How to "poster" color portraits?

[Rickenbacker]

I"m trying to recreate this "Partridge Family" look with black & red. 

How might I do it? My 1st thought was using Threshold & then adding the red, but maybe someone has a method that'd yield better results?

 

Thanks! 

Edited February 14, 2020 by Rickenbacker

[Rickenbacker]

* Discovery- I added a 2nd layer, colored it red, went to the layer tools & did "Color Burn". Got the perfect result...except it didn't "burn" red. Made it purple.

Also, I'm losing a little detail using Threshold. I can't use to at 100%. 
It's tough to have the head look naturally shot without it looking like I lassoed & erased around it.
I guess in the future I should have a solid color background?

Edited February 14, 2020 by Rickenbacker

[HyReZ]

I took a stock photo from Pixabay and in ~4 steps produced this:

I used the Effects>Color>Black And White plugin by Adam Gaskins set to 360
Pure Black and White converter 
Next I used the Wand Tool set to Global to remove white from the image.
Then I added a red layer underneath
Last thing to do was to merge down.

(My original composition was 4 times larger and a copied all of layer to a PDN file before merging as a backup)

Edited February 14, 2020 by HyReZ

[Rickenbacker]

6 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

I took a stock photo from Pixabay and in ~4 steps produced this:
 

I used the Effects>Color>Black And White plugin by Adam Gaskins set to 360
Pure Black and White converter 
Next I used the Wand Tool set to Global to remove white from the image.
Then I added a red layer underneath
(My original composition was 4 times larger)
Last thing to do was to merge down.

 

HyRez-  Thank you! I'll try that. Gotta grab the Adam G plugin 1st though. But I have a feeling it won't be so straight forward for me cause the background of my pics aren't solid like that one. Pretty busy.

[HyReZ]

12 minutes ago, Rickenbacker said:

 I have a feeling it won't be so straight forward for me cause the background of my pics aren't solid like that one. Pretty busy.

I would zoom in and with a brush set to gray, paint out the background on a duplicate image layer and then do the steps on it.

Start close in with a medium brush and increase the size to get rid of areas away from your subject.

It should go pretty quick and it gets faster the more times you have to do it. Practice makes better!

Edited February 14, 2020 by HyReZ

[Rickenbacker]

57 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

I would zoom in and with a brush set to gray, paint out the background on a duplicate image layer and the do the steps.

Start close in with a medium brush and increase the size to get rid of areas away from your subject.

It should go pretty quick and it gets faster the more times you have to do it. Practice makes better!

 

Lost me at this part. I made a duplicate layer of my subject & using *that* layer, I got the brush tool,  selected a shade of gray, zoomed in  & painted gray over the parts I wanted out. From there, I merged down & then got an image with all my gray marks around the subject. 

What'd I miss?
 

[Rickenbacker]

Also, I'm not sure if Adam G's plugin is still good. I DL'ed it & just saw a blank file

[HyReZ]

The part about creating a duplicate to work on is just a measure for not messing up your image and for having a backup ready if you screwed up. I would just uncheck and move this layer to the bottom and finish the project as normal.

 

Some of the links to older plugins have not been repaired. Just add the .zip extension to the file name and you can then open the archive and get the plugin.

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by HyReZ

[Red ochre]

 

One step!😉

Two tone threshold

[Rickenbacker]

18 minutes ago, Red ochre said:

 

One step!😉

Two tone threshold

 

 

Thx, red ochre

I installed it, but not sure if I did that right. Where in the Effects menu is it supposed to be? 

[Rickenbacker]

49 minutes ago, HyReZ said:

The part about creating a duplicate to work on is just a measure for not messing up your image and for having a backup ready if you screwed up. I would just uncheck and move this layer to the bottom and finish the project as normal.

 

Some of the links to older plugins have not been repaired. Just add the .zip extension to the file name and you can then open the archive and get the plugin.

 

 

Ok. So,. I Thresholded it >took the Wand Tool set to global> added a red layer & it looked great. But my background was also red. How'd you get it black?

[Red ochre]

28 minutes ago, Rickenbacker said:

Where in the Effects menu is it supposed to be? 

Adjustments 😉

Quote

But my background was also red

Just select the area you intend to change... or add a frame subsequently. Rectangle select is very useful!

[Rickenbacker]

Ah thanks again! 

I think I've got it now. 
I"m just trying to figure out now if the picture I used in my example looks "natural" or Thresholded. 
I *suspect* the Partridge Family shot was originally taken with lighting in front of & behind her head. 

[Ego Eram Reputo]

Without plugins:

1. Open the image
2. Add a new layer
3. Fill new layer with red
4. Set new layer blend mode to Multiply
5. On the image layer: apply Brightness & Contrast with initial settings around 5 & 100

 

Tips:

• lower Brightness settings reduce the amount of red you will end up with.
• lower Contrast settings soften the edges in the image 

 

 

[HyReZ]

2 hours ago, Rickenbacker said:

 

Ok. So,. I Thresholded it >took the Wand Tool set to global> added a red layer & it looked great. But my background was also red. How'd you get it black?

The use of Threshold is not from my example.
I attached a screen capture of my result. It shows in the layers window that I use layers of the same size, with the black + transparent layer over the red layer. There is no red border!

Edited February 15, 2020 by HyReZ

[Rickenbacker]

Here's a video of the look I'm aiming for. 
What I'm finding tricky is maintaining a smooth, non-pixely look in the red areas. I do think the original photos used for the video were shot in a very controlled environment & with specific lighting. Almost like a spotlight. I see little to no "shading".
The photos I'm working with are likely flawed there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lT2T49yP2ew

Edited February 15, 2020 by Rickenbacker

[HyReZ]

The simple answer is 'yes'!
The photo that I use seems to used a key light that is directed into the face of the model.
The photos in the video clip use a technique called a 'High Contrast Copy' that is made into two color print.

Kodak used to make a film just for this purpose before the age of digital printing.
 

Portrait Lighting Guides
 

Edited February 15, 2020 by HyReZ

[Rickenbacker]

Yeahhhh, all the instructions you & the others here gave me def' helped, but I think given the photos I'm working with, best I could do is come close to that look. 
 

[Ego Eram Reputo]

1 hour ago, Rickenbacker said:

What I'm finding tricky is maintaining a smooth, non-pixely look in the red areas.

 

See my above post. Using that technique the Contrast setting effectively controls the smoothness of the edges.

 

5:100 are the settings in the bottom left corner. 5:80 is the top right corner.

 

 

[Eli]

You can try Inksketch +. It works best with large images.