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So, although I canвЂ™t show you how to get DaveвЂ™s exact look, there is a plug-in called вЂњLucis ArtвЂќ (pron. Everybody wants the look he has created-itвЂ™s what makes him stand out and get all those high profile gigs, and if he shows us all exactly how he gets it, his trademark look (the one you can currently only get from him) will be franchised, and I totally understand and respect him for protecting it. ThereвЂ™s no substitute for talent and creativity.Дave has given some вЂњhintsвЂќ in forums and interviews about how he gets his look, but heвЂ™s somewhat guarded about his вЂњSecret Sauce,вЂќ and I donвЂ™t blame him. You could nail his lighting, and his Photoshop techniques, and still not get a Dave Hill final image. The fact is Dave is a very, very good photographer, with great technique, and heвЂ™s very creative and clever in his compositions. It doesnвЂ™t matter how much Photoshop and lighting you throw at a scene, if it isnвЂ™t composed well and exposed properly itвЂ™s not going to work.

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(Matt showed a Lightroom technique on Photoshop User TV for achieving this type of look in LightroomвЂ™s Develop Module or Camera Raw). He could also be doing a lot of this right within Camera Raw, but then againвЂ“I could be totally wrong. He said recently that he doesnвЂ™t use HDR for his images (and I agree), but I do believe he вЂњdouble-processesвЂќ his raw images (exposing the same image twice in Camera Raw once for the foreground, one for the background, and then he combines the two).

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He mentioned in a recent interview that he does a lot of dodging and burning (I believe he makes his highlights much brighter and his shadows much darker to create maximum contrast before he adds special effects), I think he does some Shadow/Highlight moves, along with some High Pass sharpening, or a series of Unsharp Mask or Smart Sharpen applications. He also usually uses a Main Light up front (sometimes a Ring Flash), and a Fill flash as well (You can see this in the вЂњbehind the scenesвЂќ video on DaveвЂ™s site-IвЂ™ve watched every single one). He often uses two bare bulb kicker flash units (with reflectors) behind his subjects to really rim out the sides of his subjects, which helps add that bright highlight contrasty look.

He uses a lighting set-up that creates lots of contrast (he uses anywhere from four to six lights on average). His lighting is a key ingredient and without the right lighting look what you do after the fact in Photoshop wonвЂ™t get you there. Now, after researching the living daylights out of this topic, I can tell you this: I donвЂ™t believe Dave HillвЂ™s look comes from a plug-in, or just a Photoshop technique, or just a special way of lighting. Whatever you want to call it every big celebrity and rock band wants him to shoot them, and even big business magazines are calling on him to shoot their covers. His trademark look is gritty, sharp, yet at the same time IвЂ™ve heard it described as almost вЂњpainterlyвЂќ in nature. Photography, like fashion itself, seems to go though periods of time where there is a certain вЂњlookвЂќ that everybody wants to have, and right now the hot look for portraits is what you might call the вЂњDave Hill lookвЂќ (I blogged about DaveвЂ™s photography last month-hereвЂ™s the link). The grittier, hyper-sharpened, high-contrast image after applying the Lucis Art plug-in (click for a larger view). The Lucis Art plug-in interface (Click for a larger view). The original image is shown above-thatвЂ™s Photoshop User Managing Editor Issac Stolzenbach, on his classic Honda Shadow Sabre (click for a larger view).