After talking to one of my clients the other day, I was encouraged to upload a video where I show the extent of post-processing I do with my images. Personally I concider it more to be developing rather than photoshoping, because for me it's all about furfilling the true potential of the image. My opinion is that if I don't bring out the whole potential of the image, then I'm not doing my job.
My client had a very good point: when a client is viewing the completed image, then it's hard for him to truly understand the ammount of time invested in getting it that way. It might be easy to assume that just having an expensive camera is the difference between good and bad.
So here is the video that shows how much manual laber it takes to get there. And yes - the original exposure was shot with a very expensive camera.
PS. Be prepared, it's a bit tedious video, but I have tried to move as fast as possible while including the important elements which makes the difference.
Please view in HD.
Raymond Engmark :: Fjellproffen Commercial Shot (Photoshop video) from Raymond Engmark on Vimeo.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Commercial work: Fjellproffen (Shot in Lofoten)
This week has been soley spent in front of the computer catching up on my photoshop work. The fall is here in the North 100% now, so lately I have focused on getting some shooting done before green surroundrings completely vanished. Still, it feels good to finalize some new work, there is a lot (A LOT) of RAW material waiting to be processed, and I can't help feeling a bit stressed.
I do a lot of my work in Photoshop! For me it's not that I always need to work my images in photoshop, but I have learned from some very skilled people how to improve your images (or develop as I would say), and I just can't bring myself to put my work away if I see more potential that I can bring out in photoshop. It's not tampering with it - it's developing. Just because we have quick digital cameras, it's not an excuse to be lazy.
About four weeks ago I spendt a weekend at the island of Værøy in lovely Lofoten. For a long time I have been trying to shoot some good commercial pictures for Fjellproffen (contractor), but they often do work in between houses and other not very good surroundings for commercial images of this kind. So when they got an assingment in Lofoten, I packed up my gear and got on the ferry for a five hour ride into the great Norwegian oceans.
This was not an easy assingment. There was "a ton" of gear, no assistant and this is a small island in the middle of the ocean! Wind gusts can come in without any warning, and as the behind the scenes pictures will show, it can go from blue skies to pouring down in a matter of minutes. One time i had spent one hour rigging up, and the weather turned on me, and it was just getting the gear inside the car without shooting any pictures at all.
Here are the results - hope you enjoy them!
There is a great efford behind creating these images. I spent several days planning in advance of traveling to the island (what backdrops I wanted, what light I wanted, what flashes I wanted to bring, which colors I wanted in the picture and many many other things). When I got to the island I spent one day traveling around and shooting test pictures and also testing how the flashes worked with lighting up such big objects.
I spent one day shooting the actual raw images I needed, and one day later back in Bodø shooting some elements for the pictures. In the end I developed the pictures in photoshop, and I did not punch in and out, but I certainly did not spend anything less than 40 hours, but I would guess around 50 hours.
I do not beleive in using plugins and filters to get it done quickly. Photography is a craftmanship, and I take pride in doing my work manually. I try to acheive not only photo realistic, but pixel perfect. I want my customers to be happy with my work, even if they want to blow it up to 5x3 meters. And that is the thing about those quick plugins; the give your picture a cool effect right away ... but most of the time it completely ruins your pixels, and it really looks like hell when you get up close on a big print.
This is not me trying to blow my own horn, I am merely explaining so that it will be easier for my clients and customers to understand why I want more money than a photographer that don't give a damn about how it all comes out. Check out behind the scenes pictures, it is just shot with a 5 mp mobile phone, but still, it gives you some idea on how an unprocessed picture looks in comparison.
So to my potential future customers; if you and a compeeting business were advertising in the same newspaper; which picture would you have in your ad? The one that gets the attention of the consumers and brings them into the ad, or the one that just merges into the newspaper and just makes you turn the page. And compared to the price of advertising, getting the best photographer for the job will be a drop in the ocean, no matter what.
Compare yourself - here is the behind the scenes pictures! (This is something I need to be better at, I have had a lot of crazy shoots in the wierdest surroundings that lever shows in the finished work).
I do a lot of my work in Photoshop! For me it's not that I always need to work my images in photoshop, but I have learned from some very skilled people how to improve your images (or develop as I would say), and I just can't bring myself to put my work away if I see more potential that I can bring out in photoshop. It's not tampering with it - it's developing. Just because we have quick digital cameras, it's not an excuse to be lazy.
