recreating a look

[Christian Tanner]

hey guys!

 

i got another question about recreating a certain look. this time, it's just out of curiosity though...

i was wondering how you guys would approach recreating the look of the attached picture.

(i find the process of translating the directors visual ideas (and references) into a "technical concept" most interesting). hence:

 

- what stock would you use?

- what filters?

- (what lighting?)

- how much would you do in post/in camera? and what would you exactly alter in post?

 

 

thanx guys!

[John Pytlak RIP]

hey guys!

 

i got another question about recreating a certain look. this time, it's just out of curiosity though...

i was wondering how you guys would approach recreating the look of the attached picture.

(i find the process of translating the directors visual ideas (and references) into a "technical concept" most interesting). hence:

 

- what stock would you use?

- what filters?

- (what lighting?)

- how much would you do in post/in camera? and what would you exactly alter in post?

thanx guys!

 

That's really a fairly straight-forward studio shot, and most of the "look" you want seems to come from the makeup and costuming. Any of the Kodak VISION2 color negative films should work well (depending on your lighting), and I don't see much image manipulation needing to be done once you've matched the lighting. Consider the Kodak VISION2 Expression 500T Color Negative Film 5229/7229 if you want to start off with slightly less contrast and color saturation:

 

http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/products....4.4.4.14&lc=en

[Christian Tanner]

thanx. but what do you think about the skin color. would you suggest to leaf that to make up?

plus - i felt that this "look" also included the overall "texture" of the image. one could argue that this is just due to the paper/surface the picture was printed on - but if a director comes over to me and asks me to recreate a particular look according to a picture (which they often do i experienced), they seem not to be bothered about those things... or in other words: they're only interested in the "general appearance" - almost like a "feeling". (which i thought is appropriate for a director to express him/herself).

[Rupe Whiteman]

The look of the shot is partly created by it being on a faded print but lighting-wise it looks like very diffused and probably bounced light sources... use a 2k/4k bounced off white-board and through something like bleached or double-bleached muslin. This will give a soft diffuse look as in the picture. The light source in the photo is up and frame left of the camera position (look at the angle of the shadow to work this out...). You could also add a bounce either side of the models to help wrap the light around the models even more. Remember if you want a nice dark background as in the still you need a good distance between the models and the black background to get the right amount of fall-off and spill control...

 

... You could further add a diffusion filter (classic soft or promist perhaps) or even stocking net over the lens or behind the rear element... There are different ways to desaturate the image but the best way is to start with clothes and make-up that give you this look - ie use pastel clothing and subtle similar make up. You can desaturate further in telecine if necessary.

 

... Another way of getting a nice diffused look is to use a big tungsten source like a 5k, and shine it directly through bead-board. The light emanating from this this will be soft and very diffuse and will give your models a lovely glow.

 

... You could try fog filters to fug the image even more....

 

Try something out, shoot a polariod test...

 

Good luck,

 

Rupe Whiteman

Edited April 27, 2006 by rupe w

[Filip Plesha]

There's the "look" and there's lighting and mood of the picture. Some see these things as one and the same things, others concentrate on the lighting and the subjects..I'll try to fill in the gap about the "look"

 

I think what you are looking for is what old halftone printing does to the image tones, it sort of makes the "rough", notice how the skin on the girls doesn't look smooth, as if the colors were somehow simplified

into less tones, crushed somehow, like 80's cartoons almost. A part of it is due to airbrushing, and a part of it is due to the effects of halftone film.

That's the same look you can see in pictures from old equipment manuals or brochures or cheaper magazines from 70's, it's just low grade halftone printing plus airbrushing on the skin.

I really don't have any idea how would one replicate that in motion, you could replicate the lighting, costumes etc. But I don't think that is what you were asking about, it could have been a picture of a flower for all it matters (but maybe I'm mistaking about what you are asking)

 

 

 

Though one thing comes to mind...

 

 

If I wanted to make a photo look like that using photoshop, here is what I'd do:

 

First I'd increase the contrast to lose finer gradations, then I'd compress the contrast back

using masking with a small blur offset, the effect of that is increased saturation, and a very

compressed cartoonish look, then I'd reduce saturation to match the faded look.

If you are working at 8-bit you could get some artefacts though.

 

If you want I can send you an example of what I mean

[Christian Tanner]

thanx filip!

that was exactly what i was after. (and yeah - please send me the pictures you where talking about - very much apprechiated...)

 

anyway: does anyone have a suggestion on what filters to use and/or how to alter the picture in post, to achieve that on film?

 

and what exactly IS halftone printing?

 

cheers!

[Filip Plesha]

It's the kind of printing you see in books (with tiny dots), today it is all digital and almost flawless technically, and all you need is good resolution (200 dpi halftone can look really smooth and good and have increadible detail, almost like a photo print), but back then the plates were prepared by means of analog copying to special preprint films, I don't know the specifics of print industry of 60's and 70's, but needless to say, the process had its own visual signiture. Best visible in old magazines.

Also remember those old hyper-saturated postcards from 70's? Well its pretty much the same look only with boosted saturation (it still looks kind of wierd and textural when desaturated)

 

But don't underestimate airbrushing, while old halftoning techniques did leave such an effect on colors and tones (making the transitions more rough and textural, as if on the half way between photography and painting)

airbrushing the skin also does something like that to skintones.

[Christian Tanner]

(thanx filip!)

 

and sorry to bother you guys again...

but does anyone have ANY idea how to recreate that IN CAMERA? i mean the "sort-of" version?

apart from black pro mist filter, increasing the grain by push/pulling and saturated colors in set design?

 

i would appreciate ANY response.

 

thanx a lot!

cary

[Guest beanpat]

hey guys!

 

i got another question about recreating a certain look. this time, it's just out of curiosity though...

i was wondering how you guys would approach recreating the look of the attached picture.

(i find the process of translating the directors visual ideas (and references) into a "technical concept" most interesting). hence:

 

- what stock would you use?

- what filters?

- (what lighting?)

- how much would you do in post/in camera? and what would you exactly alter in post?

thanx guys!

as mentioned the color palette is small in that picture. simply not a large range of colors to reproduce what the original scene looked like. maybee using lighting that has an incomplete spectrum might help. like low color temp lamps and then compensating with blue filter on the lens. as apposed to a wide spectrum light source like HMI, or arc. maybee standard flourescents not designed for film? they have a spotty spectral range too.

[David Mullen ASC]

The milkiness can be achieved by combining a low-con film stock (like Kodak Expression 500T or Fuji F-400T) with either flashing (Panaflasher on a Panaflex, or a Varicon device in a 6x6 mattebox), or filters -- a heavy UltraCon if you don't want much softening, or if softening is OK, then a Fog, Low Con, Double Fog, Smoque, etc.

 

The texture of the image printed onto paper using halftone is not possible using a camera trick, that's more of a post special effect technique.