Meet the Team Video

Posted on October 29, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Our video department at Studio 3 Films took a break in between jobs to create a story of the team at Studio 3. It was important for both directors to convey the story of each individual and what they like to do outside of the work place. Directors David King and Craig Wagner worked together to flawlessly intertwine the story of both cities. Read on for their individual perspectives and to view the video!

For our “Meet The Team” video, I was assigned the task of shooting all of the Portland based Studio 3’ers. I worked with each individual to come up with a little vignette that would showcase their personality, be visually interesting and fun to shoot.
We featured Henry whipping up a veggie stir-fry spectacular, Corban strumming away on the roof of the bar next door, Liz browsing a vintage shop around the corner, Nikki relaxing with a good book and her favorite snake, Elsie-Ann ripping it up on her skateboard and Craig out on his boat, cruising the Willamette river.
It was great fun spending a bit of time with everyone outside the office, getting some cool shots and discovering some hidden talents.
-David King

I traveled to our Seattle Studio to film the Northern teams clips for the project. I was really excited to showcase the aspects of Seattle, and really giving it that city feel. Upon arrival, I met with Megan, Seattle’s studio producer and discussed the concepts of each teammates sequence, some were very defined while others were a bit loose and abstract, requiring some creativity to nail down the concept. After some brain storming I felt ready to help express each individuals unique personality.
Wanting to incorporate the city in as many ways as we could, I chose backdrops that would showcase both the individuals “talent’”and the city. I thought it would be important to show our team in the environments they call home. So off we went into the city, for street performances, driving fast cars, and getting supplies.
In the end, several of the clips required a run and gun style of shooting, while others were more controlled in a studio set environment. All in all it was a true team effort and so much fun!

-Craig Wagner

Photographer Craig Wagner: Light Manipulation!

Posted on August 20, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Craig Wagner is brilliant when it comes to manipulating and controlling light. Read below to hear his thoughts around these beautiful images!
I’ve always enjoyed some of the surreal imagery created by Man Ray during the 20th century. My inspiration for these images initially stemmed from past memories of his work. He would use a process known as solarisation and the visual impact, yet basic, was amazing! He created a photogram silhouette of an object, by placing simple objects directly on film plates and adjusting the exposure. This technique would create a “rayogram” look and feel. He was well known for this look and I wanted to create something similar with glassware.
For this shoot I chose to use the Canon 5D Mark III with the Canon 90mm tilt shift lens. This lens allowed more control of the plain of focus, as if I was using a large format view camera.
With my first image I began with a silhouette type look, playing with the composition and selective focus of the glassware, this led me to stacking the glasses on set. I wanted a cooler black & white feel so I began adjusting the hue. I did this by gelling the lights.

My next thought was toward tonality, I wanted to simulate a warmer Gelatin silver print so I changed my camera angle to give it a different perspective.

Again wanting to create as much “in camera”, not in Adobe Photoshop, I altered the image by holding different glassware in front of the lens until I achieved the “Motion Blur” effect you see here.

I must say since I spent so many years shooting with film and now exclusively digital, I sometimes miss the older technology and the in camera control.
To view more of Studio 3’s Product Photography click here!

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.

Cycle Oregon 2013 with Photographer Henry Ngan!

Posted on July 26, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Once again this year’s Cycle Oregon 2013 weekend ride was an amazing experience both days! The weather could not be more perfect. My brother Ben, sister Betty, nephew Paul Schommer and his uncle Bob of Schommer & Sons were all along for the ride and encouraged me along the way. Ben and wife Julie did their ride on a tandem, Betty and husband Tom rode their own bikes. I personally rode on a custom no name frame outfitted with hand-me-down parts from Ben’s old bike parts.

Someday I may get a Specialized or a Cervelo or a Cannondale but for now this is the perfect bike.

I could have used one lower gear on Sunday’s climb to the north up to the Lewisburg Saddle Trailhead. The rest of the 42 mile ride through a series of rollers was palatable and actually fun. I learned a lot on how to attack the next hill.

Saturday was a picture perfect postcard day through beautiful country roads to the east of Corvallis. Except for a few headwinds, and a swarm of honey bees trying to get back to their hive, it was a blissful 51 miles of fun. Our host, Oregon State University provided really nice facilities and generous hospitality for camping, eating, and entertainment.

