Post Processing: Blending
 

I stumbled across this earlier this morning while doing a quick trawl of some of my favourite photographers on Flickr and thought some might be interested.

This guy, Will Stern, is my favourtite automotive photographer at the moment (Sorry Jan...!). Ive always been incredibly impressed with how much post processing he does to achieve the great shots he puts out, but never really knew how he went about doing it all.

Then i found this little example hes put up on a photography forum.

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3643/3488290271_e3bc6225c6_b.jpg[/img]

Essentially, hes set up the tripod with the desired composition, then goes about taking numerous different shots moving his flashes around to light up every part of the car to avoid shadows and harsh reflections. Then jumps in to Photoshop, and starting with a base background shot (usually with only ambient lighting) goes about cutting "strips" off each shot, combining them, and smoothing them out with layer masks to achieve this...

[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3656/3484867936_f744bd2397_b.jpg[/img]

Admittedly, this particular example comes out a little fake looking, probably because the lighting on the wall behind is so different to the car, but its very hard to fault a lot of his other shots.

For the more experienced photographers here, that all may be pretty obvious. But ive just started to experiment with blending different exposures and polarisation, so this is the next level. Figured some of the photography noobs like myself might find this interesting.

You can check out Will Sterns work at:

[url]www.flickr.com/photos/360forged/[/url]
[url]www.flickr.com/photos/Great_one/[/url]
[url]www.flickr.com/photos/systemforged/[/url]

Time to get me some flashes i think.

Another example:

Base Background:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3610/3453393240_7979cf74f1_b.jpg[/img]

Fill Shots:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3374/3452578659_bef22cfdc0_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3660/3452578381_7a7e5af1ea_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/3453392222_140b501e41_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3308/3453391856_a9e6a6b89f_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3575/3452577073_d0e7072cb3_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3453391258_17ac02b4dc_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3375/3452576383_b06e66250e_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3358/3452575935_910ed2da96_b.jpg[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3651/3453390034_c1861c744d_b.jpg[/img]

And the end result:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3404/3450328605_8f6b378bcb_b.jpg[/img]

Very cool.....i would never have the patience to do something like that.

You also dont realise how much work actually goes into creating an awesome photo....although the amount of photoshop work he uses, im not sure you can call it a photo anymore!

ahh so that's how you get that terrible, doesn't fit into its surroundings look!

He could save time by buying more stobes.

[QUOTE=werticusness;389978]ahh so that's how you get that terrible, doesn't fit into its surroundings look!

He could save time by buying more stobes.[/QUOTE]

Note, he shoots for wheel companies. Hes highlighting the cars and the wheels its showcasing, not the surroundings. They're just a bonus. He achieves that goal perfectly.

Want to see an angry photog?? Bump his tripod mid shoot.. and THEN you'll see an angry photog :)

Just reminds me of a bad photoshop job where the lighting does not match the rest of the photo... Its interesting technique for sure, but I dont care for the result. It could probably be used in a more subtle way to better effect with no one the wiser.

I think the final result looks great.

Interesting but too fake if you ask me

lol, since when are photo images for advertising media realistic and made up of a single shot frame?

[QUOTE=Craig_H;390178]lol, since when are photo images for advertising media realistic and made up of a single shot frame?[/QUOTE]

i never added the "for advertising media" bit into my response. I said "too fake if you ask me" which means I wouldnt do so much post processing on an image...ie I preffer more realistic shots with minimal post processing. Each to their own i guess

^ everyone is entitled to there opinion, personally I like them :)

Grave digger!!!!
 

Anyone have a new link or a copy of those photos that have been removed since this was posted?

I've googled like crazy and can't seem to find them any more.

Will Stern still uploads most of his latest work to those Flickr links at the bottom of my first post. If you cant find them there, hes a member on the mycanikon photography forum, but hes changed his username that many times ive no idea what hes operating under these days. You'll find him if you search hard enough though.

yeah I looked through his Flickr album, but there were 150 odd pages, and of the heap I went through I couldn't see any of the cuts, only finished pieces.
But I'll have a look on that forum, thanks Blair.