Hi,
I would like to ask if you could make a tutorial on how best to make colors bright and flashy like the style of Craig Whitehead:
https://www.sixstreetunder.com/street/ikwn3xflbib66s27r44k39et1dgktk
I always fail to reproduce this style.
Thank you very much.
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You probably want to tag Boris direct, @s7habo
In short: use Color Balance RGB or Color Equalizer. It helps that Craig has some great compositions and good timing.
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I took a look at a couple and to me they are multilayer compositions likely done in photoshop or using a layered workflow in some software to paint on colors and textures…
I took a look at the link. I call these images digital art based on photographs. There is heavy manipulation and effects applied. Nice images actually. But your question was how to achieve bright and flashy colours. That is real easy. The color balance rgb module, color equalizer and color zones are all capable of achieving your desired color look in darktable.
Interesting that you both think these are composites. I’d find it extremely disingenuous to call these street photographs and have them be composited.
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Just download a couple and zoom in …very obvious to me…even one with a girl on a swing has artifacts and the feet seem to be partially missing or blurred in one of the layers…
I do disagree as I don’t see any composites on the page linked to.
Rather the photographer has cleverly used reflections in windows on several of them, or used billboards with image commercials on as backgrounds.
You’re really sure that the combination of shooting with a very long tele (with a very limited plane of sharpness) from a reflection in a three glass layer window pane combined with the motions of the swing and girl couldn’t give that effect?
I think maybe but other pictures clearly have textures overlayed…and I still think the swing is going forward it appears from the chain blur but the knees looks artificial to me and the wrong direction like it has been enhanced…the face to has a pretty severe artifact or what appears to be… so if not this image certainly one or two of the others…
Well, we may have a very complicated motion pattern here with both the swing mowing forward, the seat possibly rotating (possibly in opposite direction) and the girl moving her legs and feet in various directions.
Note that the knees have three quite tight repetitions, while other points farther away from the plane of sharpness on her face have three more distanced and blurry repetitions, which to me points towards a reflection from a three layer window pane.
Which?
Looking at the images, two things stand out:
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some colors are very saturated, which can only be achieved when their relative luminosity is about 60% below the max, so pick the colors you want to emphasize and don’t push exposure too much,
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most images have either bright white, dark black, or ideally both. these emphasize the bright colors by providing context. Leaving some other colors not so saturated also emphasizes the saturated colors.
The technique is not unlike chiaroscuro. You may find this video interesting:
Also look at the color photos of Alex Webb for this kind of color scheme:
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For an alternative view on the influence of Alex Webb and this style of photography, there’s photographer Stephen Leslie. Stephen’s other vids are also entertaining.
I can only say what they look like to me not what they are… I am in no way qualified. If that is all done with color grading bravo I guess… I suppose one could take his course to get an insight on his process…
I find it weird that Stephen Leslie identifies Alex Webb with silhouettes. Yes, Webb has some, but that’s not nearly all his work. You can browse whole albums at the link above without seeing a single one.
I would say that Webb does not insist on lifting shadows, so faces and people are sometimes underexposed a bit. But that is a reasonable style as it allows him more vibrant colors.
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I think he says he’s referring specifically to that picture, which he thinks is great, but that the style has been overused and debased by street photographers who erase their subjects’ humanity and use people as meaningless props. The distinction is between pictures that generate human empathy and a kind of generic advertising imagery. That is, not the style itself but how it is often used.
Then I am not sure why he did a whole video titled “The Curse of Alex Webb”. Look at his recent work, eg the New Orleans 300 anniversary. Vibrant colors, slightly underexposed faces, but still everyone remains identifiable.
It’s like calling the I-VI-V-vi chord scheme (basically every pop song you hear) “The Curse of The Beatles”, just because used it for Let It Be, but were actually one of the most creative bands musically.
Names Make News… or why every third story on Bloomberg has Warren Buffett in the headline
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If I don’t make it soon, I’ll make a note of that for the next episode. It lives from saturated orange-red and blue tones. It reminds me a little of kodachrome.
The style is not difficult to achieve, but is very dependent on the subject of the image.
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