Achieving this look

[RvltCo]

Was wondering if someone could help me figure out how to achieve the look of the following work, using Photoshop and whatever plug-ins that might be involved:
Grandma's Superhero Therapy (18 photos) - My Modern Metropolis

Not sure how to describe it.. "real but not quite real look". I've seen it before as well but enjoy this example especially because of the fun subject matter.

Thanks for anyone that may be able to help.

[karen_s]

I'm mostly guessing here but they look a bit desaturated, heavy on the blacks, and possibly split toned, among other things. You can do all of that in Photoshop but I am more of a Lightroom user so I can't offer much concrete as far as directions. There may be a plug in that is close to this but I am sure it can done just as well without one.

I like the subject too, great story and a fun way to tell it. Made me smile.

[OsmosisStudios]

Step 1: ask the photographer

[RvltCo]

@karen_s: I have been using Photoshop CS5 for almost a year now, but still find it hard to deconstruct heavy looks. Thanks for your suggestions.

@OsmosisStudios: if indeed serious, I wanted to try knowledgeable people here as well.

It's been a fun year so far of experimenting and taking this new passion on. Sometimes I see work that really grabs my attention, and would like to know and understand the tools and methods used.

[cousinmacho]

Ha, I actually interviewed this photographer for an article about this very series of photos.

If it helps, I know that he shoots on a Hasselblad, which will have some bearing on how the shots turn out.

He also told me that he mainly uses Photoshop to bump up the contrast and colours to get more of a 'comic book feel' to the images.

Using the tweaks that karen_s suggested sounds like a good start. As the images have quite a cinematic quality to them, I think you might also want to play around with the hue/saturation tool to help you achieve a kind of 'movie' effect, as mentioned in some of the tutorials here: 11 Super Awesome Photoshop Movie Effects | Photojojo

[RvltCo]

Great, thanks. I will see what I can come up with.