CASE STUDY: SPECIAL CHALLENGE
In this case study, I take a closer look at a practical example on the topic of "Special Challenge".
In 2022, I photographed and implemented a very special assignment for the architect company "Bureau d'Architectes Teisen-Giesler Sàrl".
The architects, archaeologists and the municipality, who were all involved in the project, needed photographs of the floor plan in the barn of the Uespelter Castle.
Important archaeological excavations had been worked out here and now needed to be captured realistically in photographs before the building project could move on to the next phase.
When my client asked me, if it would be possible to photograph this project with a drone, we met together for a briefing on site. After I was able to see the barn on site and its dimensions, we decided against working with the drone because these shots would look too dark and unevenly lit with the very low ambient light on site. It quickly became clear that this task could only be solved by taking the photos directly from above with a camera and mobile studio flashes. So my client built a small platform directly under the roof so that I could take the photos from there.
However, since the floor plan of the barn was extremely large, it was not possible to capture the entire underground in a single photo. To solve this problem, I divided the floor plan into different parts and captured them in several photos. I then assembled the final photo afterwards via Capture One and Photoshop using 12 different shots.
In order to be able to compose the final photo, I first put together four different strips of the floor plan, each from 3 different photographs. These 4 strips (parts of the ground plan) were later assembled as the final image, as you can roughly see in the preview shown here.
After composing the individual shots, I also adjusted the perspective once more and then retouched the image completely. Although the barn was closed everywhere, pigeons kept getting into the barn, so the floor plan had to be cleaned on the computer afterwards and freed from pigeon droppings. Also, some cables could not be removed on site and were therefore also subsequently removed by me in post production.
In order to be able to depict the ground plan and the important archaeological details in a high-quality and clearly recognisable way, I also attached 4 mobile flash lights to the wooden construction above under the roof, which I could then control and adjust from a distance using my photo flash app. In this way, the floor plan was evenly exposed and even the deeper details became visible in the shot. I was able to safely attach the flashes using a climbing harness and other climbing materials with the help of a mobile ladder and align them specifically for this floor plan photo.
An exciting project with a special challenge!
Do you have a question about this case study or do you have a similar project and are still looking for a suitable photographer? Feel free to contact me with questions, ideas or projects, I look forward to your next challenge!