The Gothic type look

[Ozzi Paul]

I will be shooting some images of some friends soon & they will be dressed in the gothic type look, the shots will be taken at an old run down house. How can I get the overall image to suit the look of the people in it so it has dark gothic style, is there actions & textures I can use or would I be better off doing the adjustments myself. I have CS 5. Shots will mostly be outside under veranda I would say but will do some inside as well & will be using 2 off camera flashes on stands with umbrella's & with wireless triggers. Any help would be great, thanks.

[Xenedis]

Just shoot with the lens cap attached; the images will come out black, which is just the right look. ;-)

I cannot say I've shot one of those gothic/emo types before, but the sorts of techniques that come to my mind include desaturation and lots of selective darkening.

With your lights, you may want to go for very directional, non-diffused lighting to produce strong contrast between the subject and the background.

Sepia toning might also work well.

I've never really gone for textures myself, but if you do use textures, my advice is to apply them subtly.

[Ozzi Paul]

Thanks Xenedis, will remember to give the non defused lighting a go to. Umbrella's I have are 1 white shoot through & 1 silver, I was thinking of just trying to use them for fill flash but higher contrast does sound better, haven't used them to much, need practice.
Never used textures really myself but thought they might suit some shots, just trial & error I guess.
I was thinking about waiting for a half decent day but cloudy or overcast skies would probably better suit the scene, could darken them for a more moody effect which would probably help a bit to.

[ameerat42]

When you get the results, have a look @ the red channels, using the likes of Photoshop.
Am.

[kiwi]

Checkout a mate's site - gorgeous photography

offtopic - and will probably get reported - but also while you are at it tell them to get over themselves :cool:

[Ozzi Paul]

Thanks, will check red channels, need to start doing more with channels stuff anyway.
Will check out that site to, thanks again.
Found some actions but not really what I wanted, well maybe I just cant use them properly,lol.

[Lani]

This (http://designnocturne.com/2011/06/15/authentic-undead-retouch/) tutorial might head you in the right direction with processing. I haven't tried it but it looks ok.

[Ozzi Paul]

Thanks, will check it out.
EDIT- Had a quick look & it looks ok so bookmarked the page, will try it on a pic of my daughter.

[Ozzi Paul]

Update, Thanks for the help & for that link Lani, tried it last night, made a few alterations with setting along the way then added a few bits of my own, think it turned out ok for my 1st try. Now to see how I go with an overall scene not just a face.
Was going to add the image but can't work out how to post it with this post....