Billboard shoot with Hasselblad H4D-40

[i speak in math]

On Thursday, we had 2 models in for a photoshoot for a billboard we are working on. We rented a Hasselblad H4D-40 and a bunch of lighting gear, including a ringflash. The hasse with the ringflash was a beast to shoot with. Very heavy, maybe 10 lbs. We had to swap out our 4 Gb memory cards every 58 shots as they were filled up that quick.



The camera was not very ergonomical or intuitive. The controls were a mess all over the camera and the useful ones were not laid out in a place your fingers could reach while shooting. However, the lens and IQ were amazing. I can zoom in on a full body shot and count the eyelashes.



I got to work on a few of the shots from the shoot yesterday. After converting from raw (.3FR?), and saving as a tiff, the files are huge and my work mac is struggling to do much of anything with them. Wish I had my PC; haven't even made that thing sweat yet.

This one has the original image as the background layer (hidden by other layers), then a huge gradient, and the clipped out models as a separate layer. Weighs in at 1.8Gb tiff.

Unfortunetly, the higher ups really love the smiley, we're-having-fun look instead of edgy, hip and cool. Still this one has a nice look to it. These are just mock-ups...ideas of what we could do for the final image. Its really up to the bosses to say what they want.


I prefer these poses/looks. Much edgier and serious.

I spread the models out a little bit in post but now they look kinda awkwardly far apart. I added a vector city cutout behind them and some fog (that I am not fond of, think I'll remove it)


Still looking through all the shots and talking with the decision makers about the final image. Then it will go to graphics for the typeface stuff.

Should go up in a month or so, I would think.

In case you are wondering about the lighting:

two 6x1.5 ft stripbanks on the sides
beauty dish in front, above
ring flash on the camera
barebulb hair light

[windrider86]

Nicely done, Thanks for sharing!

[Shutterbugdeb]

Awesome lighting! I like the poses and look of the models in the second photo too. I'd love to work with a camera like that for a couple of hours.

[TheEagleSpirit]

I have too much fun with my little Nikon D90 and D7000 to drown myself with a camera of that calibar.

Love all your shots, excellent work

[itsTylerRandall]

That is incredible. What an experience.

[i speak in math]

Thanks guys, I'm hoping we get a few more opportunities in the future to do open ended stuff like this.

btw, they ultimately went with something like this for the final shot