Hyper Real Lighting

[Doc-G]

Been looking around the net recently and found a fair bit of stuff that I like. I reckon I need to learn LOTS more about lighting for what I want to achieve. I am after what has been described as the Dave Hill look (see: Dave Hill Photo) or lighting described as 'Hyper Real' which can be seen here: ++ Taylor Christian Jones Commercial Photographer ++ Birmingham, AL and his flickr site: Hyper Real Lighting - a set on Flickr

I know that a lot is done in post production in CS3 and that is not the part that I am worried about at this stage but I'm wondering if anybody here know how to achieve some of the lighting setups that these people use?

Any advice or pointers to useful references would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

G

[billkay]

You might want to read through a few of the entries at Strobist. They have a lot of very solid information to help you get this type of look. Strobist

[Doc-G]

Thanks for the info.

G

[kgphoto]

Mostly looks like one light from the front two from the back and then desaturate.

[Jimmyz]

Dave hills photos get that unique look from "Lucis" a photoshop plug-in.

[Doc-G]

Thanks again for the input. All is appreciated!

G

[J kacey]

Originally Posted by Jimmyz

Dave hills photos get that unique look from "Lucis" a photoshop plug-in.

Where did you hear that?

[Jimmyz]

The Lucis look is something you become very familiar with when you own the software.

[J kacey]

So because you use some plug-in to try to copy his style you assume that is what he uses ? Then you tell the world in a open forum this is what Dave uses with nothing to back up your claims? Come on now..... He gets his "look" from his lighting set up and being a very talented digital artist.

[J kacey]

Originally Posted by Doc-G

I'm wondering if anybody here know how to achieve some of the lighting setups that these people use?
G

Have you watched Dave's behind the scenes video's on his site?

[Doc-G]

I get the impression I need some back lighting. I've seen some of the vids on you tube and on his site. He seems to use a couple of lights behind the subject at 45 degrees behind and then some lighting in front. One video he had a softbox and what looked to be a handheld ringlight. I'm wondering if I could use maybe the sun as a backlight and two strobes as my frontlights.

Similarly, for indoors, I have two elinchrom DLite 4's. I'm wondering if I would be able to use the elinchroms as backlights and then fire off a SB800 and 600 front the front.

I've seen some pretty cool results however on the strobist website. Not exactly Dave Hill but still pretty cool. These are all done just with mounted flashes on light stands. This allows you to take your lighting set up outside too.

Either way, I've got a few ideas I want to try but need the time to do it. The post processing is another kettle of fish, but I reckon that lighting is the most important aspect of his work.

G

[J kacey]

Maybe find a friend that has some more lights to add to the mix and a pure sine generator or a few Vagabond 2's.
I think were most people fail is trying to substitute or skimp on the lighting.

[Doc-G]

This is the sort of thing I am after. I have also posted this in the portrait/people forum. I hope this is ok but it is pertinent to this thread.

Cheers,

G

[Jimmyz]

Thats Lucis

[jidé]

Originally Posted by Jimmyz

Thats Lucis

That's not the Dave Hill photo's look !

[Jimmyz]

Do you own Lucis?
The final processing is either very high contrast or lucis.

[HighMark Adventures]

Well Dave Hill said on his interview over at the strobist said that he uses 8 lights for his setups. He also said he is looking to try and cut back a few lights in the future (that was in 2008 )

So my theory is he needs to over light(if that makes sense)his subjects to be able to achieve his high contrast/poppy look in photoshop. And there is a lot more to it than just lighting and a sharpened highpass filter layer lol which a lot of people think it is in their attempts to duplicate his style. . Yes I am a fan of this style of photography.

Now go here and check out this guy Bill Simone explanation and pictures on how he did it. Enjoy!

http://www.billsimonephotography.com/wordpress/?p=28

[PHILL]

God only uses one light and lots of reflectors, he doesn't do to bad

[Wilade]

Also check out Gary Land. A lot of his work is hyper-realistic.

Gary Land Photography - Gary Land Photography

Also do a search for him on YouTube, he has a few behind the scenes videos that are real interesting.

Len

[billkay]

I have a few shots with various degrees of faux Lucis Effect scattered on my site. I get the effect seen there in Lightroom. www.billkonway.com, Bill Konway’s Photography Blog Blog Archive New Look? Well, Maybe…

Recently I've been using a lot of bare bulb, direct flash in order to achieve a higher level of contrast. Most of my work is outdoors and I use speedlights and a battery operated lumedyne type system.