I was checking out this guy's site (Dave Hill): //www.davehillphoto.com/. I don't like all of the pictures, but some of them are really cool. How does he do it?
Hi guys,
Wow, I'm flattered by all this talk! I'm glad some of you like my work. I really can't share much about specifics, and I'm not a photoshop guru, but I am definitely down to discuss. I haven't used HDR or that tone-mapping stuff. I just recently heard about it, and it seems you need to bracket your images to do it well. That would be almost impossible when shooting humans! :-) In terms of cameras, depending on the budget, I use canon digitals and H1's; all prime lenses. Canons are SOOO fun and easy to shoot with, but the H1 files are crisp, edge to edge, and print bigger. Kinda a trade off. I'm a big fan of using lights, and I'd say the primary factor of how my images look is the lighting setup. Photoshop is of course crucial as well, but you gotta have a clean raw file to begin with. Too much processing can give you nasty digital grain, halos, all that stuff, which may look good on Flickr, but when printed on paper for a portfolio that an art director sees, looks like junk. I would totally suggest that new photogs spend less time on PS and more time shooting and playing with lights, and learning how to direct their subjects. As to the comment about $50k shoots... haha... that made me laugh. For sure my budgets have been getting bigger, but a lot of the stuff on my site paid peanuts. You really have to work your butt off; lots of sweat, set-building, hauling lights all over the place, day after day, for at least a few years etc. But that's part of the adventure, right!? Let me know if u guys have any more questions. Thanks!
HDR? Someone fill me in I'm a noob..Just upgraded from elements
High Dynamic Resolution. HDR uses several shots at different exposures and combined these to use the best feature of each exposure to create a photo that has high depth, colour, tone etc.
HDR? Someone fill me in I'm a noob..Just upgraded from elements
High Dynamic Resolution. HDR uses several shots at different exposures and combined these to use the best feature of each exposure to create a photo that has high depth, colour, tone etc.
he lights strategically. ie: he knows how to shape light, and how to use the equipment.
one thing to try is to look at others photos, and try to determine where the light is coming from, and what kind of light is being used. diffused light, hard light - etc.
It's not HDR, it's just a series of photoshop techniques. There's a thread dedicated to it on Flickr somewhere. It's nothing fancy, I just remember there being 2 hard pass filters, a layer fill of black faded to 40% and a crap load of USM. Oh, and nice lighting too :)
I read what Dave said on the other thread and I'm not sure he's %100 telling the truth. Some photographers are very secretive with their techniques and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to find out he used some sort of HDR technique. Maybe he doesn't use a standard HDR technique but his results are very similar.
To my knowledge, his shots are all excellent lighting with less PP than most people would expect. Just check his behind the scenes videos etc and you'll get some insight on the skills & techniques. It's not HDR.
He captures areas with light that others don't necessarily care about/see. With the intense amount of light coming from all directions which light the subject, he is able to create a unique contrasted image.
I love it, and I'm trying to get as close as possible to what Dave Hill is creating.
Similar effect on this shot however I was not trying for it. I got this look with the unsharp mask set way out of control. That and some major levels adjustments. His are just more over the top than I chose to go. His lighting and stuff is way better than I can do, plus he probably is cooler.
