Stylist, trendsetter, initiator, innovator or trailblazer—call it what you want, the ability to curate food and drink takes enviable creative flair. Erika Macias and Marianne Sao are two of the magicians behind Studio 3, Inc.’s mouth-watering food photography. When you work with Studio 3, Inc. one thing is for sure; you are working with the best. We hand-pick our team of freelancers and train them in the art of perfection.
Meet Erika Macias; Trained in the culinary arts at The Art Institute of Seattle, Macias quickly realized she did not want to work crazy hours in a big kitchen. Following her creative passions, Macias soon found herself under the wing of Studio 3 Inc. photographer, David Bell. Through one-on-one training with Bell, Macias went from bumping into sets to perfecting them.
Meet Marianne Sao; Similarly to Macias’s story, Sao styling career “just happened.” After attending design school, Sao began her climb up the creative ladder as a production artist, then a designer, and then an art director. Sao’s love of food eventually led her to the cultivation of her passion, becoming a food stylist. “I cooked and baked … but making it look beautiful on camera took time and lots of trial and error.” The trial and error paid off and over the years Sao and the team have created many masterpieces.
It’s not only beautiful photography that attracts freelancers to Studio 3, Inc., but also the reputation of renowned food photographer, David Bell. “I like working with David Bell because we click creatively,” shared Sao. “He always has great faith in what I do, which gives me confidence to do my best.”
It’s Bell’s great faith that attracts stylists and clients alike. “I love the relationships that Studio 3 creates with their clients,” explained Macias. “It makes it a lot easier for me to jump in and introduce myself, and It creates a safety net for the clients. They know since Studio 3 hired me, I’m going to be good at my job.”
Accountability for a high standard of photography, videography and digital production sets us apart from the competition. Not only does Studio 3, Inc. compile an all-star team, but that level of excellency transgresses between clients, freelance stylists, and production hands to create Studio 3, Inc. magic.
Category: Uncategorized
Virtual Reality Check with Google Cardboard
Virtual Reality! The future! It’s finally here!
After decades of empty SciFi promises, the age of virtual reality has finally arrived, in the form of cardboard. Google Cardboard is an at-home virtual reality platform that requires nothing more than your smart phone in order to use it. This low-cost fun machine had been on our minds for quite some time, so we decided to ship a few viewers to both the Portland and Seattle studios.
So being the fun, inspirational studio that we are, we’re always up for something new and thought it would just be criminal if we didn’t capture the reactions of our employees playing around with VR for the first time. So, we set up our cameras and recorded people as they watched and explored the age of new media.
We’ll be posting even more reactions and reviews from our employees this week on our Facebook and Instagram pages, so check them out. The possibilities of virtual reality are just now being explored, and we intend on following its evolution intensely. Swing by one of our studios to try Virtual Reality for yourself.
Stop, Prop and Roll!
How’d you make it look so GOOD? Well, my dears, it takes quite a bit of searching to find just the right prop. Ask our producers and stylists, they’ve got TONS of hilarious stories about finding the perfect prop for the job!
Stepping into our prop library, you’ll see that we have multiple racks with bins filled with fabric, sport helmets, fruit, tech supplies, mortars and pestles, and pretty much any object you can fathom. We keep it so organized, Martha Stewart would cry with pride.
We keep a hefty inventory of household items on hand to recreate life-like sets. Cups, picture frames, hand towels; we’ve got all the odds-and-ends to spruce up a set. Of course we have a plethora of other homestyle necessities too: luggage, bird cages, mannequins and a gas mask.
The prop library in our Seattle studio even has a fully functional shop attached to it, for when we need to build things for a shoot. What kind of things do we build for shoots? Kitchens, bathrooms, tables, even this beautifully lush “front yard.”
Need fruit, flowers, pie, towels, perhaps a stethoscope? We’ve got it! All sorts of items are constantly being added to our prop library and we are happy to add more to meet your needs. Give us a call and let’s get started on your photoshoot today.
Spirit Week in the Studio
Ready? OKAY!
Our PDX location had its very own Spirit Week as Dehen Cheer paid us a visit. Dehen manufactures custom cheer and dance uniforms. Thusly our spacious, new northeast studio was overtaken by color, hairspray, pom poms and tons of pep!
Glamourous photoshoots require glamourous setups. There was no shortage of makeup on hand. Our studio has lots natural light to get the models camera ready.
Being a high schooler on the set doesn’t mean getting the day off. These young women were hard at work in between shots. We asked what their favorite part of being in the studio was:
“There are so many good snacks!”
