Copy Velvia Look

[frank_gary]

<p>I have been using lightroom 2.0 for my image editing and have been trying to copy the high saturation look of velvia. While I like the look I have been getting I have also preferred the look I get from the true film. I'm quite new at photoshop but feel that using it will be the key to getting the adjustments I want. How would I adjust this raw camera image (nikon D80) to have the same "look" as the velvia. <br>

The image labeled velvia was shot on a light table and adjusted in photoshop to look close to the original slide. What I particularly like is that the grass is emerald green, but the fence is weathered gray (it turns orange when I try increasing saturation). How would you adjust the digital image to get the results that film created?</p><div></div>

[frank_gary]

<p>Sorry the RAW file won't upload</p><div></div>

[Tim_Lookingbill]

<p>Tried it in ACR 4.6 with a Lens Blur faded to 70%.</p>

<p>Looks pretty close to your slide. I used a preset I came up with to get a cross processed/bleach bypass look of an image of my own as a starting point for further tweaks to get it to match your slide.</p>

<p>My preset has so many adjustments too numerous to post here including a custom curve and split tone settings.</p><div></div>

[dave_redmann]

<p>Exactly what is the Velvia look is maybe a little hard to quantify, but IMO it is part color saturation, part contrast, part color balance / color response, and maybe part other things too. For whatever it's worth, <em>Popular Photograph & Imaging</em> magazine (US) had an article maybe a couple of years ago about how to get the Velvia look in Photoshop. I don't remember the exact issue, but maybe you can find it on their website.</p>

 

[chas_frady]

<p>Have you tried this set of ACR presets?</p>

<p>http://www.thelightsright.com/TLRDigitalVelviaACRPresets</p>

<p>Or Fred Miranda's VelviaVision plug-in?</p>

<p>http://www.fredmiranda.com/shopping/vv</p>

[chas_frady]

<p>Similar process:<br>

<img src="http://www.chasfrady.com/myphotos/misc/00Ww6C-263305584velvia.jpg" alt="" width="700" height="469" /></p>

<p> </p>

[d_s40]

<p>Hi Frank.<br>

There is no golden bullet to achieve the velvia look on a computer. There are many actions, but they are all very drab and "safe" when it comes to emulating velvia film. I've scoured the web looking for the aforementioned "golden bullet" and the closest I came was Alien Skin Exposure program and Nik Color Efex Pro. Having said that, I think it is very easy to do it yourself. I personally like to stay in Lightroom, and can achieve a pretty cool look by hammering away at a strong contrast curve, then going to camera calibration and nudging the saturation up there. Then I'll go into luminance and start trying to get those wild colours you see in velvia film stock. Don't be afraid to blow levels, block shadows, etc. If you want a velvia look, you may as well enjoy the velvia drawbacks.<br>

At the end of the day it is very much "pie in the sky". Velvia reacts differently under different lighting conditions, exposures, contrast settings and different colours. One preset will not address the dynamic response of velvia, or any film for that matter.</p>

[d_s40]

<p>Here is a sample image using my own "Velvia" look.</p><div></div>