Problem: You’ve been assigned to photograph the presidents of two neighboring divisions of a major corporation, but neither of them will be in town at the same time prior to your deadline.
Solution: Composite!
This was the situation on a recent shoot for Globe magazine, the in-house publication of the multinational Georg Fischer corporation who wanted to highlight how two of their divisions were now working under one roof at their new facilities in Irvine, Calif. In order to deliver the shot they needed, we decided to shoot both executives individually in the chosen location — in front of a large aquarium that serves as a centerpiece to their office showroom — and later merge the portraits together. In this case, the company has its own in-house capabilities for post-production, so with the actual Photoshop work taken care of, my main concern was to shoot nearly identical frames taken a week apart. For prior composite work, such as the Macklemore tour poster I photographed a couple years ago, the task was made easier because everything was shot the same day and the camera never moved. In this situation, however, leaving the camera mounted on a tripod in the middle of their offices for a week was not an option! So, I had to set the lighting and camera up again and, with the help of a reference photo on my laptop and using my assistant as a stand-in, find the exact framing. I wanted not only to make the task of compositing easier, but assure that the result was believable, so it was important that the subjects be shot at identical angles. In the end, the images blended together seamlessly and the client went away happy. Hooray! The rest of the spread, as you can see, consisted of documentary-style shots showing employees working in various departments, as well as tighter portraits of some of the featured employees who play important roles in the two departments. While there, we also shot a group portrait for the company’s annual report, which has yet to publish. Once it does I will be sure to share it here.
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