How can I recreate a soft, moody couple-portrait look in camera and in editing?
Asked 6/5/2025
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2 answers
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I’m trying to recreate the soft, moody look of a couple portrait I saw in a video. I tested the idea with a similar grassy location, but my results look harsher and greener than the reference.
What camera, lighting, composition, and editing choices would help me get closer to that look? In particular:
- how can I make the grass appear darker/deeper green?
- how can I reduce the green cast on skin tones?
- what creates the glowing look in the hair?
- what role do focal length, aperture, background distance, and overcast light play?
For context, I’m shooting Nikon, while I think the reference image was shot on Sony.
Originally by macman. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
macman
1y ago
2 Answers
3
This answer covers shooting quite well, so we'll not cover the same ground again.
In postprocessing:
In your White Balance settings adjust the Magenta ←→ Green slider a few ticks towards magenta. Your image has a distinctly green tint on your skin tones due to the reflection of light from the grasses onto your skin.
To make the grasses a deeper, more pleasing green, use the HSL (Hue-Saturation-Luminance) tool to shift the Yellow channel significantly towards green. Also reduce the saturation and brightness of the Yellow channel slightly. Some applications call it the HSB (Hue-Saturation-Brightness) or HSV (Hue-Saturation-Value) tool. Brightness, Luminance, and Value all refer to the same thing.
In the HSL tool also boost the saturation of the Orange channel slightly and the luminance/brightness/value of the orange channel a bit more. This will help the skin tones to stand out.
Pull the Red channel saturation back just a smidgen and possibly boost the L/B/V ever so slightly. Adjust the Magenta channel as needed.
Reduce overall contrast slightly. Also pull back the highlights just a bit, boost the shadows a little, and raise the Black Point slightly.
Originally by Michael C. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Michael C
1y ago
0
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Brand is not the key difference here; lighting, lens choice, scene styling, and editing matter much more than Nikon vs Sony.
To get closer to that look:
- Shoot in overcast light. Soft cloud cover reduces harsh contrast and helps create the gentle “glow,” especially around hair.
- Use a longer focal length, a lower f-number, and keep the background farther behind the subjects for more background blur.
- Place the subjects in front of the grass rather than deep inside it, and tilt the camera slightly downward so the grass shows more depth.
- Styling matters too: muted clothing and a less distracting background help.
In editing:
- Correct the green cast in skin by nudging white balance slightly toward magenta.
- Use HSL/HSV: shift yellows toward green, then lower yellow saturation and luminance a bit to make grass look deeper and less bright.
- Slightly boost orange saturation/luminance for healthier skin tones.
- Add some contrast, local contrast, subtle warm highlights/cool shadows, and a light vignette.
- A small amount of softness/blur can help, but the lighting difference may prevent an exact match.
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