Day for Night

Wednesday, November 28, 2007 Concept/Objective:

This assignment was for a major marking campaign for the trade association that represented the company this woman worked for.

The objective was to place a “real face” on the challenges the industry will face if onerous regulations were imposed.

Pre-Production:

We travelled to Philladephia to scout this location weeks before. The objective was to show this woman, who works to produce the reflective paint that is used to make roadway markings more visible at night.

We couldn’t shut down a roadway without a lot of expense and paperwork. Fortunately, the plant had a road, but no double-yellow lines, which we wanted. This isn’t a problem when the paint you need is the paint she makes. 

Assignment:

When we arrived, the roadway section we were working in was newly painted with a wonderful double yellow line. This was to be an evening shot, but it was actually shot at 1pm, in the middle of the day.

An on-site generator provided the power, and stopping down to F22 at 250th at iso 50 gave us three-stops below sunny-16, so we were, essentially, at dusk. The entire shoot took less than 30 minutes, including wardrobe change from white jacket to blue, and client review of the finished images.

Post-Production:

The roadway did not have the any “curve” signs in the background, so those were added in post production.

Further, the yellow line did have some missing spots that needed filling in, so we did that too, since the image would run as a 40"x50" poster.

Final Analysis:

This image is part of an ongoing series we’re doing for this client, and they were, once again, pleased with the results (as was I).

I often enjoy saying to someone “we shot that at high noon”, when it looks like it was shot at sunset/dusk. Down and to the right is the final client image, with the reflective arrow-posts inserted in post production, and the open space on the front where the text and messaging points box is placed.

I know you had nothing to do with it, but her shoes kinda seem odd, hanging out from under the peach box. The atmosphere conveyed by the image is great though!

Nice evening in mid-day shot. We'd love to have you be a part of our new site that just launched today! www.photoprogress.org If you like it, we'd also love for you to share with your blog readers. Below is more info about the site. Thanks! Photo Progress Team

Great job, John. I love this kind of stuff. Especially like how you handled keeping the harsh sunlight off her via scrims and stopping down. Now always easy to do. Best..Stan

It is always a pleasure to read your post. Tahnks.

Love it. Excellent work on adding the arrow posts. How many crew were on this shoot?

Post Your Comments

Name:

Email:

Location:

URL:

Smileys

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Submit the word you see on the right: