Tim cook portrait

[6mon]

Hi all,

 

I'm very impressed but this portrait of Tim Cook by Joe Pugliese. Particularly by the colors. I was wondering how it was done. I'm new to portrait photography so it's not clear to me what's the setup employed. I imagine a softbox and reflector... But what part is due to post processing? Is the beige color added afterwards or was it the lighting? Or even the background?

 

What's your opinion?

 

Thanks

 

Simon

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[Jaypoc]

I'd say there was very little post-processing to this image.

[andrewlee]

To me it seems like a window light.

I think there is some split toning going on as I imagine the wall in reality was white.

[Fredkelder]

Such ugly rendering is easy to do in a few minutes of PP. VSCO and others have a long list of mannered presets for lazy photographers. It recreates all these spoiled pictures from the film era.

We always miss a part of our childhood.

[Phil]

To me it seems like a window light.

I think there is some split toning going on as I imagine the wall in reality was white.

 

 

I agree. I'm guessing window light with some sort of reflector, or maybe a larger softbox. The catchlights in his eyes make it look like some kind of square light source.

 

I think there was a fair amount of processing going on. It definitely has that VSCO look. Looks like there was some split toning used to warm up the highlights and make them a pastel yellow colour, and it looks like he used the tone curve to crush the blacks and whites to flatten the image.

 

Colour-wise, it looks pretty natural (as far as the HSL balance goes, not counting white balance or the split toning), and it looks like he pushed the vibrance and maybe desaturated the image slightly. It looks like he added grain, too.

 

Long story short: VSCO preset.  I really like the portrait, but I'm not a fan of the look he went for with his processing.

Edited March 20, 2016 by Phil

[6mon]

Thanks for all your answers.

VCSO preset, really?

Had it been with a white background, with the color of the shirt, hair and everything, it would have been very cold. I like this portrait because it make Tim Cook someone warm, human, and trustworthy. 

It terms of marketing (that's my job) it's perfect.

I have to shoot portraits of 20 professionals soon and I need them to look like serious specialists in their field while remaining human, accessible and trustworthy.

So... VSCO preset? If it's a preset then I should be able to do it without the preset Split toning and softboxes, that's a start point. I'll try to reproduce that before I go shoot my clients. Thank you all for your helpful comments.