Moody Dark Edits

[Amy Claire]

Hi Damien,

I am hoping you can shed some light on how I could get my photos to look similar to this edit.

When I process in raw should I be keeping the images dark or exposing for the people?

I am into module 4 of the raw class so still lots to learn!

Thanks so much Damien

[Damien Symonds]

9 hours ago, Amy Claire said:

When I process in raw should I be keeping the images dark or exposing for the people?

Well, both, as far as possible.  Exposure for the people and keep the background dark.

Please be patient.  Finish the class.

[Amy Claire]

Ok I just have a wedding I need to edit but I will keep going with the class!!

[Amy Claire]

Ive read through fully once the raw class. Do you go into detail on how to use the buttons along the top of the raw viewer? Does that come in the deluxe class? I was just thinking is there a way the targeted adjustment tool could be used to adjust different exposure settings for the people and backgrounds? Or is this all done in photoshop and those buttons ignored?

Thanks

[Damien Symonds]

http://www.damiensymonds.net/2014/11/the-bldy-adjustment-brush.html

[Amy Claire]

Ok thanks. So if I want to do this look I should have done fill flash in camera. If I want to try it now, in ACR should I expose the people right then in photoshop darken the background?

[Damien Symonds]

That's right.  And I'm happy to help you with that part, if you'd like to post your SOOR.

[Amy Claire]

Thanks so much Damien

 

[Damien Symonds]

Am I anywhere close?

[Amy Claire]

I Love it. I know your not going to like it but do you think a matte effect has been applied?

 

[Damien Symonds]

Yes, and I added it to mine also.

[Damien Symonds]

Would you prefer more pronounced matte?

[Amy Claire]

thank you that's great. I'm sorry for the matte layer!

 

[Damien Symonds]

Ok, here we go ...

1. Duplicate the Background layer.  Immediately desaturate it by pressing Ctrl Shift U. Change its blend mode to Soft Light.  This is "Layer 1" in my screenshot.
2. Duplicate Layer 1 to make "Layer 1 copy", and run Filter>Other>High Pass.  I used a radius of about 4 because I was working on the web sized version.  On the full size, you'd use somewhere between 8 and 12, I'd say.  This adds some "grunge" to the image.
3. Add the first Levels layer.  On the RGB channel, use these values: 0/0.40/255 and 0/230.  This will make the whole image dark.  Mask it off the people and the ground to your taste.  You can see my mask in the screenshot.
4. Finally, add another Levels layer and pull the black Output slider in to about 35 (or to your taste) for the matte effect.

[Amy Claire]

Thank you so much I can't wait to give this a go!