Andrzej Dragan Technique

[phyllis stewart]

See larger views, and more examples, here:
http://www.photo.net/photodb/member-pho ... _id=774124

Here's a neat technique! Really gives a photo intensity and extra interest, doesn't it! Can you see what Anrdzej Dragan did to create the artsy look on these pictures?

Your challenge is to duplicate this style on one or more of these photos:
http://www.pbase.com/pstewart/tech1

Do at least one (more if you like!) and afterwards, if you would like to show us the same look on a photo of your own choosing, post/link the result and the original photo. Note: If you are uploading your work here, please post only a small low quality jpeg of the original, but post a nice big one of your finished work.

[Blacknight]

What I see as his style is almost a duotone or tritone, low saturation, rather dark image, but still quite a bit of difference between the light and dark areas. I found it hard to duplicate. I used lots of curves and hue/sat.

[pix crazy]

Blacknight, I really like what you have achieved. I agree. For something that looks like it should be fairly easy to achieve, I just did not get it lol.

I also used a lot of curves, as well as changing blending modes on duplicate layers and masking out areas especially the skin. Mostly it was just a lot of playing around. So this is what i wound up with..oh so far from duplicating the style.

[phyllis stewart]

Sky, I love the richness and intensity here!

But an overall treatment isn't going to recreate the look.

Remember the hint...well, more than just a hint... Use two particular hand tools, one more than the other, it appears. That's all you need. No curves or filters at all. And here's a real "hint"...these two tools are related.

[Blacknight]

Dodge and burn. I thought of that, but wanted to try it with curves and hue/sat. I still think it's possible - just that I'm not there yet.

[phyllis stewart]

Yes, Phil, dodge and burn do it! The reason why you have to use hand tools is that only certain areas, certain shadows and highlights, are changed. The rest of the pic stays the same. So anything that affects the whole picture, like curves, isn't going to give the result he gets here.

Part of it too, I think, is deciding which areas to emphasize with exaggerated shadows and highlights. Of course he probably also lowers saturation to begin on many/most of these, since dodge and burn also add saturation. If you work on a dupe layer in luminosity mode the saturation change won't be a problem, which is good advice for retouching, but not here, unless there is too much increase in color. Saturation differences here are not "a problem" but rather part of the look, just like the unrealistic tonal extremes place for emphasis. All in all, a simple yet effective way to add mood and intensity to a photo.

[Joy_CA]

I have been working on this for a while, the following are some of my tries.....Joy

Grumpy

Happy

History3

[phyllis stewart]

Joy, great job!

I especially like Grumpy! Wherever did you get that terrific photo in the first place? I have been using the free photos from Usenet News posted at gal.mvc.ru...thanks so much for telling us about it! Did Grumpy come from there? I don't recall seeing him.

[Joy_CA]

Phyllis, the picture was posted on another forum...hopefully, it's OK to post it. There were several, they all came from Getty Images. They were used in a challenge.

Joy

Hold your cursor over 'Creative'
gettyimages.com

[Pam]

I've been trying to play around with his technique for a long time now. On this I did some channel blending, color adjustments, "light painting" and a touch of liquify:

http://www.pbase.com/pam_r/image/36087921

[Pam]

Phyllis, I hope you don't mind if I Draganize your uncle. I think it really works well with this technique:

http://www.pbase.com/pam_r/image/36113076.jpg

[phyllis stewart]

Pam, please do!

[Pam]

Hi Phyllis,

Here's the Draganized Uncle Pip. The large version is here:

http://www.pbase.com/pam_r/image/36166393

Thanks to you and Uncle Pip for letting me play!

Pam

[phyllis stewart]

Pam, that is awesome! Can't wait to show it to him!

[Damien]

Hello Phyllis and Pam,
This is my first post on the forums, so it's nice to meet you. I've been hoping to identify this man's technique for ages, but with no success. Finally I've come across this forum. It's excellent. I'll spend a lot of time here in the future.
Would you, Pam, be kind enough to give me a more detailed description of how you achieved this effect? I think it's remarkable.
Thanks,
Damien.


http://www.okado-gough.co.uk

[Pam]

Hi Damien,

Thank you for the kind words. Here are a couple of explanations I wrote for another site describing how I achieved this look, along with several more "Dragan"-type threads for you to explore:

My "Dragan" techniques:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=11122531

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=11038242

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=11012306

More Dpreview Dragan-type threads:

This link is to a psd file illustrating Freelancer54's Dragan technique:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=10827223

From the Photoshop Techniques forum:

http://photoshoptechniques.com/forum/sh ... ge=1&pp=10

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... ge=9643396.

