Need some advice on photo editing

[Casey615]

Hi all- I was wondering if someone could help me figure out how to get this look in pictures: It's very creamy, filmy, sharp and detailed (please excuse my poor photography jargon..) Not really sure how to describe what I mean but here is the photographer:

Margaret Jacobsen Photography

It looks very much like film, but I really don't know. Is this possible through photo editing, or is this specifically the camera? I use a DSLR, Canon rebel T3 and am very basic and new to the editing world. I mainly use Paint.net or Picasa (I know, I know..) for editing my pictures, and mainly just play around. I do not own Photoshop or any other photo editing software. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

Here is one of my unedited photos, feel free to edit and play around to try and get the look I'm referring to above-

 

[CowgirlMama]

It's a combination of in-camera work and pp. The photo you shared has been shot at a high ISO causing a great deal of grain. You won't get the same creamy appearance with that kind of grain. It's also not tack sharp, partly because of the amount of grain.

I wasn't sure which image you were wanting this to look like, since all the images on the linked website are unique. However, I gave you picture a brief edit. I brightened it (it's currently underexposed), sharpened it slightly, though it mostly made it more grainy, corrected white balance and applied an action that I've had forever, called "vanilla pop". Is that somewhat what you were hoping for? A lot of the pictures on that site have vintage style effects, which I have little experience with, so I can't duplicate them.

 

[OLaA]

Did a ninety second edit. Took a bit of yellow out of the exposure initially. Sharpened it a bit, added some contrast and a vignette. Added some warmer tones in. Then upped the shadows on the tonal curve. That's what gives the photos that flat look I think you're looking for. The edit isn't perfect by all means, but rough to give you an idea. Probably could have added a little noise reduction as well. All done in LR4.

 

[Casey615]

Did a ninety second edit. Took a bit of yellow out of the exposure initially. Sharpened it a bit, added some contrast and a vignette. Added some warmer tones in. Then upped the shadows on the tonal curve. That's what gives the photos that flat look I think you're looking for. The edit isn't perfect by all means, but rough to give you an idea. Probably could have added a little noise reduction as well. All done in LR4.

View attachment 41657

Yes! This is exactly what I am going for! Looks like it's time for me to invest in LR- hopefully I can figure it out as easily as you described it . Thanks a bunch!

 

[Casey615]

It's a combination of in-camera work and pp. The photo you shared has been shot at a high ISO causing a great deal of grain. You won't get the same creamy appearance with that kind of grain. It's also not tack sharp, partly because of the amount of grain.

I wasn't sure which image you were wanting this to look like, since all the images on the linked website are unique. However, I gave you picture a brief edit. I brightened it (it's currently underexposed), sharpened it slightly, though it mostly made it more grainy, corrected white balance and applied an action that I've had forever, called "vanilla pop". Is that somewhat what you were hoping for? A lot of the pictures on that site have vintage style effects, which I have little experience with, so I can't duplicate them.

View attachment 41656

This looks great- I think I picked a poor image to play with with all the grain, but thanks for the edit! Which editor do you use?

 

[OLaA]

No problem. Anything that has a curves adjustment option should work.

 

[CowgirlMama]

I used photoshop, but you can do either kind of edit in several programs. I was just raised using photoshop, so it's my go-to.

 

[Casey615]

No problem. Anything that has a curves adjustment option should work.

It looks like I am able to do most of the edits you provided in the Paint.net software, but the only thing I can't figure out is how to pull some of the yellow out of the exposure. Any tips on how I can achieve that? I am able to access a curve to change RGB, and I tried playing around with that but it doesn't pull that yellow tint out. Thanks!

 

[OLaA]

Add more blue on the blue curve.

 

[Casey615]

Add more blue on the blue curve.

Perfect, that did the trick- thanks again!

 

[OLaA]

Add more blue on the blue curve.

Perfect, that did the trick- thanks again!

No prob!

