Has anyone seeing a look as close to this as possible?

I'd have a look at Gemmy Woud-Binnendijk.

https://p-v.club/threads/gemmy-woud-binnendijk.15517/#post-166570

 

Check out Alexander Vinogradov https://www.instagram.com/vinogradov_photo/?hl=en
And this post here https://p-v.club/threads/the-portrait-mastery-series-alexander-vinogradov.17853/

 

her images come out pretty interesting even if overdone

 

Thanks guys. Keep them coming

 

look, she use very close a reflector, I think in silver, I try my last photoshoot, this way and in the eyes looks very similar, I like more Alexey style, but also look at the color Liquidverve do in het tut of Dodge and burn 2.0 more realistic but also wow result

 

Look her edit is very close to her
https://mariolaglajcar.pl/produkt/studio-edycja-2/

 

It was many times already discussed , unfortunately there is no exact tutorial which explain the real technique (just might be some pieces of the puzzle). Also (as I heard), the techniques is not fully disclosed during in person workshops .

Due to my research, the look is a combination of shooting with diagonal soft box lighting (~45 degree from top) with opposite reflector to remove shadows in wide aperture (f2.8-f3.2 for FF) + touch of direct fill light, and very specific type of post-processing.

Actually there are few photographers across Eastern Europe who sells exactly the same look (like franchise), and apparently they use same post-processing studio. To investigate deeper, you can take a look at live models on their Instagram page and compare them with final result. During post-process they definitely use as it was mentioned before freq separation and adv dodge&burn, however, they also use liquefy to "correct" face to few gold-ratio proportions (there are at least three patterns/proportions used in their work), and at the end, they finish look with mixed brush / smudge tool in PS (or Corel Paint), and add freckles and some details on top.

Kind regards!

 

I completely agree with this 100%.

The best post-processing tutorials I have seen regarding this technique is the tutorials released by Paul Apalkin regarding his painterly processing. Hope that helps.

 

Also, one additional detail about the discussed images. Despite in videoclips and workshops these studios use FF cameras, most of their portfolio / IG works are done using medium format

Cheers!

 

While true, this can be mimicked with a FF sensor and a fast lens. When they don't use MF they usually go for a fast 85 or 105mm. I've also managed to mimic it using a 40mm f1.2 lens.

 

I agree with you about the look (depth of field / bokeh) emulation, however, in this case depth of field (bokeh) is not such important (btw, as I mentioned before - most of the pictures can be "mapped" to f2.8-f3.2 of FF, which I also successfully produced even on MFT), the primary difference is in the fine details and tonal micro-contrast which are hardly achievable even on top FF cameras / sensors, and which actually are base of this specific workflow aimed to discussed result (for example, borrowed from friend Sigma 135/1.8 on Sony FF known by its sharpness and IQ does not produce comparable outcome in similar studio conditions; tested and verified , but I had similar by "character" pictures when I tried also borrowed Hasselblad, which unfortunately far beyond from my budget ).

 

Completely agree with you. MF makes these images much easier to reproduce.

While possible on FF, it will definitely require more work and the tonal micro-contrast if a huge part of it. Very impressed with your knowledge my friend and your willingness to explain it and share it.

 

Thank you very much

PS. I'm not "mkslowinski" (and not someone like them) , photography is an important part of my life for almost 30 years, and I never was afraid to share my knowledge and techniques with others. Also, personally, I hate practice of misleading (at best) advertisement when some photographer (or studio) promotes some specific "signature" look but never discloses the method to achieve it (in online or personal courses), or what is worse (I would not tell few very known names names but....) cannot reproduce this signature look even on a dare .

Anyway, I happy to help to anyone on this forum who like me constantly tries to perfect his/her skills and reach perfection

PPS For an additional practical advise, I would recommend to take a look at courses of Rebeca Saray (some tutorials are on this forum), Nikki Harrison (https://nikki-harrison.teachable.com), and Salemm Cbunny (https://www.salemmcbunny.com/es/tienda/pack-buen-fin). All three together can give all necessary post-processing techniques used to produce images in the question.

