Category: Photography
Coca-Cola and FIFA World Cup 3D Photo Retouching Project
Now that the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is over, I can share part of an incredible retouching project I was fortunate enough to have been involved.
For the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Coca-Cola wanted to create an advertising campaign around people around the world watching the matches while drinking Cokes from specially-produced cans and bottles. Because of the production timeline, it was impossible to have the bottles and cans produced in time for the photo shoots. The answer was to replace the existing products with 3D CGI renders.
The process involved taking the 3D renders, scaling to the proper size, adjusting the lighting to match the scene, and blending it into the photograph; this meant adding color casts, blurring to match the depth-of-field, adding condensation and bubbles as needed, and shadows. It simply was one of the most challenging retouching efforts I’ve done. Luckily, I worked with wonderful retouchers and project managers at INDG. I learned so much during that time and continue to learn more as I do additional freelance retouching with the company.
Below are some completed images and some before and after sliders.
Murphy’s Law: Self-Publishing Edition
A couple of years ago, I self-published a photography book about small-time mixed martial arts in Iowa. The process of getting there was fraught with unseen issues. One of which was achieving deep blacks while keeping the greys neutral (See: 50 Unwanted Shades of Grey).
Once it was ready to be released and shared with the world, I was ecstatic. More than five years of photography, editing, worrying about layout, and sequencing was over. I had created something substantial, and that would never change. Over the past year, the full understanding of what that meant became a bit more clear.
The forward was written by National Geographic photographer David Alan Harvey. Harvey also runs a photography blog called Burn Magazine, and he was the first to publish selections from early on in my project. In April, I pulled Fight Night off Amazon and removed references from my website after disturbing allegations against Harvey forced him to resign from Magnum photo agency.
I decided to re-release the book without the Harvey forward. I would simply replace the page of text with an additional photo. Unfortunately, the drive that stored the final edited photos and the book layout died. For the last several months, I have been searching for the original versions of the images, re-toning them, running the photoshop action to neutralise the greys, and re-linking the image into the layout. The process is almost complete, and it cannot come soon enough.
When Photo Retouching Saves the day
The day before a scheduled photoshoot for the Illinois Travel Guide summer issue, Six Flags amusement park decorated their signature entrance for Halloween. This was quite the shock for the art director, photographer, and models that arrived for a shoot that was supposed to showcase summer fun. Since everyone had traveled to the location and was on the clock, the photoshoot when forward as best it could.
I still remember the opening line of the email reading, “We have a little challenge for you.” Always loving a fresh challenge, I took a look and laughed out loud. This wasn’t just a challenge, but a test of all my retouching and problem-solving skills.
The first step would be to plan the attack. Retouching always takes some mental planning, but that is usually something that can be done in the back of your mind on-the-fly. With this situation, I needed to spend some time t think out all that needed to be done. Additionally, think about how to work in a manner that would allow for adjustments to be made later.
First, I needed to replace the water. I was able to use bits of a scouting shoot for the park since the water didn’t need to be the focal point, and the scouting images were shot at about the same angle and had the right amount of ripples and waves. Next, I needed to recreate the merry-go-round structure, bushes, and pool edges. Then cloned out signage, extended the background to the left and right to fit the magazine cover layout, and clean up the sidewalk, followed by adding some sky. Finally, I did some color correcting to brighten and warm the image, adjusted skin tones, and smoothed out some clothing.
