HOW DO YOU HUE? Three Ways Studio 3 Makes It Pop

Posted on July 30, 2018May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

When is the last time you were blown away by an image? Why was that? Perhaps you noticed a vivid background, strategically hued font, or impressively monochromatic scheme. You noticed color. Color impacts product integrity, branding, and consumer reactions.
A lot of components go into creating “the shot,” and Studio 3, Inc. handles them all from styling to post production. Our colorful team is here to make your visual dreams pop off the screen.
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1. On-Set Color Matching
Royal blue textured paper, the precise shade of orange gel, and Craig Wagner’s masterful lighting will get you out of any pickle. Our stylists and photographers address the details on set to ensure color is spot on from project start to finish.
Leatherman Color Up - Three Hues

2. Add a Little Retouching Magic
In addition to phenomenal photography – we have a top-of-the-line digital team equipped with the tools to save you time and money, making your technicolor dreams come true. They are our color wizards: flawlessly color matching, and coloring up your product photography.
Colorful Instagram triptic - Three Hues

3. Set Your Social Scene
It is important to be visible, impactful, and purposeful with social media posts so that potential clients can easily find what they might be looking for. Let us help you content create.
We like to use Instagram as a social portfolio. Our audience can then see that beyond our stellar images, we have an eye for style, beauty, and purpose. It’s important to keep content fresh, colorful, and trendy for your followers and future followers.
Phone Photography in varying Red Hues - Monochrome
Color psychology plays an important role in your marketing goals. Research has shown that color branding influences 90% of shopping decisions. That is a number opportunity we definitely would not want to miss.

What colors are consumers loving this month? Season? Year?

What does this mean for you? How can we help?

The most exciting part of the rainbow world in which we work is getting to put our skills to good use. Our commitment to client satisfaction and beautiful photography is unmatched in our field. From styling – to shooting – to retouching – to bragging about our clients – we love keeping life colorful. DO HUE?

Digital Retouching, Can you Didg’ it?

Posted on October 17, 2017May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
― Mark Twain

The million dollar question: What sets us apart from all of the other photography studios in the PNW? Well, quite a few things. But it’s hard to talk about them all in 500 words, so I am going to focus on our in-house digital department.
Not only are our digital artists pixel-perfect, they have the ability to turn photos around faster than I can type this sentence. No, we’re not a marketing agency, but we love working with them. We are photography pioneers. We look past the norm and find answers to questions you have yet to ask. How? Magic. Or Intuition, as they call it nowadays.
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Our award-winning photographers work closely with clients and the digital artists who render our images flawless. Communication is our biggest secret for success.

“Without each other, the quality standards we achieve here would not be possible.” -Craig Wagner, Photographer

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“Having an in-house [digital department] allows me to have face-to-face conversation before, during, and after a shoot. Whether we’re discussing how we should approach a job, or what my intention was in how I shot it, I have the asset of having a digital team that feels like an extension of myself.”
–Craig Wagner, Photographer

Our digital team not only makes photos look better in post, they help the photographers shoot more efficiently. It’s photography plus.

“I have the opportunity to talk directly with clients, nipping problems in the bud, saving everyone time and money. We remove a step for the client without compromising the photos.” –Michelle Smith, Lead Digital Artist

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Working with a vast array of clients, we have shot some behemoths over the years; trains, planes, and automobiles to name a few. That’s a lot of surface area to make drop-dead gorgeous, which is why we keep stylists on the ready to spot check, scrub out smudges, and make sure each vehicle’s best side is showing. But we don’t have favorites. Whether it be a fleet for Freightliner, or a detailed shot of a Leatherman tool, each job gets the same level of attentiveness and digital mastery.

