Ad-Campaign With A Touch Of Red

We photographers like to work for Advertising Agencies. Because sometimes working on a big campaign can be very challenging, creative and give exposure opportunity.

And it gets very fulfilling when an Ad Agency calls you as the photographer in for Pre-Production Meetings thereby making you part of the whole process.

The campaign may have been created by the best creative heads of Art and Copy in this world, but they need the photographer to execute and bring their idea to life.

And this is where the experience and knowledge of the photographer in the advertising industry is of great importance. Rules of composition, color combination, lighting and the ability to know when to break all of these rules in order to achieve a great and striking image are the hallmark of a good photographer.

In May 2006 a renowned Ad Agency called me in to discuss a campaign for their Client, a new Telecoms Company that had been in the market but was not doing so well. Simply put, they needed rebranding.

The Brief:

The Agency wanted me to help create visual selling proposition via photography. They wanted striking shots that could pass for art at a subliminal level.

The Idea:

At that time the telecoms were locked in a war of colour, to achieve differentiation, the Agency came up with a black and white concept with a touch of red.

Working with the design:

As the Art Director showed me the Art Work, I knew that the team had a very specific idea of what they wanted photography wise. Not too much room to play for me, unfortunately.

I was working with pictures they had downloaded from the internet as art direction with the words: “sorry, but this is what client has approved.”

But where I could fill in my photography expertise was the lighting. To achieve the concept of the black and white picture with the main item turned red, I opted to work with a lot of light and shadow.

The Shoot:

In order to achieve the light and shadow effect I just used one lamp. To be precise, one flash ligth with a soft box. It was very  difficult to direct the spreading light, just on the areas of my subject that I wanted lit. But with the help of black paper boards used as shades, I was able to block the light from the areas I wanted to sink into shadows.

The shoot itself was very harmonious and without any complications and was finished within a day in the studio.

Post Production:

In Collaboration with the Art Director we filtered out the shots that were best suitable for the campaign. On Adobe Photoshop we turned them into Black and White.

A couple of weeks later my work was on bill boards, posters, banners, scratch cards and web pages. Combined with a very catchy copy the campaign turned out very strong. Was it because of my pictures? Maybe, maybe not. But the agency definitely earned the award they received for this campaign.

Na dann, gut Licht!

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