After checking out my blog last night, my sister asked what I did to the following image. For all you photographers who follow my blog, I thought I would go ahead and share with you as well.
My thought process:
When I first saw Julie’s colors (red tones) I was excited because I knew there was a red wall in the parking lot level of the Walt Disney Concert Hall where she was getting married. For this image, I asked them to hold hands and look at me. I wanted them to simply stand quietly together because I was trying to capture something that might evoke feelings of a vintage wedding image like this one:
How I shot it:
I was shooting in RAW with my Canon 5D and my new 50mm 1.2 lens. This image was shot in manual mode at 1/80, f 1.6, ISO 500.
Because it was rather dark down there, I used my Speedlite Transmitter ST-E2 and had Shannon hold my 580 EX flash to light them. She was off to my side on a short staircase at about a 45 degree angle to the couple, and she held the light above her head pointed down at them.
My post-processing:
I used my own custom preset, “jb bluesy”, to process the RAW file in Bridge and then applied Kevin Kubota’s action, “The Look” to the jpg. I used The Boutwell’s Totally Rad Action, “Yin/Yang” to get some of the detail back in Julie’s dress and to pop a tiny bit of light back into their eyes. I then applied Jesh De Rox’s Fine Art Texture, “He Loved Her Italian Accent” to create the velvet wallpaper look in the background. The last thing I did was add an 85 warming filter set at 25% and remove the shadow behind Yas in Photoshop.
Wah lah!!
before (straight out of camera)
after
Thank you for sharing, Jules!
Thanks so much for the explanation! The pictures is awesome, and who would have known, you added all the extras?
We need more people like you in this world! “)
Thanks for sharing.
Wow single greatest blog post I have read in a long time. Number one selling point for becoming adept in software technologies. I really can see what learning adobe etc can do for my finished product. I would LOVE to see more such posts…Thanks!
the vignette was partly from the lens and the rest came from my preset in Adobe Camera RAW.
One more question: At what stage did the vignette come in?
Wonderful image – wonderful post! It’s so great that you share the process of your work from start to finish. I’m glad to see that I’m not the only photographer who wants more!
You are always so willing to share your knowledge…thank you!! As always your work is beautiful and inspiring.
Truly amazing. It is so cool to see all the hard work and knowledge that goes behind your work. I always love to look at your photos in awe but I appreciate your attention to details so much more now! You are amazing Jules! I would love to see more before and after shots…
I love hearing the technical jargon behind works of beauty. I’m not a photographer, but the attention to detail, process and “wah lah” moment are very familiar (even endearing) to me as a research scientist. Thanks for sharing!
Agreed, do more posts like this!
Great Job Jules… I hope you come more with few of this one.
Extraordinary Work!!!
Paulo Jordao
unbelievable. You should do posts like this more often.
And THAT’s what makes a pro. Awesome comparison. And I had no idea that the “wallpaper” was a post-processing feature. Looks like I need to order some more plugins…
Your presets are obviously a “Must Have”. This is a great post!