fxMatter wrote:
To me it looks like the shadow is being affected. I would go
Adjustments- Color Balance
Click the shadow option under tone balance and adjust the sliders.

I just tested with one of my photos and you're right about the shadow, but how was the "washed out" kook (skin, set, look) achieved while still keeping the blues (and all other colors) dark and crisp?

ChristopherArter wrote:
Destructively, you could go to Image > Adjustments > Curves, then place a handle about 1/5th from the left, then drag the farthest handle left up a few ticks and watch the blacks of the image lighten up slightly.

Looks like the blacks are slightly cooled, so they probably jumped over to the blue channel of the curve window and did the same thing.

Or to do this non-destructively, press ctrl+shift+n and then do what you said.

Houston Costa wrote:

I just tested with one of my photos and you're right about the shadow, but how was the "washed out" kook (skin, set, look) achieved while still keeping the blues (and all other colors) dark and crisp?

Can you show us before/after on your image?

Charlie-CNP wrote:
technically, I don't really see much post work on the images you posted at all. It states that the shoes are Prada, in which most of the folks shooting for industry are shooting medium format for that really nice light sensitivity for starters. From there it is about picking the right model, the right setting, the right wardrobe, having an awesome MUA/hair, and knowing how to properly expose a photograph for the mood/tone that you desire for the campaign. If it was digital, the WB was most likely taken down to around 2000-3000k in camera to bring out those cool/white blue tones further. My guess though is that they may have potentially even used something like portra 160 film to get those colors as vibrantly saturated as they are right from the get go. This particular film is balanced for daylight which could easily produce those tones if you could manipulate the color of light on your subject.

Good point, I shoot the new Portra 160 and 400 in 135 and MF a lot and it does tend to look like that.

fxMatter wrote:
To me it looks like the shadow is being affected. I would go
Adjustments- Color Balance
Click the shadow option under tone balance and adjust the sliders.

Hm. The Color Balance adjustment (even with the shadows selected) is still a pretty global affecting tool.  I don't think it's ever going to provide various more selective, local color adjustments, which is what might be more required in this instance.

Houston Costa wrote:
I just tested with one of my photos and you're right about the shadow, but how was the "washed out" kook (skin, set, look) achieved while still keeping the blues (and all other colors) dark and crisp?

A simple mask would do it.

Houston Costa wrote:
I just tested with one of my photos and you're right about the shadow, but how was the "washed out" kook (skin, set, look) achieved while still keeping the blues (and all other colors) dark and crisp?

Lifting the shadow end of the blue channel (in curves) wouldn't wash out the blue, it would enhance it. In the target image you linked to, the darkest shadows in the suit are well above 20 in the blue channel.



Here's an example starting with an image that has true blacks in the shadows. There's nothing special about your target image; it's just a curves adjustment.