Getting that Dave Hill look to your photos using Lightroom… kinda :-)
I’ve been working on getting better at post processing, more specifically the so called Dave Hill look, or should I call it the Jill Greenberg look…
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love the work of Rian Flynn… Lately though I’ve been looking into how to produce the post processed looks he gets and I stumbled upon Dave Hill.
It turns out that Rian Flynn was once the protégé of Dave Hill working as his “lighting guy” on several shots, this being one of them from the Adventure Girl shoot.
Property of Dave Hill photography
You can see Rian (and his Dinosaur tattoo) at 01:20 in this video pouring water on the model.
The woman behind the effect
Even though Dave Hill might be considered the master of these types of shots, he’s not the evil mastermind, that title belongs to Jill Greenberg.
Jill Greenberg spouted a lot of new artist to follow in her footsteps and dable with this type of photography…
We’ve allready covered Dave Hill and Rian Flynn but Dustin Snipes is also one of her followers in my opinion (he wrote an article for ScottKelby.com in 2009 about his post-production process)…
If you wanna find out more about the specific lighting setups Sid Vasandani Photography made a really great post about this topic and I strongly encourage you to check it out… that is one well written and researched article.
I was tipped of about Sid Vasandani Photography (formerly known as LIDO Photography) by fellow danish blogger Nicolai Brix, so a shout out goes out to him as well 
Getting the effect in Lightroom
All right, lets get down to business, how do we copy this effect our selves using only LR?
… I really wanted to sound like I’m a really smart guy, but credit is due, where its due….
http://presetpond.com is this really great site for swopping homemade preset for Lightroom, Aperture, Photoshop and most of the other great imaging software giants.
I and several other people have uploaded their presets to this site along with a couple of before and after photos.
You can check out my entry(ies) here:
http://presetpond.com/author/coach-z/
How to get the preset into Lightroom
- Simply click on the “download preset” button and start downloading the preset.
- It’s a zip folder so you’ll have to un-zip it.
- Place the .lrtemplate file in the Lightroom preset folder for easy storage (should be in the same place as mine -> C:\Users\My-PC\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Develop Presets\User Presets
- Open Lightroom
- Go to the Develop Module
- open the “preset” tab on the left side
- Right click on User Presets and click import
- Find the folder where you just placed the .lrtemplate file and you’re done
To apply the effect simply click on the effect name in the preset tab, and hey presto you’re looking at a Dave Hill kinda photography…
You’ll need to tweak the settings in Lightroom to get the look you’re looking for, but I’ll wager that my preset isn’t to far off.
Before and after photo
BEFORE - still a great photo, if I'm to say so my self
AFTER - now with the Dave Hill'ish look
Just one more this one from an old shoot.
This time I fiddled about with some skin softening, teeth whitening, desaturated the red and orange a bit, and a bit of dodge & burn… All Lightroom baby
BEFORE - chewing out some Storm Troopers
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AFTER - now with the Dave Hill'ish look with added skin softening... all done in Lightroom
Inspiration to the technique
I was inspired to make this preset by reading several blogs and watching countless Youtube videos on the effect.
If you’re still not satisfied, try this Photoshop tutorial from DIY Photography… I tried to do it my self, but it’s just to much work for me… My way, one click (more or less) and you’re done
Hope you guys enjoy the tip, let me know in the comments below..
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about 1 year ago
The original photos look more like the Dave Hill style.
about 1 year ago
It`s my try.
Without LR.
Only Photoshop.
http://s012.radikal.ru/i321/1012/cb/840a67ff9f09.jpg
about 11 months ago
Your lighting is definetly on the right track to achieve something like the dave hill style.
But I think you overdid it the post-processing. I agree with Marty that the original photos look much more like the Dave Hill style.
Your Vignette effect is way too pronounced. If you look at the dave hill photo at the beginning of your post, you’ll see that it is much more subtle.
And look at the area above your head in your second picture. There’s a glowing effect because of the clarity slider in LR.
I’ve seen quite a few attempts so far at copying the dave hill look in LR (Scott Kelby also gave it a go), but I believe you can’t really get the look in LR alone.
Anyhow, thanks for the post! And I really like your lighting and the subjects!