The unique look of Leo Gren

Hello!

This is my first thread since registering

Since a couple of years, one specific photographer has kept me confused and impressed with his amazing ability to get a soft and calm look in his portraits but without "dream glow" or overkill skin softening and a fakeish result. Although some of his photos are low contrasty, they still seem to have good contrast. Although they seem soft, they still have excellent sharpness. You see the paradoxes here, right? That is what makes me equally confused and impressed!

Here's his website: http://www.leogren.com

And here's a couple of samples which prove what I'm talking about:

http://leogren.com …ig/leonard_gren​_-_082.jpg
http://leogren.com …ig/leonard_gren​_-_118.jpg
http://leogren.com …ig/leonard_gren​_-_103.jpg
http://leogren.com …g/leonard_gren_​-_111a.jpg
http://leogren.com …ig/leonard_gren​_-_112.jpg
http://leogren.com …g/leonard_gren_​-_101a.jpg
http://leogren.com …g/leonard_gren_​-_099a.jpg
http://leogren.com …g/leonard_gren_​-_050a.jpg
...and the list goes on. Most of his portraits apply.

What do you think his main methods are? I can totally tell that most of his pics have very even and soft lighting which probably is a result of precise and smart pre production, but what else does he do to create this magic?

I also can't understand how he maintains the amazing detail and sharpness in his photos although they are only a couple of hundred pixels high/wide. Whenever I resize my photos down to <800px they seem to lose most of the detail and sharpness. And if they don't (with bicubic/bicubic sharper f.e.) I get sharpening halos or a "crispy" look that is not natural. Leo's photos look like they are very high resoluted when they in fact are not. How does he do it?

Usually when this kind of "analyze this photographer's unique style" threads come up, you get the answer "Why dontcha ask him?!" but I have done that already, and unfortunately he doesn't give out any of his secrets. Not even a clue.

All analysis and comments are welcome. Thanks!

He is accomplished...at pre and post production work. That means a pre-visualization, knowledge of how to achieve "the look" during the shoot, and PP, of your goals. If it was simple, clowns like me could do it.

There are several different post processing treatments in those photos. Just for giggles, and because I'm avoiding work, I'll comment on the first image you linked to (http://leogren.com …ig/leonard_gren​_-_082.jpg). I'm going to try not to get all preachy because I don't know for sure everything he did, but here are some guesses:

The left side of the image has a very cool (blue) white balance. The right side looks to be on the warm side...probably done in post (at least for the blue on the left, key light might have had a warm gel). The color in the eyes has been popped in post. The key light (the warm one) is very soft (so very big or very close), and from the model's perspective it would be just to the left of where she's looking. There's a rim light hitting her right jaw and a little bit of her right ear. If the photo of the model was taken outdoors (and I'm starting to have my doubts), it was carefully balanced with ambient. For sharpening, try using "Smart Sharpen" when the image is at full size. Then re-size your image (I use Fit Image) and then use "Smart Sharpen" again. Also the colors overall are really vibrant, perhaps due to some LAB work (here's a decent technique: http://tutorialpulse.c​om …ue-to-enhance-saturation/).

The second one (http://leogren.com …ig/leonard_gren​_-_118.jpg) has kind of a "glazed" look that you can sometimes get by lowering the contrast of the image and creating a solid color fill layer at low opacity. There's some discussion of this look over on Model Mayhem. Use your favorite search engine and search for "Model Mayhem glazed look"...work won't let me visit MM.

The rest are good photos, certainly, but I don't see many super fancy tricks being employed.

Thanks a lot guys, especially you dave_p for your thoughtful and well figured ideas about his work. I agree about a lot of the things you mention, even though my own PS skills are limited in some areas of the application. The pre production part is also kind of new to me, especially when it comes to these important details. But I love learning from the pros and I'll keep trying to figure out their techniques and by copying their work I'll hopefully find my own way and my own unique look

I already use Smart Sharpen, but usually only after resizing. I don't know about the "Fit image" technique but I'll look that up. Is that superior to resizing with bicubic?

To be honest, I'm not sure what method "Fit Image" uses to resize. It's just under File>Automate>Fit Image. For all I know it could be the absolute worst way to to resize, to be honest I haven't researched that too much. But I have a lot of luck sharpening at the full size and then also sharpening after reducing in size. In fact, if you're a little selective with your sharpening, you can over-sharpen it before reducing the size, and still do the second pass of sharpening.

dave_p wrote in post #14698345
To be honest, I'm not sure what method "Fit Image" uses to resize. It's just under File>Automate>Fit Image. For all I know it could be the absolute worst way to to resize, to be honest I haven't researched that too much. But I have a lot of luck sharpening at the full size and then also sharpening after reducing in size. In fact, if you're a little selective with your sharpening, you can over-sharpen it before reducing the size, and still do the second pass of sharpening.

Very interesting. I will try it out tonight! Thanks!

He sure knows how to pick his subjects.

dave_p wrote in post #14698345
To be honest, I'm not sure what method "Fit Image" uses to resize.

The default that's set in the PS preferences.

IMAGE LINK: https://skitch.com/ren​edamkot/8h9x2/preferen​ces

Thanks, Rene!!

René Damkot wrote in post #14700655
The default that's set in the PS preferences

Which means that there's no difference between the usual resizing and that one if the resampling method chosen is the same?

Yep.