from camera right. His back takes most of the brunt of the light, as well as the chef's oven mitt on the man on the left. Some of the hot light is visible on his ear, and the blown-out back side of his chef's hat.

Sorry, but 22 HOURS for this??? THere are commercial shooters who light almost every shot this way, and process like this, only with better results. This effect has become rather like selective color to me...in the six years since it became the most-popular gimmick lighting and processing technique in magazines aimed at men (GQ,Esquire, Maxim, Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Men's Health, Muscle & Fitness, etc.,etc., this has become perhaps the single most-copied, most-overused approach of 20-something shooters being hired by 30-something editors.)


GO to the web and look for "Dave Hill Effect + Photoshop tutorial". I got 35,100 results.

Cmon Derrel, you wouldnt be able to get that result even with 48 hours in your hands. I dare you to make one with a concept that worth looking at and THEN you can come here and say its sweet cake to create a similar picture.

 

[e.rose]

This is the one I found in the past, not quite there, but close. You can see other people post their examples with the same technique.

Flickr: Discussing OT - EUREKA!! the Dave Hill LOOK!!! in Strobist.com

Not quite the same... but certainly interesting. Thanks for sharing the link.

 

[D-B-J]

Look up Dave Hill effect. It took him 22 HOURS to do this in Photoshop??? That is simply sad. Pathetic, really.

THe ground work for this can be accomplished with three lights. Two flashes with "hot" light give the rim lighting on the outline,hair, and jawline of the man on the left. The guy on the right also has a "hot" flash aimed at him, from camera right. His back takes most of the brunt of the light, as well as the chef's oven mitt on the man on the left. Some of the hot light is visible on his ear, and the blown-out back side of his chef's hat.

Sorry, but 22 HOURS for this??? THere are commercial shooters who light almost every shot this way, and process like this, only with better results. This effect has become rather like selective color to me...in the six years since it became the most-popular gimmick lighting and processing technique in magazines aimed at men (GQ,Esquire, Maxim, Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Men's Health, Muscle & Fitness, etc.,etc., this has become perhaps the single most-copied, most-overused approach of 20-something shooters being hired by 30-something editors.)

GO to the web and look for "Dave Hill Effect + Photoshop tutorial". I got 35,100 results.

I agree--it strikes me as the Dave Hill effect, and should NOT have taken that long. I smell a noob there...

 

[ghache]

Look up Dave Hill effect. It took him 22 HOURS to do this in Photoshop??? That is simply sad. Pathetic, really.

THe ground work for this can be accomplished with three lights. Two flashes with "hot" light give the rim lighting on the outline,hair, and jawline of the man on the left. The guy on the right also has a "hot" flash aimed at him, from camera right. His back takes most of the brunt of the light, as well as the chef's oven mitt on the man on the left. Some of the hot light is visible on his ear, and the blown-out back side of his chef's hat.

Sorry, but 22 HOURS for this??? THere are commercial shooters who light almost every shot this way, and process like this, only with better results. This effect has become rather like selective color to me...in the six years since it became the most-popular gimmick lighting and processing technique in magazines aimed at men (GQ,Esquire, Maxim, Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, Men's Health, Muscle & Fitness, etc.,etc., this has become perhaps the single most-copied, most-overused approach of 20-something shooters being hired by 30-something editors.)

GO to the web and look for "Dave Hill Effect + Photoshop tutorial". I got 35,100 results.

I agree--it strikes me as the Dave Hill effect, and should NOT have taken that long. I smell a noob there...

It shouldnt take that long. The process of creating the main effect shouldnt take more than 5 min but the lighting job and the work around a concept that works in these type of shot is probably alot more work than Derrel seems to think it is. You can apply that post processing to any shot and they wont have the same impact as this. Dave Hill Photography | Music

 

[lyonsroar]

The Dave Hill Look in Lightroom