“Getting to know others teams outside of the competition.”
“I can nap on the couch until it’s my turn to be in front of the camera!”
We love working with kids! Emerson, the youngest person at the photoshoot, had a lot to say regarding her first modeling gig: “It is exciting. I like when they did my hair. Everyone is kind here and it is fun” adding, “I hope to get into karate next year.”
Big, grand productions are a specialty of ours at both the Portland and Seattle locations! We are more than a photo studio; let us handle the model releases, food, and all other behind-the-scenes needs. Give us a call and take over our studio.
Packaging & Shelf-Appeal
package imagery: getting your product dressed for success
Look at the picture of chips above. Clean, enticing, inviting. Seeing that image on a bag of chips would immediately draw a person in, which is a sign of effective, marketable packaging. Having quality packaging is just as important as the product itself: the packaging is sort of like the product’s fashion statement. Think of it as properly dressing the product you are trying to sell. You wouldn’t send yourself on a job interview dressed in a potato sack and expect positive results. You’d dress sharp and do everything in your power to make a good first impression. The exact same logic can be applied to a product and how it is displayed on its packaging.
Packaging photography is something we’ve perfected here at Studio 3. We know that packaging can catch a consumer’s eye, giving them that crucial first impression of the product. This moment of visual impact is called “shelf-appeal” and it is attained using imagery that promotes the usability, importance and attractiveness of the product.
A perfect example of a company that utilizes the power of packaging is our long-time client, Costco. Visit any Costco store and you will be met with aisle upon aisle of visual feasting and mass appeal. It just so happens that our primary request from Costco is for packaging work. Why do they prefer us to handle this task? Because at Studio 3, we place a focus on appealing and strategic product photography. We are able to meet the demands of an ever evolving and highly competitive marketplace. Ultimately, the client’s end goal–directly enhancing the sale of the product–is a goal and vision we share together.
Getting the perfect image for packaging involves much more than snapping a pretty picture of the product. The image has to highlight the product! This calls for props, sets, and even more props! For example, getting ready for a shoot can require a whole day of prop shopping and set construction. Each set requires many small and large details that are crucial to making the featured product stand out. Any given set could need flowers, chairs, cabinets, lights, food, candles, towels, etc.; all to help achieve the client’s end goal, shelf-appeal.
There’s an entire artform behind enhancing a product’s shelf-appeal. We pride ourselves in our expert packaging photography and would love to help your product stand out. Give us a call and let’s chat about getting your product looking good.
Post-Production, Robot-Construction
Android mannequins?! In high fashion? Heck yes we’re on board.
One of our favorite Portland agencies, Frank Creative, contacted us with a wild and ambitious digital art project. When Frank reaches out, it’s a sure bet that an over-the-top project is headed our way. We love how they challenge us, in fact, we find it invigorating. Bring it on.
Frank approached us with images featuring fashionable robots, along with their sizable vision. The goal of this project was to do such seamless post-production work that anyone looking at these images would be unable to detect which parts were photographed and which were digitally crafted. Production meetings were a must in order to nail down the details of each image and push them further to perfection.
The key to making the robots look more mechanical was allowing the background to come through the figure, as in the cyclist’s left elbow (seen above). An added challenge with the Brevet Insulated Gilet from Rapha® photo was having to separate the bicycle from the image, so we could retouch the figure easily. This required creating a path around the bike to make a clean-edged knockout.
With the DragonWear™ Elements™ Flak Jacket image, we had to be extra careful while re-shaping the figure, because the lines in the background needed to remain straight. If we weren’t careful, the straight lines in the background would become bent with our distortion of the figure. Also with this image, we had to a perform a high level of wrinkle reduction and smoothing, all to be done without ruining the integrity or fit of the jacket.
The Lone Peak NeoShell® 3.0 Mid from Altra® image required extra attention to the background. Frank wanted it to look less urban, so we used some photoshop trickery to remove the buildings. Also being exemplified in this photo is the most difficult post-production request we had: creating segmented digits on the hands. It took a lot of time and patience to do things like placing the knuckles correctly, forming the correct shape, all while ensuring that the voids were consistent within the image itself and the series of images.
Robot army or no robot army, we enjoy pushing ourselves to create fantastic, unbelievable-yet-believable images. Do you have a project that needs to be brought to life? We can handle it.
The specially designed robotic mannequins in these images were a part of this year’s Polartec’s APEX Awards; an award dedicated to recognizing brands and designers that best utilize Portlatec’s latest fabric technologies. The robotic images and scenes were all photographed by Chris Hornbecker.
