How to get the Pierre et Gilles effect?

Mmmmm....that is a lot of post-capture work in software. You're going to need your "brushes" or "textures" photographed - the frames and backgrounds, etc., and then drop those in. The portrait aspect is pretty simple split-lighting, but I'm thinking they might be double or triple exposed and that might even be done in PS. (I think most of this is done in software.) You can double expose digitally by layering copies of the same image exposed at different settings...if your camera won't do it in-camera. Also, these mdels are heavily, heavily "airbrushed" post capture and that's pretty simple.

Good luck with your project - I look forward to seeing some results!

 

You could try stamping with Photoshop for the front decoration(on 2nd layer) and adding on the background deco on another kayer? That way you could erase off the excess on each layer (if need be)..
I'm a little hands-on, so.. ^^;
But that's how I'd do it..

 

*laughs* You too??? I often refer to myself that way too! And I am right there with you and a HUGE fan of Pierre et Gilles! I didn't discover them until recently though.

I agree with the things aforementioned. You will definitely have a lot of photoshop work ahead of you. I cannot wait to see the fruits of your labor! ^_^

 

i think you might also need a good light source when taking the subject photos, the contrast etc can be edited in photo manipulation software.

using photoshop add a layer above the bjd boys and change that layer to soft light (or play around with the different settings) knock the opacity down and using a kinda light flesh tone paint over the top of the boys it will even out the tone and can give them a warm look much like the Pierre et Gilles stuff

anyways hope that make sense and helps

 

Hmmmm.....well....we used to have no choice in the matter back in the day. *feels old* But, hell, why would anyone spend that money/time/energy on hand processing when it can be done digitially?

I'm really curious to see how your experiments will turn out. My suggestion is the same as before - take multiple EXACT images with different exposures....

 

no worries!!! i think my only other tip who be to use the different blurr affects on photoshop or smudging to get the blurred look of the flowers if its hard to do with the camera you might have to cut the flowers on to a difffernt layer or make a mask selction of them !! if i think of anything else ill post on here good luck im sure it will turn out well good

 

Photoshop-wise, I would probably set one duplicate layer to "soft light," as lootysushi said, to get the very dramatic contrast, then make another duplicate layer on top, use the "Diffuse Glow" filter (under the Distort submenu, I think) and set that to "screen" to make the unfocused, blown-out highlights, decreasing the opacity as needed. As soon as I read "Pierre et Gilles," I thought DIFFUSE GLOW! XD

 

i would do it with layers too, i pretty much do everything with layers :P try out different settings like soft light or dodge and see what you like best.

 

What about experimenting with your camera's Macro for the actual pictures, at different distances? That may create natural blurring close to what you're looking for if you can get the right angle/distance.

 

Looks like you're close, but I think that the saturation is key... the first example of theirs looks like it was desaturated partially while the second looks like it was completely desaturated and then color was added.

 

Wow! I have been checking this thread occassionally (but am generally too ignorant to add anything useful) because I'm a big P&G fan and had contemplated much the same homage. Looks like you're getting closer!

 

Try using a blurred copy of of the original picture on another layer and set it to "overlay". That might give you those pin prick lights you're wanting. To sharpen individual features, erase into a mask layer on the blur-overlay layer. that might give you something closer to what you're looking for.

You can do the slight desaturate/saturate effect they're doing by either making another layer and setting it to saturate and paint in grey(to desaturate) or a color(to add saturation). OR you can use hue/saturation/color on your overlay layer to adjust the entire image and effects.

 

Wow, really great effects. He looks fabulous!

 

what if you add reflection points to the glitter, like a star?

 

Definitely layers, layer modes, and layer masks! For the glitters I'd try different star brushes at different sizes, on their own layer, of course! Everything gets it's own layer, so it can be changed or deleted later. You can sometimes pull star points out of a circle with the smudge tool, also. You can use shades of gray painted on a layer mask to delete some but not all of the blur to get more detail back in certain areas. I think the blur on the glitters is partly what is making those not quite work - they may need to have a bit more defined edges.

 

Duplicate your original image into a new layer - then do a 'HIGHPASS' filter (Found under 'OTHER' filters) over the new layer and experiment with blending modes (try 'overlay' or 'soft light') for this new layer with the original layers. You can do a soft blur on the HIGHPASS layer to make it softer. You can get a very hyper real image very like P&G with this.

Here is an example of 2 images treated in this way (I censored it for DoA & Photobucket).