What can we do in our photo studio?
Yes, we dropped a pumpkin from ten feet up and filled the studio with smoke, but not without good reason.
The FILI Creative office at 123 Indiana Ave, Salina, Kansas features a production studio where we record client interviews. This studio is soundproofed and has all our lighting equipment readily available. This way we can make sure every interviewee looks and sounds their best.
Sometimes we like to see what cool things we can create when we combine top notch gear and imagination. Also, we all like a good excuse to get out the smoke machine!
This year for spooky season, we let our imaginations run wild with a Legend of Sleepy Hollow photo shoot. Two of the FILI production employees were in a production of the play, so it was easy to borrow costumes.
We used an Aperture 300 for the key light with a light dome and grid for diffusion. This helped to directionally focus the light while also making it soft and pleasing. Devin, FILI’s Executive Producer, positioned a flash behind the subjects to simulate moonlight. The flash allowed for a shorter exposure time and a sharper image. We also used a lantern in the studio as a dynamic source of motivated light. Two Aperture MC’s were placed inside the lantern with a sheet of paper as diffusion.
When editing the photos, the objective was to make the feel aged. Logan, FILI’s production assistant, used a tool called Spectra Film to edit the photos in Davinci Resolve. This tool allowed a film grain look to be added to the photos. He gave the shadows more of the cool blue/green tone and the lighter areas a warmer tone. In a few of the photos he rotoscoped the characters out of the original background and added a forest background.
For this photo shoot the FILI team got to use our gear in new ways, experiment with creative ideas, problem solve and try new editing techniques. If you are a creative, and you can find some time to try out your wild ideas every once and a while, you should!