 

[TCampbell]

Hi all- I was wondering if someone could help me figure out how to get this look in pictures: It's very creamy, filmy, sharp and detailed (please excuse my poor photography jargon..) Not really sure how to describe what I mean but here is the photographer:

Margaret Jacobsen Photography

It looks very much like film, but I really don't know.

That's easy. Overexpose your photos, print them using expired chemicals, and then leave the prints in the sun without any UV protection so the color fades and yellows.

BTW, it only qualifies as looking like film if the film was bad. This is the stuff we threw out.

Why do people want to imitate this? I think people see "old" photos and assumed that's what the photos looked like straight out of the camera. The photos out of the camera on film were gorgeous. They only started to look like these photos if the film was bad, the chemicals were bad, or the age and UV damage were destroying the image. It was never the intended look and anyone who ended up with that look was very unhappy with their camera or printing lab.

:er:

Is this possible through photo editing, or is this specifically the camera? I use a DSLR, Canon rebel T3 and am very basic and new to the editing world. I mainly use Paint.net or Picasa (I know, I know..) for editing my pictures, and mainly just play around. I do not own Photoshop or any other photo editing software. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

Here is one of my unedited photos, feel free to edit and play around to try and get the look I'm referring to above-
View attachment 41646

It can be done using a color-monochrome tool using a light brown as the color. Basically imagine converting from a "color" image to a "black & white" image by fading or desaturating the color. But rather than black & white... think of a sepia tone. What you're seeing is a desaturation of color (colors fading) and instead of it fading toward black & white, it's fading toward a light brown -- sort of sepia (but not quite) color.

 

[OLaA]

Hi all- I was wondering if someone could help me figure out how to get this look in pictures: It's very creamy, filmy, sharp and detailed (please excuse my poor photography jargon..) Not really sure how to describe what I mean but here is the photographer:

Margaret Jacobsen Photography

It looks very much like film, but I really don't know.

That's easy. Overexpose your photos, print them using expired chemicals, and then leave the prints in the sun without any UV protection so the color fades and yellows.

BTW, it only qualifies as looking like film if the film was bad. This is the stuff we threw out.

Why do people want to imitate this? I think people see "old" photos and assumed that's what the photos looked like straight out of the camera. The photos out of the camera on film were gorgeous. They only started to look like these photos if the film was bad, the chemicals were bad, or the age and UV damage were destroying the image. It was never the intended look and anyone who ended up with that look was very unhappy with their camera or printing lab.

:er:

Is this possible through photo editing, or is this specifically the camera? I use a DSLR, Canon rebel T3 and am very basic and new to the editing world. I mainly use Paint.net or Picasa (I know, I know..) for editing my pictures, and mainly just play around. I do not own Photoshop or any other photo editing software. Any advice would be appreciated, thanks in advance!

Here is one of my unedited photos, feel free to edit and play around to try and get the look I'm referring to above-
View attachment 41646

It can be done using a color-monochrome tool using a light brown as the color. Basically imagine converting from a "color" image to a "black & white" image by fading or desaturating the color. But rather than black & white... think of a sepia tone. What you're seeing is a desaturation of color (colors fading) and instead of it fading toward black & white, it's fading toward a light brown -- sort of sepia (but not quite) color.

Can you post an edit? Just curious as my approach tend to be totally different.

 

[bianni]

If all your photos are products like this, it would'nt do justice to the product. Maybe do the effect that you want to the background but make the product stand out by making it sharper and more normal color.

.

 

[TCampbell]

Can you post an edit? Just curious as my approach tend to be totally different.

Sure. I'll post two. The first one _only_ has the color->monochrome filter using a light brown (think: cappuccino). But because the camera-facing side of the cup-cake was in shadow, the histogram was shifted left (meaning there's nothing very close to a "white" other than the one reflection on the plate), I did a 2nd edit where I brushed on a "dodge" in the shadow in front of the cup-cake to bring up the lighting, used the 'levels' tool (mostly to tweak the high-tones), added a weak vignette, and I decreased the intensity of "noise" in the image... but just a little (I hate to do strong noise reduction as it tends to make everything look soft and a bit like plastic.)

Here they are: