What pp or filter would get me this effect?

There is no going back to XP for me.
Vista or bust just waiting for more 64 bit applications.

http://www.ezactions.c​om/actions.aspx
I found a similar action here(i use for PSElements 4) called photoblast midnight color. It is not exactly the same, but is a cool effect. I also got the acid wash and over expose actions from this site and don't use them too much, and really do not like the over exposure one at all. By the way the movie 300 is a MUST SEE! the lighting and camera angle and the story is great!! be well.

mace0002 wrote in post #2858741
By the way the movie 300 is a MUST SEE! the lighting and camera angle and the story is great!! be well.

Yea, I thought the movie was amazing. My girlfriend wasn't happy that the movie wasn't textbook accurate, but to each their own.

Definitely worth the 10 bucks to see at the theater

I don't think any of these quite capture the same effect as in the movie. Here is a screenie

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Because the backgrounds are computer generated and the characters are lit using studio lighting on a sound stage in front of a blue screen...

With the same lighting set up, the effect would be very easy to achieve. It looks like a simple selective desaturation (partial) and then some filters applied for colour tone. I think alot of people are neglecting these days the extent to which certain looks are caused by lighting and attribute too much to post processing work. Get the lighting down and that would be easy to recreate

anoline, thanx for that plug in.

i don't want to say i love it, but couldn't beat the price.

Yea, it can't be beat!

I've done some really killer things with it... but have yet to print something out... I'm looking forward to it though.

amonline wrote in post #2852540
Ah yea, now I remember... the "Private Ryan" trick.

Free Plugin: http://www.redpawmedia​.com/bleachbypass.html

Thanks. I was looking for something like that.

too bad it costs money.

scraggles wrote in post #2908348
too bad it costs money.

What does? The link above is a free plug-in.

There is a "pro" version, but the free one does everything I'd ever need.

I was also inspired by the movie 300, and I had to try it out. I picked one of the only photos of myself to test out my idea.

I did this myself (no actions).

HTTP response: 404 | MIME changed to 'image/gif' | Byte size: ZERO | PHOTOBUCKET ERROR IMAGE

I'm working on an action but have not got all the bugs out yet. Please stand by ...

Here's one I got out of the free plugin with no thinking... I only added a sepia filter with some noise to pump up the 300 look a little more... for the right image, I would desaturate the background more...

Okay. Here is what I have come up with. NOTE: This action only works with CS2 because I needed to use the built in noise reduction.

In looking over the majority of the images I have seen for the 300, I found that all the color gamut has been greatly desaturated except the reds.

This action maintains the reds, muddys it up a bit, removes the other colors and some of the noise.

On images with true red, I found that the action only worked well if the red was originally REALLY bright and saturated, so the action creates a second merged layer that compensates for darker reds.

Here are the files I worked from and the results:

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You can get this action HERE as well as the rest in the set. This is an updated version of my action set - the same one as the link in my sig.