borispale

Actually I've seen that image printed as an ad in a mag and I was very unimpressed. Actually I think it's really retarded to advertise a camera with a heavily retouched image but it get's worse if you try to fake detail and image sharpness over the top. They are trying to sell the SD14 to photographers... aren't they? They must think we're all a bunch of idiots :-P

As to how to achieve this look (or a look that is close) you can follow a similar procedure I was often using to get more depth into smooth digital images (to make them more filmlike) just overdo it by 50 times.

- Retouch skin texture with the usual tools to get rid of spots, acne, etc

- First overdone sharping on steroids

Now add the fake-detail dot texture like I would add filmgrain:

- create a new layer on top

- fill with 50% grey

- set layer to soft light (or whatever blending mode you like for the texture at hand)

- Add Noise (Gaussian normal, monochromatic, I have 9,3% usually)

- Gaussian Blur (3 pixel)

- Add Noise again (4,9%)

Basicly now you'd have a more filmlike image. That's obviously not what you want but now instead of adding noise, gaussian blur and again adding noise again(to get the fake filmgrain) try to put a texture on that layer that contains random black dots. The add noise will not work as it will create the noise too closely together. Anyway it's easy to create a pattern for yourself (maybe black dots on transparent instead of the 50% grey works better).

- Now remove the texture (layer mask) from eyes, hair, background, etc and only leave it on the skin

- And now sharpen again.

FINISHED

Certainly the pattern and numbers in this process will vary depending on resolution, shooting distance and subject matter. However to add noise I created a simple recorded action and it works beautiful. If one was really into this look you could create an action that would do the fakedetaildots instead of the noise and just layermask out non-skin areas.

But again, I don't think you'd make a good impression on professional photographers/retouchers (if you'd try to sell a camera) with pictures like that.

They are certainly compatible. However there might be minute differences in color temperature due to different flash durations I could imagine.

It really depends how anal you are about such things... I often mix Elinchrom with Profoto equipment and I'm still happy with the results as I know how to combine them to work for my style/taste.

Cheers

Boris

Actually the light is not as close as you may think when the 7foot profoto reflector is compared to the 190cm elinchrom okta. The elinchrom okta is a tad softer and very even. The profoto is a bit more sparkling.

Personally I prefer the elinchrom look and the engineering idea/build/quality is just incredible. You can set the Elinchrom Okta up in less than a minute yourself. It basicly opens just like an umbrella.

The profoto is more work, needs more time and a whole lot more studio space.

Best thing in fact is that you rent and see for yourself what fits your needs/taste.

best

boris

A-heads are just having a faster flash duration. Otherwise it's absolutely the same. I had the S(tandard) flashheads replaced with the A flashheads. I'm very happy with them. The shorter the flash duration the better to freeze motion.

Ratio is always 1/3 and 2/3 on the AS models.

Cheers