PHOTOSHOP
Visualising and creating commercial assignments

Photoshop is an amazing tool with which to express your creativity. When you start thinking with it, knowing what it can do, you find the flexibility to how you approach assignments is a godsend. These two commissioned adds were first sketched out very roughly (Jonograms!) in Photoshop, which gave a rough starting point to explore and prove the concept. Next we wanted to see if we could photograph the various elements to fit the design. Once that was achieved, we then set up the scenarios, created a mood or framework, then added the text and that was it.

ILIFE
I Life had developed a new waterproof iPhone housing and wanted a series of images depicting it in different situations. Additional elements like water drops, the red tape, blurred spectators were all added in post.

A) Original rough sketch to outline the important elements needed

B) A location frame of an iPhone with the runners hand, shot against a blue background so it can be extracted

c) A shot of the runner, as viewed from his phone camera

D) The path as viewed by the runner

ILIFE #2

1. First overall plate for the beach scene

2. Scene captured by the iPhone

3. Final composite

CYBERQUAD
Back in 2013, CyberTechnology Solutions wanted a full page add to promote their new quadcopter to the law enforcement market. It’s all very well coming up with a scenario, but you have to work out if it is possible, so proving the concept is essential. Issues like can you see enough detail through the window of the car of the environment outside? Will all the elements be clearly visible. You have to go and act it out bit by bit. This was all done on location without any green screen elements. The idea here is that the agents in the car are monitoring with their iPad what the gangsters are up to, via their quadcopter which is hovering outside the window of the house. They then call in the guys on the ground and apprehend the bad guys.
This was all acted out by our creative team and shot in my Jeep outside our office, with all lighting added in post production.
Thanks to Alexis, Robin, Chris and Doug at ESP.

A) Original sketch in Photoshop to block out the essential elements needed

B) A test with Robin and Doug to see what lens was needed to cover the scene inside and out

C) A revised mock up to see how it was all going to fit

D) A staged shot of the crooks (Chris and Doug) at work

E) Location shot to establish the house and the Police

F) The QuadCopter

G) Assembling the elements in Photoshop and checking to see what is missing

H) The final add with Chris and Doug playing both roles

At times you may need to salvage a flat or lifeless image. You may have to record the location but don’t have time to wait around for the weather or season to be right. So Photoshop can help with this.
a-b) I used the Clone Tool to remove the branches, then the Sky Replacement tool ‘Edit-Sky Replacement’. Also tonal and Selective Colour Tool.
c-d) I used layers to create a lit window and lamplight, plus tonal controls to give some life to the image.
In these two examples there is no right or wrong here, just what is dictated by the initial requirement.

A)

B)

C)

D)

PHOTOSHOPVisualising and creating commercial assignments

PHOTOSHOP
Visualising and creating commercial assignments