Scroll down to Dr Pepper's post. Also, "ap" has an action called "Moody" available for downloading on their post:

http://www.photozo.com/forum/viewtopic. ... sc&start=0

There are also 2 Dragan-influenced actions available on this site. Scroll down to Kent Christiansen's "Grunge Effect" and Sharon Lee Core's "Draganizer":

http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm# ... hancements

You'll find many, many more posts if you search the DpReview Retouching Forum.

This should keep you busy for a little while! ; )

Have fun!
Pam

[phyllis stewart]

Welcome, Damien! Glad you plan to stick around!

Pam, you are a veritable treasure chest of knowledge and links...thanks so much!

[Damien]

Pam,
Your reply is both very kind and very comprehensive. I really appreciate the time you've spent on it and I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into it.
I'm still a rookie with regards to retouching, despite earning a decent reputation in Ireland as a news photographer. I'm leaving Ireland soonish and I'll be leaving behind news photography, so I'll be seeking refuge in doing it for the sheer passion of it. I do hope to get to know you all better as I grow my skills base.
Thanks again,
Damien.

[Damien]

Here's my attempt at Draganizing the pic of the man with the turban. I'd certainly appreciate any advice or comments that anyone might have.



http://homepage.ntlworld.com/damien.okado-gough/Turban1.jpg

[Sandra]

welcome Damien, great stuff. keep up the good work.

Wow Pam, what a wealth of information. it's great. thank you.

Sandra

[twinbnj]

This was very difficult. I had seen some of this work posted about and wanted to take a stab at the style. Read all the links listed here to help me try and get this--- Thank you!

Everyone has done a great job on a very difficult assignment.

Here is my attempt.



For LARGER VIEW CLICK HERE:http://www.pbase.com/mpdequalsyfsm/image/37506905/large

[phyllis stewart]

Jill, I like the golden almost metallic look you've acheived...turned out great.

[phyllis stewart]

I finally tried this one, inspired by Pepsi Santa.

Then I tried the ship that was given in the challenge itself:

http://www.pbase.com/pstewart/image/31623258

And here's the result:

http://www.pbase.com/image/37664219

[Joy_CA]

Phyllis, those are both wonderful, I especially love the ship. I, think you better put yourself in the HOF.

Joy

[twinbnj]

Phyllis - Pepsi Santa came out great --- but oooooooooh that ship is wonderful!
Yup I second the HOF vote for that one!

[Damien]

Phyllis,
The bearded man pic is excellent. How did you achive the fineness? Mines is clumsy and rough around the edges, but yours seems so trimmed and finely rounded. Is it brush size?

[phyllis stewart]

Thanks, Damien! Maybe brush size adds to the smoothness. I used a large soft round brush with a stylus on a slate, which allows you to adjust the size of the effect with pressure. But the overall softness most likely comes from the gaussian blur layer which I placed over it as a final step. There were two gblur layers, actually. The first was set to "soft light" blend mode, and the top one just to "normal" blend mode. Both were reduced in opacity.

[Pam]

Hi all,

I did a tutorial on "Painting with Light" which while not exactly what the great Andrzej Dragan does, is similar. I thought you might be interested in it. I describe the technique I used on this image (click on previous to see the original):

http://www.pbase.com/pam_r/image/37327034

This is the link to the zipped file, which contains a text description and the psd file. After you download, rename the file with a ".zip" extension:

http://homepage.mac.com/ekphotography/FileSharing5.html

Damien,
That's an excellent start. You just need to increase the "drama" a bit. Good work!

Jill,
You got it! Maybe you don't need this tut : )

Phyllis,
I don't think there's a technique out there that you haven't mastered. But maybe you'll pick up a tip or two in this tut. Both of those are excellent, but the Pepsi Santa is great! Very nice lighting.

Have fun!

Pam

[phyllis stewart]

Pam, wonderful "light" painting! And the tute has great detail...thanks!

Jorge, how about placing a link to Pam's tute along with a link to her sample pic in our Photo Art Tute forum!

[twinbnj]

Thank you very much Pam.

I downloaded the tut and see some very effective short cuts I could have used! This is a keeper.