Dave Hill is a brilliant photographer who is famous for distinctive look of his photos. Dave Hill photo style is becoming as popular as HDR. Though many argue that Dave Hill photo effect is done only through expensive lighting at the shooting scene, there’re already a number of Photoshop tutorials which try to achieve similar look using only Photoshop. Both versions of this Dave hill look Photoshop tutorial are very simple to follow, though you will need to have installed LucisArt Photoshop plugin. Any noise reduction plugin (I use Noise Ninja) is also highly recommended. Let me know in the comments how this tutorial works for you.

1. Get rid of the noise on your photo to get later best possible result. I applied Noise Ninja plugin. You can use built in Photoshop filter Noise->Reduce noise. Copy image to the new layer (Ctrl+J).

2. Apply LucisArt (I used Pro 5 version, LucisArt 3 SE can also be used), preset Whyeth, amount 10. Repeat this step two more times (Press Ctrl+F). Copy image to the new layer (Ctrl+J).

3. Apply Unsharp Mask with Amount 190, Radius 15, Threshold 0.

4. Darken image by applying Levels adjustment layer.

5. Apply Hue/Saturation adjustment layer, Saturation -25.

6. It’s done! If you think the image is oversharpened you can add Gaussian Blur, amout 0.3 You can play with layers opacity as well.

This variation of Dave Hill look is even simpler, only LucisArt plugin is used.

1. Reduce noise

2. Copy image to the new layer (Ctrl+J) two times.

3. Choose middle layer and apply LucisArt, preset Sculpture, Smooth details 5, Mix with original image 100.

4. Select upper layer and set blending mode to Soft Light.