How can I create a gritty, moody "Resident Evil" look with red-brown tones and heavy texture?
Asked 5/19/2013
3 views
2 answers
0
I found a portfolio with a dark, cinematic look: rusty red/brown color casts, faded colors, strong texture, deep shadows, and a gritty atmosphere. Some shots also seem to hold detail in both interiors and bright windows.
What shooting and post-processing techniques are typically used to create this style? Is it mainly color grading, contrast/clarity, lens choice, HDR/tonemapping, or subject matter?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
3
Some of the basic things I can see is that everything uses a red shifted color balance. It gives more of a rust look. Also shifting the gamma down to make things dark but high contrast (brights are still bright, but a larger portion of the image is in the darker range). There may also be some desaturation to make colors look more faded and aged.
It also appears to be a wide angle lens using the natural vignette of the lens to give it a rustic kind of feel. They have a very similar feel to what I get out of my Canon 17-40 F/4L, though it appears he shoots Nikon from the gold ring on his lens in his profile picture.
The fact he's actually shooting old and warn down subject matter doesn't hurt any either.
Originally by user11392. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user11392
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
This look is mostly a combination of subject choice, lens character, and aggressive post-processing.
From the examples described, the key ingredients are:
- warm red/brown color grading or a red-shifted white balance for a rusty feel
- lower overall brightness/gamma with strong contrast, so much of the frame sits in darker tones while highlights stay bright
- some desaturation to make colors feel aged and less clean
- lots of clarity/local-contrast or "fake sharpening" to emphasize texture
- possible wide-angle shooting, sometimes with natural vignette
- rundown locations/subjects, which contribute heavily to the mood
For some images, HDR tonemapping may also be involved, especially where both interiors and bright windows retain detail. You can get a similar effect either from true multi-exposure HDR or by pushing a single exposure in HDR-style software.
A practical recipe: shoot gritty subjects, use a wide lens if it suits the scene, then in editing add warmth toward red/brown, reduce saturation a bit, increase contrast and clarity, recover highlight/shadow detail, and allow some vignette. The style comes more from tone and texture treatment than from one specific camera setting.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI13y ago