“It all breaks down to textures and tones. Fifteen minutes of proper styling and lighting prep during a shoot can save an hour of digital retouching.” –Michelle Smith

So what’s next? We are dreaming up bigger and better ways to make you look fabulous. Stay tuned, we’re 40 years young and constantly evolving.
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Brand Identity; Telling YOUR Story Through Photography and Video

Posted on August 11, 2017May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

In an era of constant online noise, brand identity becomes quintessential. Customers are seeking not only quality, but also an authentic buying experience; the real people behind the business. They are seeking companies with similar values and lifestyles as their own.
How do you build an unmistakable brand identity? How do you tell your story? Whether you are creating a new ad campaign, or updating your catalogue’s product photography, every image should speak to your customers.
Once you have defined your brand, you can begin to effectively market it. That’s where we come in. Studio 3, Inc. works with you to create personal visual solutions. We show the world how awesome you are.
Let’s take a closer look at how different photos craft different emotional responses. In other words, what your photography is saying about your brand.
1. Your Colorways; Cool vs. Warm

Colors evoke emotion. Cool colors calm, while warm colors educe action—like this photo for Nike that encourages me to get out of this chair and go for a run.

2. Your Lighting; Studio vs. Natural
Whether your image is sun-soaked or sleekly structured, the quality can’t be compromised.

This beautiful cocktail shot for Seattle Magazine is captured with a splash! Inspiring thought on what a customer should do next (hint: buy some whiskey). Need help deciding? Here are Five new Washington Whiskeys to Try.

Embracing the brand identity of Coca-Cola, natural lighting was used to flood the scene with a sense of summer. Now that’s affective lifestyle photography.
3. Your Audience; Outdoor vs. Luxury
Who is your target market? What do they value? Creating environments for your product takes target market research.

What better way to appeal to Danner Boot’s outdoor customer, while staying true to the Brand’s value of craftsmanship, than to put their boots to the test in the Pacific Northwest.

“Hold a Danner boot in your hand and you’ll notice the hand crafted precision. Try it on and you’ll feel the difference. Test it against the elements and you’ll appreciate the value of a product that is built to last.” -Danner, Since 1932

However, when your marketing luxury like Jimmy Choo, the environment changes with the contrasting brand identity.

“A 21^st Century Luxury Accessories Brand, with shoes at its heart, offering an empowered sense of glamour and a playfully daring Spirit.” – Jimmy Choo

4. Your Appearance; Organic vs. Styled

Are you showing a process or presenting it’s end result? As brands and agencies move towards targeting the holistic customer, we see the shift manifest in an increase of lifestyle photography… And that’s in addition to the perfect product shot, 360-degree spin, and detail so good you can almost feel it. It’s a comprehensive marketing approach. You are your brand, and we are your people for all things photography, videography, and retouching.

5. Your Quality; iPhone vs. Professional Photographer
If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, just wait until you hire an amateur… said a brilliant person. After meeting with a client, and doing a little research on their product, we stumbled upon this brilliant blog post that couldn’t say it any better.

“It’s amazing how big of a difference having really nice pictures of your space can make. A few months ago I ran an informal experiment (as research for another project) where I listed my apartment for rent on craigslist. They were both the same price, in the same area. One listing had really nice pictures taken with a high quality dslr and wide angel lens and the other had badly lit pictures taken with my iPhone. The listing with the nice pictures got 10x the emails.” – Jon Wheatley of Need/Want

Maybe it’s obvious, but maybe not. In today’s digital age everyone has a camera in their pocket, and iPhone 7s are promoted as so good they can be used for magazine covers and advertising (We won’t name names). We are bombarded with mediocre images… like this production still that I took versus Craig Wagner’s beautiful image masterfully finished by digital artist Michelle Smith. See the difference?
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Regardless of the project or scope, Studio 3, Inc. works with our clients, building relationships and crafting the perfect image for their brand. If you have yet to work with us, what are you waiting for? Drop us a line, let’s put our heads together to create something beautiful.

Meet the Marketers

Posted on May 5, 2017May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Studio 3, Inc. has added new members to our close-knit team, and we would like to introduce them to you. Jack Biehn has an impressive resume for his young age. He is already fast at work developing client relationships in the Portland and Seattle markets in his role as Ambassador of Accounts. If you haven’t already met him, stop in, or give us a call. We have a feeling you will like him, it’s hard not to.

“Born and raised in Portland, OR, I am a Portlandian down to my very core. Being raised in a family where advertising and the arts were important, I was fortunate enough to know what I wanted to do from an early age. My other passion besides the arts growing up was sports. Playing football in high school and some in college, I learned the discipline that helped me succeed in whatever venture I decided to go into! Being everything from a Market Research Analyst to an Assistant Manager at Voodoo Doughnuts, I never knew quite where life was going to take me, until one day Account Management chose me.
After being in a creative space, and being part of so many amazing campaigns, there is no looking back. You can find me on my days off traveling to the coast, in the tattoo parlor, getting my ink touched up, or on adventures to parts unknown!”

