Visual Branding Part 2

At David Morris Photography we continue to shoot for awesome clients who see the value in the consistent look and feel we provide them.

In 2011 I blogged about Visual Branding and the importance of continuity in your images. Whether it's stills or video, many clients want a consistent look in their marketing materials. Here's why – it makes them instantly recognizable and conveys quality and reliability.

To provide this consistency, we document every detail of our shoots. We also oversee all preparation, styling and lighting.

After post-production, we compare all imagery to ensure it has a harmonious look and feel.

Tiffany gives us the thumbs up that everything is looking good!

In the end, everyone is pleased. Even our equipment!

Commercial Food Video

I recently had the privilege to work on a food video project where we captured product falling in slow motion and hand models in action.  Had a great crew to work with that exercised a ton of patience with shooting food in action.   When you have pans, tilts, dolly action, food moving and hand models dipping product, the project can get fairly complex and tedious.

Kudos to all for a great video shoot!

Big Production Shoots are a blast! The key is organization.

We had the privilege to shoot another large production for our friends at VML and Tom's of Maine.   When shooting large projects like these there are a lot of moving parts and people to keep organized.

You have a number of people from the client and agency. We also had second photographers, photo assistants, set builder, models, talent agencies, producer, production coordinator, chef, hair and make-up stylist, and photo retoucher.  Not to mention we needed to do a casting session to find the right models.

The project involved hundreds of email, texts, five different estimate versions, creating a shooting schedule for both photographers to make sure we got all the shots done on schedule, photo retouching schedule, building sets, prop shopping, checking in product to make sure everything is at the studio and in photo condition.

Of course then we needed to pre-light the sets, get all the props in place, check that all the set lights to make sure they work, add dimmers to make sure they didn't over power the natural light, make sure the set paint was dry and that everything looked perfect.

One of the things I've learned over the years is that you always have to be ready for the unexpected.  This project was no exception. In some of the photos below we had to spin the sink and vanity around backwards.  We had to do this so the shot fit the layout better.  It worked perfectly!

The bottom line is with any project you need to be organized and ready for the unexpected, this is especially true with big productions.    

Production Board and hourly schedule.

Casting session included photographing models hands, teeth, and action shots.

Hair and Make-up stylist in action.

Our second photographer and retoucher Tiffany ( upper left ) shooting product on white while I shot product families on set.

Props and wardrobe choices for the shoot.

A peek behind the photo sets.

As I mentioned we had to turn the sink and vanity around to fit one of the layout.

Shooting the lifestyle shots in the green room.

The blue room set.

Chef Pauline putting the final touches on lunch for the clients and crew.

Beef tenderloin filet with roasted veggies and salad.  It was awesome!

Shooting our lifestyle model in the blue bathroom set. 

That's a wrap!

Consistant Visual Branding

Lately we've had the privilege to work on some nation food brands, both still images and motion for TV and web commercials. 

As with most endeavors in our business there's lots of crew and vendors involved. This helps make the project run smooth and bring the client's vision to reality.   In previous posts we have discussed the importance of not only traditional branding but also "Visual Branding" in today's marketplace.

We pride ourselves in the ability to accomplish "Visual Branding" across the mediums of still and motion.  The benefit is a consistant message and increased brand awareness.  A perfect example is "Target Inc.".  Most of the time I can tell it's a "Target" ad or commercial before I ever see the logo.

   

Putting the final touches on lighting and composition.

Working as D.P. on the video commercial.

Getting our models pumped so they show the right expression for our still shots.

Viewing playback to make sure everything looks awesome.

Keeping Product Images Fresh and Clean

This year has continued to bring creative ideas and lots of product photography. 

This project involving both lifestyle and product images required a lot of production and organization. Thanks to our crew: Catherine, Dale, Paula, Tiffany, Molly, Ben! 

We used huge spreadsheets with product descriptions and file naming conventions along with check boxes to keep us on track with the shoot schedule, retouching, clipping paths, renaming files, and release of final files. Client and crew all knew where each image was in the system at any time. Our organizational boards also posted visual examples and verbal descriptions of all of the lifestyle and product shots needed. As a result, everyone got everything shot and retouched on time! 

Our set builder Dale Frommelt, as always, did an outstanding job building our lifestyle sets. While the sets weren't that big, everything was painstakingly
sourced and assembled. Both sets had to have working water faucets and a way to catch the water when flowing. Add a water hose and a bucket
and, voilà, you have functional, "running" water. 

Production boards kept everyone on track.

Dale is always ready for anything.

Beautiful light.

The hose-bucket drain system worked great.

You can do a lot on a small set.

Since this project had a number of lifestyle shots using a hand model, we did a final check of our hand model's hands. 

A few minor adjustments and everything looked good to go.

Model hand check.

Nothing like natural light!

Putting the perfect portion of toothpaste on your toothbrush is harder than you'd think.

Getting the shot framed just right.

How to wash your hands with style.

If it don't show -- don't blow money on it! 

Check out the chrome on this limited edition, handcrafted, David Morris towel rack. 

Here we were only going to see the bottom of the towels so taping them to the wall worked like a charm.

Limited edition towel rack, "David Style."

Not everything is what it seems when you look at the shot from a different direction.

Since this project had a lot of product to shoot in a short time period, we needed more than one set going at the same time. 

Consistency can be an issue if you're not careful. We shot using two sets exactly alike; same lights, soft boxes, cameras and lenses, backgrounds, etc. 

Every variable we could eliminate we did. We were very pleased with how close we were able to match each set.

Two matching product sets.

Sometimes you have to do crazy things to get packaging and contents to cooperate. 

In this case, we cut through the back of the box to properly position 

the product inside and get it to stay in place. 

A fun shoot and great client! 

At the end of the day when you hear the client say, "outstanding photos" and "better than we expected," we consider the project a success. 

Here are some of the final lifestyle photo from the shoot.

  

Thinking of Spring in December

December is normally a raw cold month in the mid-west.  Today is one of those rare days in December it's going to hit 60 degrees.  Nothing like a little warm weather and shooting tropical fragrances to get one in the mood for spring!  

Orange Vanilla

Just a quick "Fact of the Day" Vanilla Beans are not beans at all but the seed pod of a tropical orchid.

White Lotus Flower and Lychee 

We had so much fun a few weeks ago shooting some new fragrances for one of our long time clients.  A number of years ago we were asked to help them "Visually Brand" their product with a consistent upscale look and feel that matches the quality of their product.  We've had this privilege for some time now and can't wait to see what new scents they come up with next.    If your a candle lover and you haven't fired up a Trapp candle, you don't know what your missing.  They are awesome!


                                By the way, if you don't know what a Lychee fruit looks like here's a photo.

I hope everyone has an awesome winter but if your not a fan of winter, like myself, it might help you make it through if you break out one of thse scented candle and think of the spring to come.