How to get this look

[candidrachel]

Phil Evans has decades of experience so the chances of me becoming like him anytime soon is remote lol! My question is how has he achieved this tone/colour in the photo? I suspect he's used some kind of gaussian blur to soften the skin and how did he get the classy eyes look.

Its just so beautiful! I'm inspired!

I could pick up the phone and ask him but being the busy pro that he is he's probably not in so I'd ask some seasoned folks on here intead

Phil Evans Photography

[sk66]

A black/white conversion layer with opacity turned way down...probably desaturated the original as well...
For the eyes, copy them to another layer before applying any blur, or use the history brush to remove it from the eyes, or apply the gaussian blur to a new layer and erase the eyes...
I usually copy the eyes to a new layer and apply some type of mode like "multiply" or "hard light" and adjust to get the effect I want.

[teaking]

You can also use curves on the black and white layer to adjust the effect, and contrast of the effect. You probably dont want to do that though and keep it subtle but just for anyone else who wants to play.

[candidrachel]

Thank you for your replies. I took on board what you said about the B & W conversion but on closer inspection it looks like he's used a split tone effect and after Googling and playing around in PE8 not exactly CS5 what he uses no doubt I have come to this stage now. Almost there and just a bit more tweaking and studying.

[Photologyst]

I would venture to guess that PE has used a portrait program like "Portrait Professional" given how the skin and the eyes look. That would be the quickest way to get that look.

Thereafter he probably went to PS or Lightroom for desaturation.