About four weeks ago I spendt a weekend at the island of Værøy in lovely Lofoten. For a long time I have been trying to shoot some good commercial pictures for Fjellproffen (contractor), but they often do work in between houses and other not very good surroundings for commercial images of this kind. So when they got an assingment in Lofoten, I packed up my gear and got on the ferry for a five hour ride into the great Norwegian oceans.
This was not an easy assingment. There was "a ton" of gear, no assistant and this is a small island in the middle of the ocean! Wind gusts can come in without any warning, and as the behind the scenes pictures will show, it can go from blue skies to pouring down in a matter of minutes. One time i had spent one hour rigging up, and the weather turned on me, and it was just getting the gear inside the car without shooting any pictures at all.
Here are the results - hope you enjoy them!
There is a great efford behind creating these images. I spent several days planning in advance of traveling to the island (what backdrops I wanted, what light I wanted, what flashes I wanted to bring, which colors I wanted in the picture and many many other things). When I got to the island I spent one day traveling around and shooting test pictures and also testing how the flashes worked with lighting up such big objects.
I spent one day shooting the actual raw images I needed, and one day later back in Bodø shooting some elements for the pictures. In the end I developed the pictures in photoshop, and I did not punch in and out, but I certainly did not spend anything less than 40 hours, but I would guess around 50 hours.
I do not beleive in using plugins and filters to get it done quickly. Photography is a craftmanship, and I take pride in doing my work manually. I try to acheive not only photo realistic, but pixel perfect. I want my customers to be happy with my work, even if they want to blow it up to 5x3 meters. And that is the thing about those quick plugins; the give your picture a cool effect right away ... but most of the time it completely ruins your pixels, and it really looks like hell when you get up close on a big print.
This is not me trying to blow my own horn, I am merely explaining so that it will be easier for my clients and customers to understand why I want more money than a photographer that don't give a damn about how it all comes out. Check out behind the scenes pictures, it is just shot with a 5 mp mobile phone, but still, it gives you some idea on how an unprocessed picture looks in comparison.
So to my potential future customers; if you and a compeeting business were advertising in the same newspaper; which picture would you have in your ad? The one that gets the attention of the consumers and brings them into the ad, or the one that just merges into the newspaper and just makes you turn the page. And compared to the price of advertising, getting the best photographer for the job will be a drop in the ocean, no matter what.
Compare yourself - here is the behind the scenes pictures! (This is something I need to be better at, I have had a lot of crazy shoots in the wierdest surroundings that lever shows in the finished work).
Here is the weather when I arrived to the island. But I knew it would be good in between.
And naturally - this is the weather during breakfast the next day.
I needed to get up high to get the mountains in the background. Solution: Cat tripod.
1100ws flash unit. Anchored down because of the gusts on the island.
Weather struck all the sudden. Save the gear is all you can do.
Behind the camera when I shot the final picture of the day.
I love my work
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
A day of tragedy, Tomas Evjen has passed away
Photo: Lars Antonsen
11th September 2012 Tomas Evjen was found deceased at our place of business in Bodø. The movie director only reached the age of 39 years, and I was shocked to learn the news of his death. It still feels worng to write about it as it just seems like a stupid dream and I am about to wake up.
I only had the chance to know Tomas for the last months, but still I owe him a great deal of gratitude. When I arrived back in Bodø I had little connections in the media industry here, and I had no place to do my photography. Tomas invited me to share a studio with him for the bargain price which was critical for me as I had just finished my studies in London. And he made it very clear that no matter what I lacked in equiptment, it was no problem to lend it from him - free of charge.
During these months I also had my moments where I disagreed with Tomas, but we quickly understood that we were both ambitious and quickly settled our differences. He gave me the push and help I needed, when I needed it the most. And I have a feeling that almost every successful person within media in Bodø owe him some gratitude - either directly or indirectly.
Today I decided to take the day off, as I did yesterday. I spent the day just hanging around, spending time with my girlfriend, mingling with friends and traveling to Kjerringøy and stopping to enjoy the nice weather. Because when something tragic like this happends it just reminds me to live in the moment. You never know, the next one could be me our you - it does not matter how old you are.
Tomas lived a lot, and that is somewhat a comfort. I am sure that most people in their 80's have experienced less than Tomas did in this 39 years. Living my life on a daily basis, that will be my way to honor your memory Tomas.
Rest in peace, we will all try to finish the good things you stared.
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