How do I paint an office building gold?

[dhabercom2]

Starting with a photo of an office building, I want to make it appear to be made of gold, or covered in gold (leaf, maybe), or simply painted with gold paint. Suggested techniques? Here is a JPG of my test photo, taken in Boston's Copley Square. I am particularly interested in the  background buildings, rather than the church. Thanks!

[JoeLib · Accepted solution]

Like this?  I went to the Green Channel for the most contrasty image and used the Quick Selection Tool to select the rear building.

Then Copy-Pasted that selection to it's own layer and toned it Gold.

Joe

[c.pfaffenbichler]

The problem with »gold« is that what people usually mean by it is not a proper color (in the sense of being defined by Luminance, Chroma and Hue or whichever model one prefers) but includes relevant components of surface properties like reflectivity.

So depending on what exactly you want to achieve you may need to fake additional reflections on the solid elements and possibly reduce the shadow on the left side.

[dhabercom2]

C Pfaffenbilcher, excellent detail to remember when I get to the final project. Thanks!

David

[c.pfaffenbichler]

The building apparently has already been clipped to edit the sky.

The see-through sections of the balustrade and the crucifix and the bluish halo all around might benefit from being addressed.

[Trevor.Dennis]

I'd be interested to know what camera the image was taken with?  That must be a 50Mp file you uploaded.

[dhabercom2]

Trevor Dennis: the working file in all its PSD glory was about 500 MB because it included a dozen layers for the pedestrians. To blur them and make them translucent, I took a series of shots on a tripod, including one with no pedestrians. Then I extracted each pedestrian or group, blurred them, etc., and pasted them back in place. The flat PSD image is about 150 MB.

This also is a vertical panorama in which the upper and lower halves were taken separately. With all the geometrical parts, matching was easy. I did this to get maximum resolution from my camera and lens. An ironic detail: I shot the lower half and expected that to be the final image, but after looking at it for a few weeks, I realized it had a tunnel effect and needed the top. So, I went back on the anniversary of the first shoot (to get the same light at the same time of day) and shot the top from the same camera position. Though I am an old film guy, it is for reasons like this that I switched to digital and never looked back. I'm having a great time. You can see my stuff at www.davidhabercom.com.

The camera was a Nikon D800, with 36.3 megawumps, and the lens a beautiful Nikon 80mm portrait lens.

[D Fosse]

I'd be interested to know what camera the image was taken with?  That must be a 50Mp file you uploaded.

Medium format back probably - Phase One, Leaf, Hasselblad?

[dhabercom2]

Good speculation, D Fosse, but I cheated, as you can see in the reply I was writing when your message arrived. Hasselblad? Only if I could get 30mpg out of it to replace my Camry with 220,000 miles!

David

[D Fosse]

Yep, I was in a hurry and didn't have time to read it.

It's not cheating at all. The idea to do it exactly one year later is brilliant and works well. I wouldn't stretch the "gold" concept too far though, and the image doesn't need it. It holds up perfectly well on its own.

Don't knock the D800, it's already one of the truly classic DSLRs and for good reason. I got one just after it was released in 2012 - and for the first time since the F4 (aka the tank), I have no urge whatsoever to replace it with something newer. It just feels like the complete camera body, as much now as when I bought it.

BTW I still keep the F4. I recently used it as a dummy when setting up lights for another shoot:

[dhabercom2]

I concur on the D800. No more pixel envy. I also keep my previous camera (D80 in this case) as a backup in the event of a catastrophe.

The photo I posted is not the one I will give the gold treatment. It just happened to be at hand and has a bit of skyline to experiment with. As a photograph, it stands on its own as is. The actual project will entail creating a large skyline by sandwiching together scenes from Boston. There is more to the final work that just that, but I do want a "Golden City" in one part.

Thanks for your interest.

David Habercom

[Trevor.Dennis]

You don't need medium format for that sort of resolution nowadays.  I don't keep up with new hardware, but I use a 5DS which has a higher resolution than the OP's photomerge.

Canon 5DS

Image at the top of this thread

The pixel count of the 5DS makes clipping masks so much easier, and I love the camera way more than I expected (it being the first non 1D body I'd owned in nearly ten years.

Incidentally, metallic surfaces are reflective, and have strong contrast with bright highlights and deep shadows.  When you are trying to simulate something, it doesn't hurt to look at the real thing.

[davescm]

Now that looks like a good retirement plan Trevor

Dave

[dhabercom2]

JoeLib I do like your result. I think I might make the gold a bit more intense, but I like what you see. If I do that with an entire skyline, which is my final goal, the result will be pretty impressive. Thank you!

David