# How to achieve a certain 'look' in a photograph?



## Sarmad (Oct 31, 2016)

There are some photographers out there which have a particular beautiful soft and dim (natural) lightning in almost all of their images. Some of the examples are:

HEADHUNTERZ (@headhunterz) • Instagram photos and videos
Garrett King (@shortstache) • Instagram photos and videos
Rachel Barkman (@rachelbarkman) • Instagram photos and videos

Now all these photographers have a dark yet well lightened environment in their images, when I first stumbled across these guys I thought they just shot in overcast and damp conditions and that's what gives their photographs a 'melancholic' look. But that was until I realized even their indoor and sunny outdoor photos have a melancholic vibe which just can't be there in natural light. 

Now I feel there are certain photo editing techniques which yield such images, like there have to be certain _temperature/white balance/contrast/saturation_ parameters for each type of weather and lightning. I'd really appreciate it if someone could help me out on how to achieve such 'vibes' in a photograph, whether through editing or shooting.


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## Ysarex (Oct 31, 2016)

Make image darker than normal BUT remove any trace of black and clip the diffuse highlights. This can be done in LR with the Curves control. Push the bottom left corner of the curve up then pull the middle of the curve down and pull the top right corner over to the left. Reduce overall saturation for the photo. LR has a split-tone tool that is commonly used in these type photos to colorize them -- used in the above example.

This is definitely a post-process effect. You can get plugins and filters that will accomplish this and/or similar effects -- often referred to as matte black. It is not available in-camera as the camera manufactures all work to adjust their camera processors to generate good results.

Joe


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## Sarmad (Oct 31, 2016)

Ysarex said:


> View attachment 129607
> 
> 
> Make image darker than normal BUT remove any trace of black and clip the diffuse highlights. This can be done in LR with the Curves control. Push the bottom left corner of the curve up then pull the middle of the curve down and pull the top right corner over to the left. Reduce overall saturation for the photo. LR has a split-tone tool that is commonly used in these type photos to colorize them -- used in the above example.
> ...



Thank you so much, can't wait to try it.


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## KmH (Oct 31, 2016)

The haze created in the first and 3rd links you posted can be done using a quite simple Curves adjustment in Photoshop or Lightroom.


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