Eva Goldfarb has already put on a few hats at Studio 3, Inc. She is busy creating social media campaigns for our photography studios Portland and Seattle as well as assisting on the Portland production team. Let’s get social! Check out what Eva has been up to on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and gain an inside view of what it’s like to work with Studio 3, Inc.

“I slay in the kitchen and in the studio. My artistic eye and word witticism keep my marketing material funky fresh. Stereotypes of the solitude writer aside, I love people and am quick to pick up a quirky conversation with just about anyone. Moving to the PNW after an epic six-month cross-country trip, Portland glistened as the best city to be a creative, foodie, and adventure seeker.
After receiving my degree in Arts Management, I served my time in the service industry and traveled as much as I could—gaining insight into the global art sector and collecting ideas. Having finally found my idiosyncratic home, it’s time to flex my marketing muscles.”

Stop, Prop and Roll!

Posted on October 10, 2016May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

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.

Oh haiiiii, welcome to the prop library =^.^=

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.

prop-room-9-of-9 — No prop library is complete without 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.”

You can almost smell the fresh cut grass.

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.

Portrait Photography – Business Skydiver

Posted on May 19, 2015May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

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Entrusting your visuals to Studio 3 is forging a partnership with us where we plan and execute your project down to the smallest detail. We prepare for every possible contingency and never drop the ball. Every piece of the puzzle fits, because WE Check It multiple times before takeoff.
Just like this fun portrait shoot of an employee with an adrenaline-inducing hobby, Studio 3 takes care of every step, every prop, every piece of equipment, every model, every production logistic along the way. Skydivers check their life-saving gear religiously and pack the parachutes in the exact same way each time before the final jump, all in order to ensure perfect expansion once in the air. Studio 3 checks the shot list, scheduling, prop list, lighting, and equipment as many times as is necessary to ensure smooth execution. Once set up, on set we check the photo multiple times in-camera and on a larger screen to make sure every wrinkle, every line, every highlight, and every shadow is aesthetically pleasing and fits with the overall story. In this case, photographer Jonny Brandt worked with the model extensively to create just the right tangle of parachute cords and billows of fabric (which is quite difficult to do with a parachute that is meant to NEVER tangle!) and the exact angle of his arm checking his altimeter as if checking the time.
So what time is it? It’s time to call Studio 3, Inc. – and see how much effort we put into checking, and RE-checking, all aspects of your shoot to make sure it is smooth, stays on budget, and is executed on time. Check us out here.

Happy Holidays from Studio 3

Posted on December 23, 2014May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

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It’s all about the stylin’, baby!
Got your list? Checked it twice?
Taking a product photography shot like this doesn’t require much more than good lighting and professional hands on the shutter (and we can do both no problem!), but it’s the product styling that truly makes the photo shine. Accomplished by all-star commercial stylist Tristan Weholt, this photo took about 2 days to tweak the styling to that festively organized level. Producer Megan Nolan sourced the full array of holiday items from local stores, and Ms. Tristan set about fitting them all together like a puzzle, choosing where the bigger pieces fit and maneuvering smaller items to coordinate. Ms. Tristan says that she loves these creative briefs because “it really lets the creative mindset of styling flow…this is where my career meets my passion.” Photographer Chris Eltrich created the set and lighting, and ultimately captured the essence of spending Christmas morning at home with the fam.
For the above photo there was a specific creative brief, but for the company Holiday card it was just to come up with an idea and execute a shoot that encapsulated the Team here at Studio 3. Each studio location shot its own top-secret creative twist on the brief, with our Santa-hatted Portland office going head-to-head with our Hawaiian-themed Seattle office. Who did it best? You be the judge.

Portland

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Seattle

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Need a fun and unique interpretation on your company’s creative brief? Give us a ring and see the amazing and wonderful happen with Studio 3.

Happy Holidays from Studio 3!

