Recently Dennis created a series of images with photographer Richard Radstone featuring surrealistic scenes representing different regions in Colombia. This image spotlights the Magical Land of Bucaramanga where Lollipop Trees meet up with friendly Alien Moss Balls while passing bicyclists stop to read their favorite science fiction stories.
The work on this image began with Pre-Production meetings between Richard and Dennis where they planned out a strategy that would allow them to work efficiently and quickly. Working from the client’s sketches Richard shot various elements to be used for the background and foreground pieces. Next Dennis and Richard moved into the studio where Dennis worked on creating low res comps stopping to drop in a few quick frames as Richard shot the model to be sure the perspectives all lined up properly. After a week of shooting various models and props for the complete series of 30 ads Dennis and Richard then moved their operations back to Richard’s office where they proceeded to work closely together creating the final ads.
For this image, representing the region of Bucaramanga, Dennis began by extending the grassy field Richard had shot for the foreground. Next they experimented with various skies until Dennis achieved the final effect by layering multiple sky shots together to build up the density and tonal range the client wanted for this image. Various flocks of birds were then stripped out and combined with the sky. Then he moved on to rendering the triangle frees and moss balls from elements Richard had shot in the studio. Since this region was known for it’s moss covered trees a search through various stock libraries finally resulted in an image the client liked which was then carefully masked out and dropped in place.
The bench and lamps were added in to give the image more of a park-like atmosphere, the bicycle was placed in and changed from red to black. Next Dennis took a shot of gravel from his own library of textures and used it to create the path that runs through the background. Finally lighting effects including highlights and shadows were painted in to give the image a more mysterious feel.
Here is a before and after image showing some of the elements used in creating the final image.
