CASE STUDY 2
high end hair advertising key visual | concept, retouch & colorization
This image has been kindly provided by beauty and fashion photographer Armin Morbach.
final image
general idea / briefing
The concept for this campaign was to let the model's "twin" in the mirror wear the new SYOSS color shades inspired by Pantone.
First, the skin had to be retouched in a very natural and subtle way, taking out temporary imperfections while retaining the natural skin texture. Second, the overlapping hair of the two models had to be separated with precise masks. With these masks I could create the effect invisibly, leaving no traces.
first step - raw conversion in Capture One Pro
Every professional image starts in Capture One, my go-to software for raw conversion. Here I created a fairly neutral conversion with good balance in all tonal ranges. Using all the information in the raw file, color shifts and tonal inconsistencies can already be taken care of at this stage.
A neutral conversion, with no color grading applied, is the perfect base. It keeps the final look flexible, because my workflow in Adobe Photoshop stays non-destructive in the retouching stage.
second step - markup & notes
As you can see in the markup and visual notes, these areas need to be retouched and adjusted. The brief is clear: some areas of hair need to be filled up, single hairs and strands need to be removed or smoothed, and the model's face needs very subtle retouching. You can already see the color reference for the twin in the mirror.
third step - clean up and dodging & burning
The skin is retouched in a very natural way, only taking out texture that is not smooth and comes from temporary imperfections. The main focus lies on a flawless and healthy hair structure. Since a colorization from blonde to golden brown is briefed, I need to make sure the new color does not emphasize any distracting cross hairs or holes in the hair.
Besides pixel work and filling gaps with texture from this or other source images, non-destructive techniques such as dodging and burning (painting with light) keep the original hair structure while enhancing the overall appearance.
fourth step - precise masking, color correction and colorization of the hair, recreating a realistic hair outline
Exact, detailed masks of the models' hair are the key to a believable and realistic result, especially along the hair outline of both models. Only then is the colorization applied to the right areas, and it can still be changed with ease later. In the close-up of the two heads you can see the natural, clean outline.
The hair color is adjusted to the reference of the hair product brand. In this case both hairstyles were matched to a reference provided by the brand.
fifth step - introducing a flexible and subtle grain finish
To give the final image a natural, convincing look and feel, I add a very subtle and flexible grain layer that adapts automatically to any format change or crop. I use my own grain patterns on individual adjustment layers, extracted from original analogue film.
The final image can now be delivered to the client.
a similar project in mind?
Let's talk: mail@janwischermann.de