Incredible photos of Slovak gypsies (and a tech question)

[globalist]

So I just stumbled across this article about gypsies in my country (Slovakia):

https://dennikn.sk/1688264/detstvo-v-chatrci-detstvo-v-gete-fotogaleria-z-vychodu/?ref=mpm
(click the photo to view the entire galery)

Now my question is, do you think there is post-processing on those photos and if yes, what sort of stuff was used to create this amazing contrast-y effect?

Or is it just the camera, which seems (exif data) to be a really pricey one:

https://www.wired.com/review/leica-q2/

 

[mollyc]

Yes, I'm willing to bet there is post processing done. I can't read the language. A true documentary image would not have much more than basic contrast and exposure tweaks, but these images don't strike me as true documentary images in the AP sense.

These have heavy vignettes and saturation tweaks, as well as some heavy contrast. Even if it isn't done strictly in post, the camera profile has been altered substantially in camera.

Here's a Flikr pool of images taken with that camera. They are as varied as any other camera.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/leicaq2/pool/

 

[kenoh]

Agree with above. The Q2 is a great camera and it has the Leica colour renditions out of the box but these can be replicated in post.

Looks like these images have had vignette, crushed blacks, contrast and clarity tweaks in post. As amazing as the Q2 is, you could reproduce this look with a less expensive setup with a 28mm equivalent lens.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I agree that contrast and clarity are up. It would help set the mood of the harsh conditions they are trying to capture.

 

[globalist]

Looks like these images have had vignette, crushed blacks, contrast and clarity tweaks in post. As amazing as the Q2 is, you could reproduce this look with a less expensive setup with a 28mm equivalent lens.

Was this done in Lightroom do you think and what would be the general way to go about achieving the effect, step by step? I know about contrast and clarity sliders, but nothing about vignette and crushing the blacks.

 

[mollyc]

Was this done in Lightroom do you think and what would be the general way to go about achieving the effect, step by step? I know about contrast and clarity sliders, but nothing about vignette and crushing the blacks.

The crushing blacks is literally just pulling down the Blacks slider. You can add a vignette through the Effects panel, but I prefer to add a radial filter so I can control where it goes. I think the ones in these images used the Effects panel though.

Do you have a photo you'd like us to experiment with? I don't shoot anything similar to this genre, so my attempt would look off.

 

[mollyc]

I think this would be similar - full sun image casting harsh shadows. I think the gypsy images probably have even more contrast added as you can still see blades of grass in my image; I think if the gypsy photog processed this there would be less detail there. But you can see some of my settings, which might help you get started. Changing the Camera Profile will change things quite a bit, as well as playing in the Calibration tab at the bottom; I didn't change anything in Calibration, but I wouldn't be surprised if that is part of GP's preset/workflow (I do often change this in my normal images).

For comparision, here is the SOOC, so you can see just how much editing can make a difference. Unless you are shooting jpeg on auto, almost everyone does base edits, if not involved ones. Even clicking a single purchased presets can make drastic changes. Although the SOOC might seem underexposed, I was exposing for the full sun on the white helmets, knowing I could recover the other shadow detail in post.

 

[kenoh]

Was this done in Lightroom do you think and what would be the general way to go about achieving the effect, step by step? I know about contrast and clarity sliders, but nothing about vignette and crushing the blacks.

Yep, it can be done in any of the photo editing apps such as Lightroom, Affinity, Capture 1 etc.

@mollyc has you in safe hands above.... another way to crush the blacks is to use the tone curve and make it look like a little like hockey stick e.g.

But you ill need to play with it a little as the amount of points and slopes etc is a fine tuning activity specific to each image.

One thing for sure, probably not a good idea to buy presets, best to learn the edits yourself first so you know what they are doing because you will need to fine tune an image after applying a preset anyway.

 

[globalist]

Amazing info, thanks!

Yes I do process my RAW files but never to this extent, i.e. going for a particular effect. I will start experimenting now.

 

[kenoh]

Amazing info, thanks!

Yes I do process my RAW files but never to this extent, i.e. going for a particular effect. I will start experimenting now.

Go for it. Also, Leica colour profile white balance typically errs towards cooler (more blue) just a gentle tweak.

 

[TheDrift-]

I am pretty sure that is not a straight out of camera Leica shot. The exif suggests it has been through Photoshop, great advice given already so far...

One other tip I would share is it can sometimes by useful to 'undo' the effect, by retuning the photo to 'normal' you can then gain a pretty good idea of what was done..(i won't reproduce the full picture) but to give an idea this seems like a more normal colour palette..

.....As others have said...I raised the black level decreased the contrast, decreased shadows, increased exposure and selectively desaturated some colours...I would therefore assume the photographer did most of the opposite to create the effect.

 

[Ledgem]

I was hoping to have some insight to add that nobody else did, but everyone mentioned all of the sliders that I thought were tweaked.

One thing to note: edit to your audience. My screens tend to be well-lit and I wasn't adjusting the brightness on my images much, but then I found that many of my family members were viewing images on their iPhones in lighting where the screen was a bit dimmer; my photos were appearing a bit dark on their screens. They also appear a bit dark on prints. Recently I printed some holiday cards, and while the saturation and contrast looked fine on my screen, it looked a bit extreme for the glossy paper that it was printed on (although I doubt anyone would know that but me, since I knew the original scene and the unedited image's appearance).

 

[ericgtr12]

Yes, I'm willing to bet there is post processing done. I can't read the language. A true documentary image would not have much more than basic contrast and exposure tweaks, but these images don't strike me as true documentary images in the AP sense.

These have heavy vignettes and saturation tweaks, as well as some heavy contrast. Even if it isn't done strictly in post, the camera profile has been altered substantially in camera.

Here's a Flikr pool of images taken with that camera. They are as varied as any other camera.
https://www.flickr.com/groups/leicaq2/pool/

$5000 with a fixed (non-changeable) lens? I don't care how awesome the lens or camera is, I couldn't see limiting myself for such a hefty price, but to each their own I guess.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

It is hard for me to tell the type app used to post process the photos, but some of the effects shown on the photos can be attained in a short period of time with the DXO's Nik Software.