Dragan Effect

[orangepeel]

After previewing the Andrzej Dragan site (thanks for the heads up fingerz (http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=75091&postcount=2)) I was talking to a buddy who gave me this link which is a tut to emulate the effect: -

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1006&message=14128883



Unfortuantly I only speak idiot.

My experience is CS is pretty much limited to levels, contrast etc style adjustments so a lot of what is said goes right over my head. Without "click here, run this, set to around that" i'm pretty lost.

Would anyone volunteer to translate it as I'd love to have a go...



cheers.

[fingerz]

That all makes sense. A lot of it is stuff I do anyway.

I appreciate that you want a "click here, do this" guide but it really is worth getting to know Photoshop properly. Here are two books I can recommend. Both are huge but are extremely good. Ideally, read both if you can.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0321334116/qid=1145638315/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i2_xgl/203-4319619-2382324

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0240519841/qid=1145638296/sr=8-6/ref=pd_ka_6/203-4319619-2382324

[DJW]

Great link Orangepeel ...will have to give that a go. An eevn quicker way to learn is to go to the CD sharing section on this site & pick a few to borrow. Watching a video of someone performing the process is easier to pickup than a book, although inevitably you will need the latter for reference if you want to get really good with PS.

[orangepeel]

cheers guys. I got the "Real World Adobe Photoshop CS2" and as u say, it's BIG. They didn't have "Adobe Photoshop CS2 for Photographers" but I'll keep checking.

I have to admit I prefer the "teaching a man to fish" aproach myself however this whole photoshop thing goes a bit beyond a fishing trip and is more akin to survival ;) there is a LOT to learn :)

However I will keep at it.

Cheers for the heads up about the CD section. I'll have a peruse of that soon.

[Pook]

An eevn quicker way to learn is to go to the CD sharing section on this site & pick a few to borrow.

Ok.. I've looked... and looked.. and.... Maybe I'm just blind, but where is it?

[Bachs]

Interesting reading!

In amongst the tutorial in the link was a free textures site http://www.mayang.com/textures/

I've been looking for something like this for dropping backgrounds and textures in.

Brilliant! :thumbs:

[DJW]

Ok.. I've looked... and looked.. and.... Maybe I'm just blind, but where is it?

Your right....seesm to have disappeared during the rebuild. Maybe it didn't get used enough ? Mods ?

[matty]

it didnt get used at all! a great idea that we thought really had legs but once installed no-one really took any notice, so we didnt include it in the new forum....though we have the info still

[orangepeel]

After an extended google session I found this...

http://www.atncentral.com/download.htm

Dragan Action
Author: Mike Warren
Posted: 12/10/2004

614 k

Mike Warren created an action to show what can be done using various layers of the original (in Soft Light, Hard Light and Color Burn Mode along with a Curve Adjustment layer) layered over a Tritone conversion. The Tritone creates a grayscale image and adds a colorcast. You can adjust the curve in the Black to control contrast and shadow details-experiment with this on different images. The other two colors affect the overall tone; adjust these colors to taste. Load the Action, open the file named Original Run Action, and use the Burn tool to emphasize wrinkles

http://www.atncentral.com/Zip_Actions/MW_Dragan_Action.zip

[fingerz]

Seems like the guy's on the right track.

Ultimately, though, every image is different and Dragan himself knows this better than anyone. He doesn't use an action to get the effect, he spends hours and hours and yet more hours carefully dodging, burning, colouring and toning his pictures by hand to get them to look perfect.

I know that action says to do it step-by-step and make adjustments but it's still too formulaic to reproduce anything similar to the results Dragan gets. You really do need to 'learn to fish' on this one, I think. Photoshop's a lot to learn and the books are big and thick. Also no single book will teach you all of the best stuff. It's daunting but worthwhile.

[orangepeel]

yep, sadly this is a hobby and not a career. doubt I'll ever be able to invest the amount of time to read the book, let alone understand them.

but hey, u never know, i may sack myself tomorrow for spending waaaay too much time here rather than working. :)

[fingerz]

Want to hear something depressing?

Dragan's a physicist, not a photographer. Photography is a hobby for him too. If you Google for him, you get a load of papers he's published on various scientific things. His biography on the site lists a load of stuff about government grants he's received for physics stuff.

Now you've got no excuse ;)