If you’ve ever thought that photography for CGI is done with a single shot my latest ‘adventure’ will show you otherwise.
This week I’ve been shooting the backgrounds and HDRs for a top secret car that is not even off the production line yet! It may seem a little premature but those of you who know the process, know you can never be too prepared when creating outstanding CGI work.
This was also a bit of a reunion as working with ad agency Amp London I got to team up with my old friend Simon the Creative Head. He’s a man that I’ll never forget as he was with me when we almost drowned. Think back to the Mercedes-Benz Fighting Cloud campaign, set in the dry plains of South Africa. We were there, ready to shoot, camping out in a cracked, dry, and dusty lake bed when while we were sleeping the heavens opened and returned the bed to a fully formed lake. It took us by surprise but we managed to escape to higher ground before the elephants, hippos and big cats returned to the water hole to drink!
It’s an experience I’ll never forget and one I don’t really want to repeat. Mercedes ended up with some great shots though.
Moving on, this time we used a range of techniques to capture the right shots, some of which were thankfully a long way off the ground.
You’ll see the cube, along with a very happy child, positioning the location of the secret car, while the Hasselbad was used to capture some great high res back plate shots. The scissor lift, always a pleasure to work with, was used to capture some high POV shots.
Our next step is to receive the data for this car shrouded in mystery and then… what comes next?
Comment below if you think you know!
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How to Create an HDR for image based lighting for CGI