How to Create a Serene Scene
(hint: it’s a lot of hard work)
Pure calm and relaxation. A peaceful soak in a Marquis Spa looking out into a quaint, zen-filled yard. Surely this shoot was as easy as it is on the eyes, yes? Well, no. Photographing a hot tub takes a lot more time, manpower, props, people and creativity than one could imagine. Let’s take a look at what it takes to really create this breathtaking picture.
Getting the hot tub into the studio requires forklifts and patience. Then we have to set up the background, fill the tub with gallons of water, place the props and book the models. It takes days of physical preparation before we can even take our first photo. All this intensive planning would become overwhelming for most people, but luckily we have secret advantage…
Our top boss, Liz Swales! She oversees and schedules the organized chaos and somehow (probably magic) is able to orchestrate the entire production seamlessly.
The client had provided us with a stock image to be used in conjunction with our studio photo; so even with the product and props perfectly set, we faced the deceptively tricky task of matching our lighting to that of the stock photo. That is where our lighting master, Senior Photographer Craig Wagner, flexed his expertise. Craig intensely studied the light direction of the stock photograph, noting its color temperature and level of diffusion, and was able to capture the lighting perfectly during our studio shoot.
With the shoot finished, it was time for some intense post production work. Merging two photos from different shoots is a delicate process that requires extreme attention to detail. To make the scene look believable, our Digital Artist extraordinaire Carl Beery was in charge of retouching and adjusting the images. In order to create the perfect image, he had to extend the flooring, add a few shadows, remove distracting elements, recover some detail and color in the stock image, and match the white and black points of the studio shot and the composite. Phew! That’s a lot of work.
The end result? That calming, dreamstate photo you saw at the very top of this blog. Meet the production pros who teamed up to create this image and then get in touch with us. With locations in both Seattle and Portland, we can make your production photography needs come true.
The picturesque scene in this post features a very special model of hot tub called “The Wish.” Marquis Spas makes a donation to the Make-A-Wish-Foundation for each one these models sold. Marquis Spas has worked with the foundation for 17 years and has donated their hot tubs, money and time to this incredibly important organization.
Same Friendly Faces, Great New Location
We’ve had a busy week here in the Studio 3 Portland branch. As is the norm in PDX, we’ve moved! Yes, after 40 years in the same location we decided it was time to shake things up a bit.
Ahh look at that open space! After months of waiting, we have finally moved into the heart of the bustling Kerns neighborhood in Northeast Portland. Creative, fun, vibes are inevitable here as our new location is surrounded by theaters, restaurants, parks, art galleries, few urban farms and our neighbors, Kamp Grizzly.
We loved our time in the Southeast, and we take with us the many years of memories. Memories that we sorted and packed into hundreds of boxes. Boxes that have now formed rising towers, reflecting our decades of innovative commercial photography.
A little change of scenery has proven invigorating. We are buzzing with new ideas and our studio is ready to handle whatever project your brand may have. We are all settled in, so now is the time to swing by either Portland or Seattle location, grab a cup of coffee and let’s chat about your photography needs.
Food, Family & Fun
The two best things about the holiday season? Here’s a clue. They both start with the letter “F.” Food and … family. If you want to plan some outdoor activities for when the kids are home, or even in between those stomach – stuffed meals, check out your city’s local events that are happening on the Thanksgiving holiday. There’s the Holladay Park Turkey Trot in Portland, and Green Lake Gobble & Mashed Potato Munch Off in Seattle.
For a second, close your eyes. Think of the senses that bring the holidays to life in your imagination. Do you smell the cranberry sauce in your grandma’s crystal dish, sitting patiently waiting to be eaten on the dining room table? What about the cinnamon smell of the house you grew up in? Infuse your home with the traditional holiday smells from NEST Fragrances.
Can you smell that? The smell of deliciously oven roasted turkey? You can’t have Thanksgiving without a bird, and you can’t have a bird without a superior turkey recipe. The Pioneer Woman has all the recipes you could use to make a Thanksgiving meal. Pay extra attention to The Pioneer Woman’s Roasted Thanksgiving Turkey, she promises it won’t be hard to make.
Tablecloths, white plates, fall-themed napkins, cutlery, red wine – everything you need is at Costco. So go. On a bus, in a car, on a plane, or in a train, we don’t care. Your local Costco is calling your name.
If you’re not able to make it home for the holidays, wherever that is, Consumer Cellular can make you feel right at home. Anyone can find a plan that works for him.
