# How do i acheive these effects? Been trying for almost two years!



## 4fontaine (Feb 11, 2014)

Hey there,

I've been blogging these styles of photos for about three years now and using lightroom occasionally for about the same period of time, but looking all over the internet and vain attempts to create my own presets to acheive these effects had had no results. For example, visit my tumblr below. Ignoring the black and white photos, pay close attention to the very white pictures and the very brown/dark grey pictures. I know that partially that the effect is acheived from having a setting and composition of similar colouring in the first place. But from using lightroom, it's clear to see that light room is capable of transforming an image into something completely different from where it was taken in terms of colour. Unlike putting a sepia filter over the top, you can see that different objects or sections in the images retain their own colour very well while the image on the whole still looks very white or dark brown/grey.

http://fresh-and-chips.tumblr.com << my blog, a mixture

http://hoyss.tumblr.com << extremities of browns and greys

http://meandmybentley.tumblr.com <<extremities of creams and whites

I would be eternally grateful to whoever could help me, I've taken so many photos on my Nikon D70 and havent been able to post a single one because I need to edit them accordingly to how I want them as mentioned above. On my own blog, click the 'originals' and 'gt5' links in the sidebar- they are the best results (using a mixture of my own photog work and photos taken off the internet with permission) I have acheived so far using lightroom but I can't get it right!

Thank you in advance.


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## clee01l (Feb 11, 2014)

Welcome to the forum. I'm not sure what "look" you are wanting to achieve.  In this example: 



The result is heavily photoshopped with layers and other processing "gimmicks" that are not available in LR. 

The same is true with this image:


A peek at the EXIF included with the image above says that it too was processed using Photoshop.  Although a lot of the image manipulation appears to be desaturation adjustments that are also available in LR's HSL panel. 

You do not specify, but you need to be shooting in RAW to preserve the dynamic range. Otherwise the in camera processing will "bake-in" things like Exposure and WB.   While LR will manage a lot using the builtin ACR, layering and blending techniques needed for producing a final result are simply beyond the scope of LR's functionality.


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## 4fontaine (Feb 12, 2014)

Thanks for the prompt reply. I will move in a bit more specifically with some example photos:

















I see what seems to be desaturation firstly. However I am very curious as to how certain parts of the pictures have been extremely browned or extremely whitened (floors, walls, backgrounds, skies, tables, sea) while other more colourful parts of the images retain their own colour well (eg the vintage car photo). When I mean this, the majority of these photos have a very brown composition overall, but whites and colours are preserved and even made more intense. This is not something a filter put on top can acheive. This sectioning of colours in different parts of the image make these so striking and I am seeking to find out how to emulate images exactly like these because it is obvious these are not original unaltered images

Thanks!


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## GDRoth (Feb 12, 2014)

My assumption is that the images you wish to emulate have probably been post processed to an extreme degree where small adjustments were made to each small section of the image to achieve the look the photographer wanted to convey. 

IMHO, You'll never recreate the look with settings or a preset.

I hope I have not mis-interpreted your question.


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## Jimmsp (Feb 12, 2014)

GDRoth said:


> My assumption is that the images you wish to emulate have probably been post processed to an extreme degree where small adjustments were made to each small section of the image to achieve the look the photographer wanted to convey.
> 
> IMHO, You'll never recreate the look with settings or a preset.
> 
> I hope I have not mis-interpreted your question.


I agree. There are plug-ins that attempt to process like what is shown here, such as those from Topaz. But those are not LR presets. If I wanted to try to reproduce what you have shown, I'd take the LR processed photo into Photoshop or PS Elements, and use multiple layers and a few Topaz plug ins. Others would use plugins from NIK.


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## Den (Feb 13, 2014)

Agree wholeheartedly. Could never be accomplished in LR alone with presets.


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## Rob_Cullen (Feb 14, 2014)

If I am correct in understanding the effect you want- I believe it is extremely easy.
Do NOT use the B&W method ( by the "V" key press) instead choose HSL SATURATION and reduce every slider to -100. This removes all colour from your image. Now simply increase the saturation of one (or more) colour sliders to achieve the colour highlight wanted. You can use the TAT (Targeted adjustment tool) on the image to automatically select the colour to re-saturate (tool acts globally).  OR you could use an adjustment brush to selectively re-saturate any limited area of the image. Hint- make a preset of the " -100 De-saturate all colours" easily applied then go to HSL saturation.


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## Denis Pagé (Feb 19, 2014)

4fontaine, while I-See-Light's method is very popular I came to realize such an effect by accident this week.

This happened by sliding the Vibrancy slider to the minimum. When I saw that_ accident_, I immediately thought about you. Decreasing vibrancy to the max have the effect of removing almost all colors but keeping some of the most saturated ones to a visible level.

Maybe this plus a combination of other techniques will bring you close enough...


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## 4fontaine (Feb 20, 2014)

Thanks for all your help guys! I firstly downloaded Topaz plugins and that brings some of my colours Very close, closer than I have gone so far. i will give I-See-Light's/Denis' techniques a go as they seem very logical in acheiving this. You guys have given me perfect asnwers so i am extremely grateful- I'll post a picture later maybe when I do get what I set out for! Thanks Again


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