Digital Art – Day of the Dead

Posted on October 31, 2014May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Day of the Dead Makeup by Studio 3 Digital Artist Carl Beery — After some digital makeup

This time of year evokes the spooky, the eerie, and the haunted: graveyards, ghosts, ghouls, haunted houses, and of course, skeletons. Studio 3 went all-out this year in celebrating, creating a beauty-meets-death digital art image evoking the traditions of iconic Day of the Dead calaveras makeup.
Known as Dia de los Muertos and celebrated for more than 4000 years among Meso-American cultures, the Day of the Dead is a yearly holiday that gathers family and friends to pray for and remember those closest to them who have passed away. Though called a “Day,” the celebration actually spans the triduum of Allhallowtide: All Hallows’ Eve, Hallowmas, and All Souls’ Day (October 31, November 1 and November 2, respectively). Though people in Mexico wear traditional skull masks to celebrate, the ritual has evolved here to include a highly artistic style of make-up design (the skeletal face of La Calavera Catrina: the icon of death in Mexico), combining stunning and elaborate face-paint with various flowers, beads and any other props. The skull makeup acts as the wearer’s mask to overcome fear of death, act recklessly and get up to the mischief that is forbidden at other times of the year.
Studio 3 Digital Artist Carl Beery created this Day of the Dead-themed calaveras makeup utilizing a photo of our very own Producer Liz Swales, shot by Photographer Jim Felt. As with all projects Carl approaches, he endeavors to solve a creative problem utilizing digital tools and incorporate the different source imagery into a single image in an aesthetically pleasing manner. Carl also strives to keep an open mind during source imagery searching, since at times there can be new resources discovered that take the image in a better and more cohesive direction. In beginning the brainstorming process he first went back to his roots of traditional artistry by printing out the source imagery and sketching design ideas over Miss Liz’s photograph. During further reference image searching, he came across some skull and flower vector graphics that begged to be used. He seamlessly integrated these with the photograph and added a sugar skull graphic to the makeup case as an interesting visual pun. Employing his color skills and emphasizing color guiding the eye through the canvas, Carl utilized a favorite palette of rich purples and golds to offset the white and black tones of the makeup. The resulting image celebrates the richness of the Mexican tradition, updated with whimsical modern graphics for a boldly irreverent feel.
If you’re wanting to create your own Day of the Dead makeup, there are many tutorials out there to get you all decked out La Calavera Catrina-style. Or you can just give us a ring and let our Digital Artists do it for you, Photoshop-style. Let’s hope Miss Liz won’t be up to any mischief this year!

Meet Niki: Chaos Wrangler with a passion for Commercial Photography!

Posted on August 15, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Niki our newest Studio 3 team member loves Commercial Photography and a space filled with creatives!

Studio 3, Inc, Behind the Scenes, Portrait Photography, Lifestyle Photography

Every Commercial Photography Studio needs a Niki! We are so elated to introduce our newest addition to the Studio 3 team in Portland! She’s a woman of many talents, interests and experience. She always has something interesting to share with us, to say the least. Read below to learn more:

I love sorting through hurricanes of disorder and packing things away neatly into beautifully labelled little boxes. I’m obsessed with systems: analyzing them, creating them, breaking them down and rebuilding them again. This fascination led me to a crazy wonderful studio in the heart of Portland. At Studio 3, I can use my skills to continually improve our near flawless work flows – meaning clients get their photo and video assets faster, with less hassle. Every creative environment needs some structure to balance the forces of inspiration, creating the ideal blend of impeccable execution and expressive flair.
Of course, that doesn’t satiate my need to wrangle the chaos of life. When I’m not at work, I’m keeping track of cats, snakes, chickens and chores at my urban oasis. Thanks to Studio 3, one of my beautiful snakes is determined that she has a modeling career in her future.

On the weekend, you can find me at exotic pet shops, Portland’s legendary Urban Farm Store, or piecing together larger than life house projects with a little more than bubblegum and a prayer to the DIY Goddess. My tireless fiancé, a converted cat lover and avid skateboarder, helps me tend to the tomatoes and ensures we have time to tear up epic dance floors at The Goodfoot. Creating our ideal blend of uproar and order is second nature; if anything, it’s where we shine.
When things finally feel calm enough, everyone knows I plop down with a full cup of coffee, a plate of bacon and a textbook on political economies.