Lan Jieying returns to the public eye. Why do the photos of Hong Kong stars in the 1980s look good?

Lan Jieying, who played the role of Chun Shisanniang in "Westward Journey", was once known as the Hong Kong Kowloon Girl together with Carina Lau, Sandra Ng, Maggie Cheung, Anita Mui, Qiu Shuzhen and others. However, in a video recently exposed, Lan Jieying stated that she had been sexually assaulted. After many years of decline, Lan Jieying once again appeared in the public eye because of the keyword "sexual assault."

This can’t help but bring back our memories of the older generation of Hong Kong and Taiwan actresses.

It has its own soft light and is beautiful in its own way. So, how to take retro portraits?

Professional photographer Weilan Mag gave us some ideas, let’s listen to what she said.

Human body and color

Choose soft light to shoot private rooms. In the northern winter, the general shooting time is between 2:30 and 4:30 pm. If the indoor light is If it's not strong enough, you can install a softbox or a beauty dish on the flash head to soften the light. The latter is a large circular dish with a white inner layer and curved bulges, covering the flash head to achieve the purpose of softening the optical fiber.

The most important thing is that the shape is relaxed, comfortable, and reflects curves and elegance. At the beginning of the shooting, I told the girl that she just needs to relax. When I suggested the movements, I also repeatedly emphasized that you only need to find an angle that is comfortable and flexible for you. Combined with what was said above, to express the soft and elegant curves of a girl’s body, it is relatively suitable to shoot with soft light.

Speaking of color, it is also a very important element in this series of films. The basic colors envisioned are white, pink, and orange. When I arrived in the room, I found that the curtains still had a light blue tint. Therefore, the original film shows more cold tones, but the cold tones also include warm tones, such as skin color and sofa. Just like when you adjust it to warm tones in the later stage, you will find that high-gloss curtains and the like form a cold tones contrast. . Hue processing mainly adjusts color temperature, exposure, highlights, black levels, white levels, saturation and transparency of red, orange, yellow, green and blue, which will be detailed in the lr parameters later.

Props preparation and scenery

A 600d

Two UV mirrors, one as a backup

A reflector, indoor backlight Easy to use, try to be as gentle as possible when lighting

One Me

Two large pieces of floor-length tulle, including patterned lace and translucent tulle, both in white .

A lace nightgown, corset type, also white.

Two bouquets of forget-me-not dried flowers, one pink and purple, the other warm yellow. They were all found on Taobao. Can be used multiple times.

And the focus of this shoot, the props that make the picture hazy and dreamy:

A transparent lipstick, an orange and red lipstick.

Apply lipstick around the UV mirror, avoiding the central focus area, creating a dreamy feeling in front of the mirror without losing focus, especially when the light shines on the white gauze skirt, which will be particularly hazy.

The reason why I prepared lipstick is to add a sense of warmth. I didn't apply a lot, just a small amount on the outside of the UV mirror.

Of course, there are many other props with similar functions, such as white tulle, plastic wrap, etc., which can achieve similar effects without staining the UV. There are also photographers who use hand cream, which has similar functions to lipstick, so you can also try it.

As for the setting this time, it is actually very simple, but the main focus is on simplicity.

Because the sofa and walls in the room are all dark, which does not match the theme of the shooting, so I spread the large piece of white gauze I brought with me on the sofa and let the white gauze hang down, which is also conducive to creating a quiet atmosphere. feeling. The second is the wall. The white gauze covers the dark blue. When shooting, the white background showed a slight blue tone, giving it a soft light effect. I also like the feeling of the original film.

The original film and the edited film are attached below.

On-site shooting and angle selection

If a set of photos can be concise, be concise. The fewer interfering elements, the clearer the intended expression. The main sequence of the shooting process in this group is from the sofa, window, in front of the mirror to the corner. However, try to avoid objects of other colors in the background. At this time, the bouquet is a good prop, which can make the photo less monotonous, and can also enhance the color contrast and enhance the warmth. The chair in the picture above is hollow and flat. When we tilted it over, the girl sat on it with her knees in her arms, hanging in the air and quiet.

When shooting, in addition to paying attention to the big scene, grasping the small details will increase the richness of the composition. Putting a small bouquet of warm yellow flowers on the girl's shoulders not only reflects the beauty of the shoulders, but also balances the picture and forms a color contrast.

When taking the picture below, we paid attention to the balance of the picture. The lines formed by the legs and hands make the picture fuller. The parts of the legs were also selected from below the joints to avoid abrupt ghosts. The center of the hand or ghost foot falls on the buttocks. Generally speaking, the angle is basically chosen to highlight the human body itself, and other accessories serve as a backdrop to complement it. The center still reflects the simplicity of the picture.

LR output parameter settings

Generally, I am used to adjusting the tone in LR and refining the details in PS. As you can notice, the biggest difference between my original film and the finished film is actually the color tone.

And when grading, I also remind myself not to memorize the parameters, because the light and color effects of each picture are different, just like a preset cannot be applied to the entire set of films. So at this time, you should only adjust the color based on knowing the principles of each step. If the computer screen has no color cast problem, adjust it to a level that you think is beautiful and comfortable, and you can basically set the tone.

Before color grading, the main thing is to analyze the original film first, analyze the proportion of each color, things that are redundant or need to be added in the film, exposure correction, etc.

This set of pictures mainly adjusts the color temperature, exposure, highlights, black levels, white levels, saturation and transparency of red, orange, yellow, green and blue.

The following are detailed parameter settings:

How to create a dreamy and hazy feeling in PS

Curves, optional colors, color balance, and channel mixing in PS I won’t go into detail about the tools, color levels, liquefaction, masks, material usage, etc. Here we mainly talk about how to create a sense of fantasy.

This is mainly for the situation where you did not use lipstick and other auxiliary products in the early stage, because sometimes if these items are not used well, such as lipstick, hand cream, plastic wrap, etc., I mean that they are not used well. On the contrary, it will be counterproductive, causing the picture to lose texture and become fleshy instead of soft.

The Gaussian blur that comes with PS also has a softening effect, but it is rarely used by individuals. Recommended several commonly used plug-ins:

Color Efex Pro, AlienSkinExposure, Dfx, Perfect Effects

Here we will talk about using film filters Alien Skin Exposure and Color Efex Pro to create a dreamy feel.

Open AlienSkinExposure in PS, and select Infrared - Glow Only - LOW on the right. The purpose is to make the highlights of the picture shine, but because this group of photos itself has a hazy feel, so select the low level part. The parameters are as follows:

The following picture is obtained:

The filter Color Efex Pro selects classical soft focus, which also enhances the dreamy hazy feeling. Also because it is hazy, the adjustment range is small. The changes are not huge, but the methods are universal.

Get the following picture:

After the hazy feeling is created, there are also corresponding adjustment curves, optional colors, color balance, channel mixer, color levels, liquefaction, mask, and materials. application, etc.

In the last step, I will sharpen it. After sharpening, I will create another layer of template. Then erase the areas that don't need sharpening. I usually only keep the sharpening of the eyes, lips, and eyebrows, and erase the rest.

In this way, you can get beautiful portraits!

The Lan Jieying incident has not come to an end yet. Nearly thirty years have passed, and now the public outcry often obscures the sadness behind the incident.

A beautiful woman whose fate completely changed due to a sexual assault hopes that justice will be done. Moreover, if this time it is limited to visible cases, we will see Lan Jieying’s story repeated again and again.