DSC_6243 This above scene shows the location of the cranes using mainly ambient light, we tidied up as best as we could during a break before the shoot.

I was recently commissioned to undertake a commercial photography project for a well respected crane manufacturers in Telford, West midlands. 

The brief was slightly tricky as the equipment wasn't brand new as it so often is. Further to this it was installed and was currently being used in a busy factory setting. 

The difficulties this posed was that the subject looked lost amongst in the factory setting.

So donned with all the relevant hi-vis safety equipment glasses and safety shoes I explored different ways to create interesting photographs that allowed the cranes to actually stand out in the setting. It wasn't easy as the factory was a busy working environment and we didn't want to either get in the way of the work which would have made our visit unwelcome.

I decided we had 3 options available to us. 

1. Photograph the equipment using a combination of ambient lighting and portable flash units (as shown above),
2. Use ambient light plus the use of selective colour in photoshop in post production techniques. Making everything else black and white all apart from the actual cranes. DSC_6256 copy
3. Use flash lighting to isolate the subject to make it stand out. Effectively irradiating the ambient light and substituting it for flash light. This was the most labour intensive solution but one I felt would be of the most use to the customer allowing them to create eye catching commercial images for use in adverts, press and their website. The results can be seen below. DSC_6319v1
4. Some subtle shading was employed in photoshop to further enhance the photographic effect. DSC_6432 copy