Dragan effect

Rick Sammartino Community moderator

• March 12, 2022 02:45

KP, Why did you delete the whole thread after all of that work?

You can download a video showing my workflow. It should be available for a week from today (Mar 11 22).

https://we.tl/t-DT2ya1YRfI

These are the steps...

How to Create the Dragan Effect in Photo Raw.

1. Open your image in Photo Raw. Double click the filename and rename it to 'Original'.
2. Duplicate the original layer and name it Layer 1
3. Select Layer 1 and reduce saturation (in Develop) to 0.
4. Duplicate layer 1 and name it layer 2.
5. Invert the layer 2 by adding a Curves filter and select invert from the drop down.
6. Change layer 2 blending mode to vivid light.
7. Add a Blur filter above curves and select surface blur.
8. Adjust amount and threshold to your preference.
9. Turn off the Original layer and Merge layers 1 and 2. Layer 2 will remain.
10. Turn the Original layer back on and set layer 2 blending to overlay.
11. Select the original layer and duplicate it. Name the new layer Layer 1
12. Reduce the Layer 1 saturation (in Develop) to 0.
13. Change layer 1 blending to multiply.
14. If your image looks too dark, apply shadows/highlights adjustment to original layer.
15. Now brighten the eyes. Duplicate Layer 2 and name it Layer 3
16. On Layer 3 add a Local Adjustment set to Paint with color and set to white.
17. Set the brush to paint in, feather 100 and adjust size to paint on the eyes. 
18. Note: If layer 3 blending is already set to overlay, change it to normal while painting.
19. Change layer 3 blending to overlay.
20. To make eyes pop, Duplicate layer 3 and rename to layer 4 .
21. Lower the layer 4 opacity to your preference.
22. Right click layer 4 and select Merge Visible. (All layers should be on at this point)
23. Color style the image using a LUT if desired or ...
24. If you want black & white effect then add a B/W filter to the remaining merged layer

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  KP H

  • March 12, 2022 20:13

  Rick sorry, I did not think it would take out all the work you did, my apologies.  I thought to take out only my inputs that was confusing.   I sincerely appreciate the work and effort you did to aid the community on this.

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  Rick Sammartino Community moderator

  • March 14, 2022 18:35

  Since the original thread was deleted, I'll repost my examples for those who want to see what it does.

  The above instructions were adapted for Photo Raw from a video showing the procedure in Photoshop.

   

  Original                                                                                Dragan

  

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  KP H

  • March 14, 2022 23:26

  Thank you again Rick, your aid in figuring this out is Top Notch!

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