BPSOP instructor Joe Baraban takes us back in time to what a shoot was like before photoshop and the fact that you can still think about getting as much as possible done in camera.
Sometimes I like to talk about “Life Before Photoshop”, I present to you a two-page center spread taken for the Mazda car account.
In my online class with the BPSOP, and in my workshops I conduct around the planet, the majority of my students began shooting in the digital era. Along with digital cameras came post processing, and for some weird reason, new-age photographers think that they go together; as in you can’t have one without the other.
Don’t get me wrong, I use CS5 all the time but sparingly. The challenge for me (since I’m old and a product of the film era) is to create as much in the camera as I can. I love to see something in my imagination and be able to create it without any help. So many students of mine absolutely panic at the thought of not using post processing, and I only have to show them my film work to convince them that they too can create good photos all by themselves.
In the above photo, the Art Director wanted me to find a gas station close to the side of a 2 lane road in the desert. As usual in those days Art Director’s had no idea what they were asking for, and most of the time what they wanted couldn’t be done; no matter how big the budget was.
After a location scout looking for a week came up empty-handed…there aren’t any gas stations next to the road in the desert because there weren’t any gas stations at all. I ask the Art Director if I could have one built there in Hollywood, dismantled and put back together in the Mojave Desert which was fairly close. He went back to the client and explained that we could either keep spending $750.00 a day on a location scout or we could have complete control and build one. The client agreed on the price and we set off to shoot the ad…without the help of post processing!
If we were to shoot this ad now, the car would have been shot in a studio and the gas station would have been a very small model. Together with the help of Photoshop, they would have had a digital artist put the two together.
How much fun would that be????? BORING!!!
Here’s a couple of production photos showing the set up.
This was a fun shoot and with the help of a compass we were able to pick a spot that would give us the light we wanted.
– Joe Baraban – BPSOP Instructor
Joe Teaches:
Stretching Your Frame of Mind Part II
The Use of Gestalt in Photography
