nanaval Loc: Cornwall

Thanks minniev, I have the nik and topaz collection which I use a lot. Photomatix Pro 5.0, Imagenomic and lightroom.. I like the gritty look and have a biker friend so I took some pictures of him and his wife and wanted to try and do his in the gritty look. I have posted some pictures...

nanaval Loc: Cornwall

Thanks boberic, I will look for some books.... :D

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Good news, you have all you need! Only practice is required. You can get as good at it as you'd like. I'm attaching a quickie done in NIK Silver Efex, just to give you a rough idea. This is rather tame version, you can take it as far as you'd like. Here's the quickie recipe for what I did here: Pick a preset on the left that looks like a good starting place, not too extreme (I used Push Process), then go to the right and tune it with control points or the brush, to get shadows, highlights where you want, and work with contrast and clarity to bring out detail and begin "grunging" it a bit. Then pick a film effect that accentuates what you are trying to do, and work with the color sliders in the films. Go back up top and do anything else you need to do globally or with control points to shape it up further. Some will benefit from the colored filter buttons, but I tried them on this one but didn't use them. Then go into your toning buttons and tinker till you find any toning you might want. This is just the default, ramped up a bit. 15 more minutes of work would yield a better product, and the more you pay attention to detail the better it would get, but only you know how much time you're willing to invest. (For instance, this one needs some different or more adjustment to the lighter areas on his nose and cheeks and some attention to the background among other things). Some pros and dedicated amateurs spend hours on one image.

(Download)

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

Here is my go at it.

(Download)


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SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

nanaval, what you are after is a style that was popularized by Joel Grimes and a few others. Here on the Hog, three that use it very effectively are Pale, The Captain and Graham.
It's a multi-step process of desaturation and sharpening using masks, not a filter. You'll need PS.
Pale sells a course that will get you exactly what you are after. I'm sure Pale's price is very reasonable and will save you years of trial and error. It will work great for your biker.
Do a search for the later three.
Grimes is world famous and works mostly in desaturated color. Hope this helps, good luck. ;-)
SS

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

Not sure on what you actually wish to end up with but I did this with Nik Silver Efex in about 3 minutes.

(Download)

nanaval Loc: Cornwall

Thank you very much minniev, Looks good. I will have a go, I do not mind spending time on a picture as I do a lot of composites and will rework them till I am happy... I may not get the look I want as I have only seen it on dark skinned older men. Might not be as much of an impact on light skin.. Thank you again for your help...

nanaval Loc: Cornwall

Thank you very much Bill, looks good. I will have a go and keep practising.. :D

nanaval Loc: Cornwall

Thank you very much SS for the info and I will look into it about the course and take a look at their work.. :D

nanaval Loc: Cornwall

Thank you very much lighthouse, looks good. I have not tried Silver Effects so will have a go... :D

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

I think will discover, as might already have, working in a canned program, will effect all the areas equal for a given spectrum. Where as working layers, and dodging and burning will give rise to selected areas. I.E. the eyes in the darkest (black holes) what I did were cut and pasted for your original copy and then treated separately in last layer. I should have perhaps worked them a little different, but I wanted to get it up.

This thread should have been in the http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/s-116-1.html section.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Ask here or in the PP section if you run into a challenge. Remember that you can use Silver Efex within photoshop and access layers and brushes, which make fine tuning much easier. He can get darker if you want, you just have to work with the color slider, but there is a limit before he'll start looking strange.

Bill Houghton Loc: New York area

Here is one in color ready to go to B&W. This was done in Topaz Adjust, then reapplied four times. Then created a duplicate layer, made a Levels Adjustment till I got to level I wanted in the back ground, then used the eraser tool over the face and badges to bring them back where I wanted them. Now all you have do is play with it in black and white till yu get it where you want it. This is my last one. I wish you luck and have fun.

(Download)

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

DXO sells excellent filter packs that simulate not only the grain structure, but the spectral response of various film emulsions.

http://www.dxo.com/us/photography/photo-software/dxo-filmpack?gclid=CjwKEAjwtr6sBRDv7uzB492H9XISJADj6aqbXOc-V-S63OT3p96BemRg6ERv1SFqCFVniedbOwngSBoCWhDw_wcB

I've not seen a better, more complete (30 film simulations, 90 creative effect presets) and easier to use plug-in.

tpelczy

is this grunge enough?