I have a series of portraits taken in different lighting conditions and I have been asked to give them an effect of having being taken in sunset lighting. I wonder if somebody in here has a good method for creating a realistic and nice sunset lighting effect.
pellepiano
Posts: 2,171
Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
Sunset means the light is coming from a low angle. How many lights did you use on your shots? Do you want to simulate strobes with gels used at sunset ?
There are many questions unless you post an example image, so examples can be done on how to approach the retouch.
I must say the photographs are not mine, they were just given to me for retouching... I would have taken them in sunset too instead of faking it.
Sadly I cannot post any sample images, I don't think my client would be happy to see the photos in a forum.
I mainly asked how to fake this effect because the easy answer is to warm it up using the colour temperature slider or applying a warming filter, but I'm getting paid to achieve this effect and seems sooo wrong to get the money just for moving a slider a few notches! lol
Michael Pandolfo wrote: Well if you really want to feel bad about taking their money, use the "Jaws" or "Summer Blockbuster" Cinema settings in Alien Skin Exposure 4.
Haha, I don't wanna feel bad... I'm a nice guy! That's why I'm asking for the hard way to do this :p
pellepiano
Posts: 2,171
Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
Graphirus wrote: I'm a nice guy! That's why I'm asking for the hard way to do this :p
New Layer Soft Light Blend Mode, orange color, and a brush set at 1 pixel and then paint
That would be a hard way to do something that you obviously know how to do already. Without more details about the lighting you used, if there was a sunny day when you shot ,if no strobes were used, if you used multiple strobes and so on ... it will be hard to find a constructive "hard" way.
Rebel Photo
Posts: 11,381
Florence, South Carolina, US
just change the temperature..... The real problem is light direction and that natural glow afternoon light provides. After all, there is a reason it's called the magic hour.
Platinum Dust
Posts: 92
San Francisco, California, US
For general advice, in addition to just changing the tone of the colors also deepen the shadows some and try to bring out a rich glow in the highlights. Helps simulate the rich but not super bright sunset lighting.
Hey, I'm not sure if the photographer gave you images with lighting that is at least going to look like the light source is coming from a low sunset, but here's one that I did at a wedding last year. It was taken a couple hours before sunset, but I put a strobe on my subjects from a low sunset angle, and just warmed it in post. This is probably a 60 second retouch that ended up being one of their favorite shots. Just because the process of making the images look good isn't challenging, doesn't mean you should feel bad. If you over think this and try to over complicate the retouch you're probably going to get crappier results than if you just did the obvious and warmed the image.
That's not to say you won't probably want to deepen some shadows for added drama maybe. Just don't get too hung up on the color. Warming it is probably all you need to do.
Rebel Photo wrote: just change the temperature..... The real problem is light direction and that natural glow afternoon light provides. After all, there is a reason it's called the magic hour.
+1 I don't think you can get around the fact that the shadows will be in the wrong place, but perhaps your client is not worried about that
SMASSH STUDIO
Posts: 1,019
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, US
natural beauties of qld wrote: +1 I don't think you can get around the fact that the shadows will be in the wrong place, but perhaps your client is not worried about that
Shadows are just as easy to create as highlights are.
There is a way that you can add colored lighting to a photo after the fact. It is a sidelight or backlight or a stage light kind of look. It adds a lighting glow to the edges of your images like hair or the side of the face or the arms etc.
The Photoshop Steps: Make a blank transparent layer above your base image. Then take any soft white brush and set it to a soft edge and make it fairly large in the center of the frame. Do this at 100% opacity and you will now see an opaque soft white feathered circle on top of the the image at this point.
Next: the visual trick comes in with going to the layers pallet and setting that transparent layer to the "overlay blending mode" so that it now becomes a flashlight or bright sunlight look. You can also set the blend mode to softlight blend mode later on for a softer effect.
The yellow/orange coloring and morning look will come from creating a Hue,Saturation, Luminance andjusment layer above this transparent layer and adjusting the HSL so it creates the color of light that you want. One other important thing: You will want to CLIP this HSL adjustment layer to the previous layer by alt or option clicking in the layers pallet are between the 2 layers...this creates 2 small circles with an arrow between the 2 layers when you do this. The clipping step makes sure that the HSL layer ONLY affects just the layer below...and not the whole image. Now you can adjust the HSL settings and make any color of light that you would like. So, reduce the luminance value a little first, crank up the saturation value to 100%, and then move the hue slider till your soft white circle now becomes a yellow or orange transparent spotlight.
You can now move the white circle to anywhere in the image...it has now become sun yellow...and it is a transparent highlight look...so it looks like morning sunlight hitting the edge of the face or hair.
You dont need to leave it a circle...you can make this colored light any shape you want. Just hit Command or control T to get a free transform box. Then pull the circle so it is a thin, narrow oval or just a thin thread in size and shape. This light yellow effect will now just be applied to the side of the face approximating a morning sun glow, or will light up the hair like yellow sun was shining on it.
You can add a mask to that layer too and you can shape the light to fit around the hair or face or cheeks or arms etc for a more realistic look.
I can do a short video tutorial for you if you cant easily follow this word based tutorial well. Just ask and I will create one and place it here for you. Its pretty easy.
Some elements of this technique are illustrated in a Before and after image at my port. Its a bit different...but its the same concept. Im using blue light instead of your yellow light...and im limiting it to the side of the face and chin and to the dark highlights in the hair. In your case...my blue lights here will become orange sunset highlights in your image on the side of the face and in the hair.
You can sometime change some elements of the image itself with a clipped HSL or color balance adjustment layer and further warm up parts of the image to match the sunset look.
Graphirus wrote: but I'm getting paid to achieve this effect and seems sooo wrong to get the money just for moving a slider a few notches! lol
A nice mercedes pulls into a service station making a horrible racket and belching stinking blue clouds of exhaust. The owner is distraught, but the mechanic on duty says he can take care of it while the customer waits.
A while later, the mechanic presents the bill. Fearing a 3- or 4-digit figure, the owner is relieved to see $50 on the invoice. He pays it, then asks what was wrong.
"Your c-19 screw needed to be tightened a quarter-turn," the mechanic answered.
The customer becomes irate, asking why he paid $50 for the mechanic to just turn a screw. The mechanic replies, "You're not paying me to turn a screw. You're paying me to know which screw to turn, and how far to turn it."
You're a professional, not a laborer. You get paid based on what you know, not what you do.
Mask Photo wrote: A nice mercedes pulls into a service station making a horrible racket and belching stinking blue clouds of exhaust. The owner is distraught, but the mechanic on duty says he can take care of it while the customer waits.
A while later, the mechanic presents the bill. Fearing a 3- or 4-digit figure, the owner is relieved to see $50 on the invoice. He pays it, then asks what was wrong.
"Your c-19 screw needed to be tightened a quarter-turn," the mechanic answered.
The customer becomes irate, asking why he paid $50 for the mechanic to just turn a screw. The mechanic replies, "You're not paying me to turn a screw. You're paying me to know which screw to turn, and how far to turn it."
You're a professional, not a laborer. You get paid based on what you know, not what you do.
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