# Can you help me replicate this photography aesthetic



## Jrad54 (Sep 8, 2016)

Hi! Can you lend some tips and insights into achieving this overal look. Some tips in-camera and in Lightroom VSCO PS would be great 

Lex / Mr. Gumbatron ☕ (@mrgumbatron) • Instagram photos and videos


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## tirediron (Sep 8, 2016)

What is it about them that you want to emulate; other than perhaps a slight reduction in saturation, and a tendency toward a lot of whites, I don't see anything distinctive about them.


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## zombiesniper (Sep 8, 2016)

Yup agree with above. The only other rule I can see this photographer using "If it's not white, it's brown."


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## Jrad54 (Sep 8, 2016)

The blown out whites while still keeping everything else fairly flat is what I think I'm wanting to achieve. If that makes sense.


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## PersistentNomad (Sep 8, 2016)

It looks like he's probably applying the same Insta filter to all of them, and he works hard on keeping his photos limited to the same palette. It looks like the filter he's using bumps up clarity a lot and knocks down contrast, creating the crisp lines and the flatter tonality. Definitely looks like saturation is being dropped back for things that aren't brown. Possibly he's also moving the temp slightly toward blue and the tint even more slightly toward magenta.
But mostly, I think it's really in his choice of palette for his photos. They all have the same colors and all get cleaned up nicely with that one filter.


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## Braineack (Sep 8, 2016)

Just search your app store for: "really bad filter gallery"

I'm sure it's in there.


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## KmH (Sep 8, 2016)

?
Your profile says "Photos OK to edit".


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## Jrad54 (Sep 8, 2016)

Braineack said:


> Just search your app store for: "really bad filter gallery"
> 
> I'm sure it's in there.



Woah dude calm down. Your profile pretty clearly says "Photos Ok To Edit" and I slapped a filter on a great pic which turned it awful to confirm your comment.


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## pixmedic (Sep 8, 2016)

Jrad54 said:


> Braineack said:
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> > Just search your app store for: "really bad filter gallery"
> ...



photos OK to edit are for pictures someone posts in the forum for critique. its meant for people to show what they would have done differently with a photo other than how it was posted. 
you lifted that photo from elsewhere, as it was NOT posted by Braineack in this thread. 
no bueno man.
your lucky all I did was delete the post, and not drop a temporary ban on you for infringing on Braineacks copyrights.


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## table1349 (Sep 8, 2016)

Just in case..........


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## Jrad54 (Sep 8, 2016)

pixmedic said:


> Jrad54 said:
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> > Braineack said:
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Oh look another forum that takes itself way to serious and where big contributors own the place and make new members feel unwelcome and stupid. 

Won't be returning or recommending. ✌️


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## pixmedic (Sep 8, 2016)

Jrad54 said:


> pixmedic said:
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no, were just a forum that takes ownership and usage of photographs seriously. 
maybe your ok with stealing pictures for your own use, but we arent.


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## Jrad54 (Sep 8, 2016)

pixmedic said:


> Jrad54 said:
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Are you actually serious? Look, lock it up. We obviously ain't a good fit. But please be mindful that this "attitude" that fills so many forums is damaging long term to your user base. 

No one is curing cancer here after all. ✌️


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## pixmedic (Sep 8, 2016)

Jrad54 said:


> pixmedic said:
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serious about protecting our members photographic rights? 
serious as a myocardial infarction my friend. 
if thats the "attitude" that fills so many forums, and you dont have any respect for other members work, then I can definitely see
where you wouldnt be a good fit. 
if you really cant see/understand  the problem with what you did, im afraid theres nothing else I can say that will help, but thats simply how
it is here. so far, respect for our members work has not managed to damage our user base in any meaningful way.


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## PersistentNomad (Sep 8, 2016)

@Jrad54 Look, I get it. You asked a legitimate question and got a snarky answer, so your response was to flippantly slap a "really bad filter" on one of his images. But, that's not cool becuase 1. he didn't ask you to provide a constructive critique or edit of that photo and 2. you made no mention whatsoever in the original post of that photo that it was his. And THAT is super not cool. I thought it was one of yours, and therein lies a serious problem. 
Don't get mad at the mod for enforcing the rules of the forum; its not their fault you didn't read or correctly understand them. And as a noob here myself, I've found this forum to be mostly supportive and thoughtful in the feedback I receive, and I try to be the same way. It's a public forum on the internet, there are going to be snarky posts and if you let each one of those get your panties in a twist you will never find a community you're happy with. Just relax a little and accept responsibility for what was a serious breach of intellectual copyright etiquette.


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## Braineack (Sep 10, 2016)

This seriously took me about 2min in LR:






Not the same lighting conditions, but a similar shot in NYC to this:

Instagram photo by Lex / Mr. Gumbatron ☕ • Sep 5, 2016 at 1:14am UTC


first thing I did was completely desaturate the yellows to -100.
then slide the red hue to +50 (look at the red stoplight in his image)
I moved point curve to "Strong Contrast"
Increased Contrast to +15
I bumped the clarity to +40
Increased the exposure by +1EV
then added in shadows to +90 since my original image was dark.

I'd say It's pretty close.


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## nerwin (Sep 11, 2016)

Braineack said:


> This seriously took me about 2min in LR:
> 
> View attachment 127337
> 
> ...



It almost kind of mimics a cold winter day. I already feel cold looking at it. Haha.


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## Braineack (Sep 11, 2016)

it was actually snowing in my pic, but you can click the link and see what I was trying to match.


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## Tim Tucker (Sep 11, 2016)

Braineack said:


> This seriously took me about 2min in LR:
> 
> I'd say It's pretty close.



I'd say it was a lot easier than that. Check out the trees and shadows in your linked image, they're blocked or compressed. There is plenty of saturation in the colours as well but just in a narrow band (including yellow), check the clothes of the pedestrians.  The mids and highlights are pushed towards white.


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## Braineack (Sep 12, 2016)

I disagree.  You're tell me there's plenty of saturation in this shot or this shot?

Look how bright the H&M sign is now.   Look at the first image I linked, look at the red-lights -- they are a muted yellow.

Look how pale the taxi cabs, umbrellas, sky looks in the first shot I linked in this post.   Look how nasty the skin tones look in the second shot linked here.

This is not a simply curves adjustment.


here's another of one of my random street shots:







Let's just add your curve:








It looks NOTHING like what this guy is doing to his shots.  It's may be a good place to start (like I said I adjusted the curves in a similar manner) but there's a lot more to it.


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## Tim Tucker (Sep 12, 2016)

LOL, we having a discussion about how to create an instagram filter. 
I see your point, there is more going on especially in the last you linked to. 

What you just did is not what I did. I did the curves in photoshop, not in raw or lightroom, and if you adjust the luminosity channel only and not push the colour contrast the way lightroom does, (helps having an image in the same light), you get this, which is not a million miles away, especially when you clip the black point some.



 

If you really want to mess up the colours then split toning is usually popular :


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## Braineack (Sep 12, 2016)

ah yes, that's looking closer.

but yeah, im loling here too


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## SquarePeg (Sep 12, 2016)

When did they move the yellow light to the top?


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## Tim Tucker (Sep 12, 2016)

SquarePeg said:


> When did they move the yellow light to the top?



It was first invented in Greece at around 1965 where right of way is decided by being first there, and expanded to other european counties, (except England who like queuing). It crossed the pond to the USA in around 1981, "the light was _yellow_ officer...."


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