Trying Out That Alex Rosso Look
So, I stumbled across this photographer, Alex Rosso. Not sure where, maybe just scrolling online somewhere. Anyway, the pictures had this really specific vibe, you know? Lots of deep reds, kinda moody, shadows everywhere. Looked really cool, and I thought, “Hey, I could try that.” I mess around with my camera sometimes, nothing serious, but this seemed like a fun little project.
First thing, I just started looking closer at those Rosso photos. Tried to figure out what made them tick. It wasn’t just slapping a red filter on, seemed more complicated. Looked like a lot of it happened when taking the picture, not just fixing it later. Stuff like shooting during the ‘golden hour’ or at night with city lights, finding scenes that already had strong reds or oranges maybe.
So I grabbed my old camera. It’s nothing fancy. Went out a few evenings. My idea was to catch the sunset, get those natural warm colors going. First few tries? Total flops. Pictures were either too dark, or just looked kinda… orange? Not that deep red I saw in Rosso’s stuff. Felt a bit silly, standing there pointing my camera at a wall while the sun went down.
Getting Hands-On
Realized I needed to think more about the light. Maybe use artificial light? I found an old red plastic folder in my desk drawer. Tried holding that over my camera flash. Yeah, looked about as bad as you’d expect. Everything just turned flat red, lost all the detail. Scrapped that idea fast.
Then I started messing around with the settings on the camera itself. White balance, saturation, stuff like that. Pushed the white balance way over to the warm side. Took some shots indoors with just a single lamp on. That started to get a bit closer. Things looked warmer, shadows got deeper. Still not quite the Rosso magic, but felt like I was getting somewhere.
- Tried shooting things that were already red, like a brick wall or a fire hydrant.
- Played with underexposing shots slightly to make the shadows darker.
- Focused on simple subjects, trying to get the mood right.
The Computer Part
Okay, so taking the picture was one thing. Then came trying to tweak them on my computer. I don’t have fancy software, just some basic free stuff. Opened up the photos I took. Mostly, I just slid sliders around. Color balance, contrast, shadows, highlights.
Spent ages trying to get the reds right. Pushing them harder, but trying not to make everything else look weird. It’s a tricky balance. Sometimes the skin tones would go crazy, or the whole picture just looked like a mess. Lots of trial and error. Save a version, hate it, go back. Save another, still not right.
Did I nail the Alex Rosso style? Nah, not really. My pictures are still pretty amateur. But it was interesting. Made me look at light and color differently when I’m out with my camera now. Learned a bit about editing too, even if it was just messing things up most of the time. It’s harder than it looks, that’s for sure. But yeah, good practice.
