Toddler Portrait - Dave Hill Style on Flickr -

Toddler Portrait - Dave Hill Style on Flickr - Photo Sharing! http://flickr.com/photos/newchapter/2767167199/

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Toddler Portrait - Dave Hill Style

My second attempt at a Dave Hill style photo. This is of my 7 month old child and the originalphotograph was taken by my 3 1/2 year old messing around with my Canon 400d (honestly -one of the best photos in my collection and I cannot take credit for it !). So I can only takecredit for the photoshop work .

The original Photograph flickr.com/photos/newchapter/2768237190/

I have been asked how I achieved this photograph (but as you normally see, no one will tell you how they achieved it. As they want to keep the technique to themselves), so I will list down how I achieved it and I hope people are able to benefit from it and take the technique further. If you do find it useful could you put a reply on the photograph please.Thephotograph was taken in RAW and I HDR'd (very mild) it (but a jpeg will give the same result). I boosted the saturation and contrast and adjusted them to get the correct colours(this will be trial and error). 1. Make a Backup layer so you have the orignial image. Then I used unsharp mask tosharpen then photograph (The setting are trial an error depending on your photograph - you can be quite harsh at this stage)2. I ran the image through NoiseWare Pro ( Imagenomic) at its max settings (100 %)to smooth it out and remove unwanted detail. You could also use Photoshops guassian blur and noise removal. This will make the image look unreal.3. Then I used the clone and heal tool to remove any unwanted spots marks etc and I ran the noise tool again.4. Remove most of the colour from the image but not to black and white (still keep some there)5. Then run it through it through LucisArt. You will need to experiment with settings to seewhat works the best. Don’t overdo it too much (really - less is more).6. Make a backup layer of the original. Place this layer on top of the original copy layer. Call this the colour layer. Set its blend mode to Saturate. You can then use the opacity slider to add the exact amount of color to the image.7. Create another backup layer and call this detail. Place this layer on top of all the other layers and set its blend mode to Overlay.8. Then on this detail layer I ran it through NoiseWare Pro again.9. The image is almost there now. So you can adjust the curves to get the look you want (Iadjusted mine in lightroom)10. Then Flattern the image and create a new black layer (put this behind the portrait image)11. Then using the extract tool on photoshop, I cut my son out from the background.12. I flattened the image again then did some final tweaks with the contrast and saturation.13. To make the image not to sharp to the background, I created a duplicate layer and ranAlien Skin Exposure (using colour Glamour) to give a blurred effect. You can use theGaussian blur to create the same effect.14. Then on the same layer I created a mask and chose a soft brush style. Then brought allthe detail back from the original layer but leaving the edges slightly blurred.15. Then finally I flattened the whole image and this is what I ended up with.

This method can vary each time you do it, it is trial an error because each thing you do can multiply or dissolve at the next stage. So sorry its suck it and see.

This is the first time I have wrote a method up so please be patient. Please let me know ifyou had success with this technique and I hope it helps people learn and develop their style.I cannot take full credit for this technique as I used my modified version of a tutorial from KRMicros (A user on Flickr)

Uploaded on August 16, 2008by john.perks

john.perks' photostream

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Beginners Digital Photography: Tips, Tricks & Hints (Pool)

New & Learning (Pool)

Unreal Portraits (Pool)

DAVE HILL FANS (Pool)

“David Hill Look” (Pool)

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Taken with a Canon EOS 400D Digital.More propertiesTaken on August 16, 20089 people call this photo a favoriteViewed 385 times

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2 of 3 1/9/2551 14:31

If any one needs any help just send me a message and I will get back to you

Good Luck

John

CommentsRobert Angel says:

Ok now Im really depressed a three year old takes a shot that I would die forLOL>>> !!!! Great job little three year old. Oh yea three and a half year old . Thelook on the face is perfect the eyes are looking away and just the over all look.Not to mention the baby is so cute. Great job. Posted 2 weeks ago. ( permalink )

rjt208 says:

Brilliant processing, lighting and expression... nice work John. Posted 2 weeks ago. ( permalink )

Arty Flipping Smokes #156 says:

The original photo was a great starting point, so congrats to your 3 year old forgetting that capture, and great work on the treatment by you.Your method is similar to what I use for a "smooth" Dave Hill effect, but I don'tuse quite so many layers usually. I'm a big fan of Imagenomic's Noiseware andPortraiture plug-ins.I routinely run Noiseware to sharpen up an image slightly while removing anyobvious noise. With a duplicate layer I'll run Lucis (either Exposure or Whyeth)on a reasonably low opacity setting depending on the image resolution and sizeof the main subject. (Far too many Dave Hill Wannabes go overboard withLucis and create a really noisy image).I'll then smooth that layer and then blend it at about 70% on the layer beneath.The blend mode varies, but I'm fond of overlay for bright colours and soft lightfor a subtler effect.I flatten the layers and then apply more sharpening and smoothing, trying tokeep halos to a minimum while keeping some detail in facial features.Portraiture is great in that you can choose to only apply the smoothing to skintones, so the background remains sharp.You've achieved a very painterly effect with this portrait. My own taste is forsomething that looks more like a photo, but it's all down to how you blend thelayers according to taste. (Some people prefer the HDR look, but I find that onlyworks with some subjects).I've been using this set-up on a few of my fairground shots recently, but I'mlooking forward to doing some full frame portraits soon. Keep up the good workand thanks for sharing your method.

Here's one where I used an overlay blend for lots of colour saturation:

--Seen in a discussion of the group "DAVE HILL FANS" (?) Posted 1 week ago. ( permalink )

sam1965uk says:

You Have an Award

HDR B4 & AFTER Posted 8 days ago. ( permalink )

Eduardo Dias Gontijo says:

Wonderful! The texture is so nice because of the HDR? Posted 7 days ago. ( permalink )

john.perks says:

No it is through the noise removal that got the texture Posted 7 days ago. ( permalink )

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3 of 3 1/9/2551 14:31

jsansb says:

I like the effect, i have been trying to get it in some of my pictures but I haven'tbeen as succesful as you. Must be that I haven't got a future professionalphotographer to shoot on my behalf! Posted 2 days ago. ( permalink )

john.perks says:

I know its bad a three year old took the photo. Hopefully he will make a fortunewhen he is older Posted 2 days ago. ( permalink )

afbam says:

this is really nice....i will try this technique surely....thank you very muchJohn....you are very kind!.... Posted 2 days ago. ( permalink )

D80-Newbie says:

wow a great photo, and a nice list of techniques. I haven't learned editing yet,my pics are just a little brightness/contrast saturation and crop adjustments. Ihave photoshop elements and capture nx. My goal this fall is to learn moreediting. Very nice of you to share! Posted 17 hours ago. ( permalink )

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Toddler Portrait - Dave Hill Style on Flickr -