How do I replicate this sort of image style digital matte paint (chev advertising)

[tf22raptor]

Hello all,

I see this sort of effect imagery around a lot of the time, but I can't actually figure out what they have done to achieve the look. (I'm not talking about the subject or the HDR sort of background, but more the feel and style the image gives, as I have seen this sort of technique used on other subjects).

It's like the image has been enhanced and made to look almost like a painting. I'm talking a bout the shading, highlighting etc.
Is there a techniques/tutorials around to replicate such a style?, I'd love to be able to know how this image was built from the ground up etc. Photo of car taken, background brought in, the extra subtle flares and shading, leveling out the colors in photoshop etc.

I know of digital matte painting etc, is this effectively what this is?

If you go to the chev website you get that sort of feels from alot of their advertising images, especially in the camaro section.

First time post on vfxtalk for me.

Any help would be great

[philipbowser]

Welcome to VFXTalk!
Good question. It's a tricky one as it's hard to tell what your really asking, but let me try and break it down for you.

Essentially the photos your talking about are: HDR images + CG HDR car renders + Good lighting + Good compositing + Beautiful cars.

I don't think this would be classified under Digital Matte Painting. What your seeing is a mix of high contrast images while still maintaining information in the blacks and highlights, they aren't being crushed/blown out, your seeing a wide range (product of HDR images), as well as good lighting to accentuate the features of the cars, you'll notice almost every curve of the car has a highlight or shadows to give it depth, and good color choices along with a lot of photoshop tweaking. Add that to good framing and interesting subjects and your bound to get some dope images.

Shooting cars (for photography or video) is somewhat of a complex art and science. I would do a search for HDR photography (there are ways to "cheat" it or there are proper ways to do it), as well as getting familiar with lighting and color. I could point you in the direction of a tutorial, but all I'd do is do a search up HDR photography and CG lighting/shading tutorials since they pop up all the time. It's better you do it and get the research for yourself. Having these skills definitely won't hurt you. It's important to be able to break down images and what your seeing to get an understanding of how they were put together and what steps were taking to achieve it.

Other than that, get out there with a camera and a copy of photoshop and experiment! The best learning you'll do is through experience and trying stuff out. And of course, continue to ask questions, someone here with time on their hands will respond. Good luck!

[tf22raptor]

Hi philip thanks for the response. Yes I think I am slowly finding that doing car enhancements like this is an art on its own.

After searching around I came across this page, which is the best one I found so far.

http://abduzeedo.com/40-totally-insa...hics-and-after

Looks just like a lot of manual photoshop work on the reflections etc I was thinking there might have been a tutorial out there or a general way you can go from a standard photograph (of like the chev, to it's final look).

Atleast in the thread I found you get to see the how the photo started out, I might try and contact some of the artists and see if I get a reponse!

Any other ideas or if you find any tuts etc let me know!

[CorneliusScarabeus]

It's similar to what Dave Hill is doing with his photos + probably Knoll Light for lens flares on some of those pictures. There are a lot of discussions, tutorials on the web on how to achieve the Dave Hill look (although everyone seems to be just guessing and most of the tutorials aren't very good).

[CorneliusScarabeus]

Btw. I don't think those Chev images are HDR - eg. the moving car is seems to be from a single shot. And I believe they are real photos - not CG cars. But there is definitely a lot of meticulous Photoshop work on them.