Kind regards, and great shots!

 

so true . . . I attended a WS once and the presenter was pitching their "look" - long story short: all final images were products of a post-production "team" specializing in end-product to the photographer's final approval; but that look was not able to be re-created in a live setting. I get it - as volume increases - certain tasks need to be resourced out of house - - - but one really needs to be able to master their craft if it then becomes their signature look . . .

 

The real fan is that many of such "photographers" do not only put outsourced in the post images into their portfolio but also use them during photo contests, and present them as their "original" work, and honestly it is sad and disgusting to see them miserable trying to re-create in real-life presentations look even a bit similar to "their" claimed skills. From other side art is a big business and fraud was know since probably ancient Greek and Roman times, when Romans sold copies of famous Greek works as their "original" art . BTW, recently, one of very known and very marketed persons (who apparently uses custom created LUTs to finish signature images) tried during online event to reproduce signature look and feel. The result honestly was around of average from any prospective, and without these LUTs looked might be not completely amateur but far away from what this person is know for.

In any case, this is the reason why I made recommendation of tutorials in my previous post, because all mentioned authors (and first of all Rebeca and Nikki) are not only genius retouchers but also do not hide anything (probably because they don't nee it ).

All the best.

 

@Foxman2k , thank you so much for all your tips and ideas about how to achieve similar look to MKSlowinski. I haven`t been to their workshop, so it is hard for me to judge if they tell all their secrets during the workshop. But I have seen some photos posted by people who attended their workshop and the style is exactly the same. I`m not sure though if it is just one photo which they work at during the lesson with Slowinski or if they can really recreate the same style on all forthcoming photos. There is a note on the website that you are forbidden to teach and tell the secrets to anyone after attending to their workshop.
Anyway, I will check the names you mentioned. Thank you so much!

 

You're very welcome. And as I said, to re-create the style you don't need to attend any WS

All required ingredients I already gave, but I will repeat just in case -

1. Good (better high) quality shot with very soft diagonal light with moderate wide aperture;
2. FS to clean the image from main imperfections;
3. Liquify to make face proportional (or at least make a form that you like );
4. Mixer brush / smudge tool to second stage skin smoothing and clean-up;
5*. (Optional) Local D&B to make colors / light even;
6. Return some details like freckles and eye sharpening and enlarging (look p.3);
7*. (Optional) Some color grade by taste / based on planned image theme.

Cheers!

PS. I also can add two other information sources: Amina Donskaya (work with color) and Justin Laurens (advanced retouch and "3D" effect) but I would not recommend them (at least at the beginning / intermediate stages) because (*this is strictly my personal opinion) they do not "normalize" source image first as Rebeca but rather work ad-hock directly managing and changing colors / tones in direction of target result which could look a bit chaotic and confusing and require very advanced and intuitive knowledge of color (which, for example, not my level as well).

PPS. Please look at the their typical picture (you can enlarge it) - from Google search ->

https://www.modellenland2.com/single-post/interview-photographer-małgorzata-sulewska-czarnecka-poland

Copyright Małgorzata Sulewska-Czarnecka (Poland) https://formatkafotografia.pl/


Please, look into the eyes for light schema; for aperture to general depth fall-off; to "inconsistence" of depth between face and hair (mixed brush), sharpness of eyes, tonal gradients of skin (tonal dynamic range), etc. and all the questions will be answered

PPPS. After some consideration, I decided to add one more essential information source -> "Liquidverve - "V2.0" Dodge & Burn Portrait Retouching Tutorial" https://p-v.club/threads/liquidverve-v2-0-dodge-burn-portrait-retouching-tutorial.19711/ which can answer all Local D&B questions.

 

6 step: Return some details like freckles and eye sharpening and enlarging
I think he uses detail extractor by Nik collection for more details ( my opinion)
maskes selected skin for smoothnes rest makes more sharp