The folks from the Bike Gallery provided the technical expertise to make everyone’s bike a perfect riding machine. They adjusted the new chain I purchased at their Hollywood store in Portland. We had live entertainment from Funk Shui (Fri) and Madison Jones (Sat) and a beer garden at the Memorial Union Quad. Everyone came home to the finish line amongst a cheering crowd and ice cream from the Schwan’s catering truck.
For the Studio 3 blog, I captured all these images of the Cycle Oregon 2013 weekend ride using two cameras. Some of the images were captured using my Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The rest were captured using my Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5. These did a great job and kept the weight under control and storage manageable.

Commercial Product Photographer Chris Eltrich and Splashing Goggles!

Posted on July 16, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Commercial Product Photographer Chris Eltrich has been playing with splashes to add some fun to his photography portfolio. His recent shoot included goggles and an aquarium. It was a day full of fun that ended with Chris dropping everything from lemons to bananas in the water to see which created the best splash. When it comes to focusing on the perfect splash, Chris offers some insight on how to get the job done:

The biggest challenge to the splash shot is the timing. Just capturing the splash is fairly challenging, but you want the product to look good too. You could, alternatively, take a bunch of shots and composite pieces together, but I wanted to get the splash and product in the same shot, so I needed a consistent method. Now at this point, a gear savvy photographer would begin assembling an elaborate system to trigger the camera when the product falls past a certain point, that you can tune to a fraction of a second. But as the jobs of my generation are slowly being appropriated by “the machines”, I decided to go all “John Henry” and show these machines we humans are still relevant.

I had my assistant drop the goggles about two feet above the water and I hit the shutter right before they landed. The first drop turned great, so I gave myself a congratulatory pat on the back (actually, I instructed my assistant to give me a congratulatory pat on the back.) Oh the joys of being a professional photographer. And so we began our day-long adventure in dropping things in an aquarium.

After a morning of getting great shots of goggles and receiving upwards of forty congratulatory pats on the back (so many that I ended up congratulating him with seven pats of his own), my timing abilities began to decline, and I started getting a lot of pictures of an empty tank or a pair of goggles floating.

Now some would fault me with not hitting the shutter at the right time, but I believe it was the machines, jealous of my amazing “early morning” timing, using some sort of time travel device or computer virus to stop me from getting amazing product photography consistently all day. Luckily, since I had already taken some shots that I loved in the morning we still felt like we had defeated the growing menace that is automation.

To view more of our Commercial Product Photography please click here!

Commercial Lifestyle Photographer Matt Jebbia Summer Fun!

Posted on July 2, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

This shoot was a fun collaboration between many of us here at the studio. What made it work was having access to some great vintage props, a great model and a perfect morning of Seattle summer weather. A few words from Commercial Lifestyle Photographer Matt Jebbia!

We came up with the concept of using Dick’s burgers due to the upcoming 60th anniversary of “Dick’s Drive-In”, and we were lucky that fellow Studio 3’s Commercial Product Photographer David Bell had the perfect vintage VW that he allowed us to use.

Since we were a bit worried about taking this awesome vintage car on location I decided to use the Studio 3 parking lot. It provided a nice backdrop and allowed us to utilize some studio equipment that would have been harder to use out on location.
We set up a 6×12 foot sail in the parking lot that helped to diffuse the harsh noon sun, added a medium soft-box to add some light to our models face, and played around with some different camera angles and props to bring this shoot to life. We use a variety of camera systems at Studio 3 but for this shoot I opted to use the Hasselblad H2d with an 80mm lens. It’s not my camera of choice for location shoots but since we were 10 feet from the studio door it made it easy to use and allowed us to shoot tethered for quick image review.

I have a coca cola image in my portfolio already and decided to add the coke bottle at the end of the shoot, just to add a different prop and I felt that we had the perfect model, vehicle, and location to make it work. It was a bit stressful working so closely with a vintage convertible owned by our Senior Photographer. But once we all got into the flow of creating the perfect shot, it all seemed to come together. And luckily for all of us no vehicles were damaged in the process!

To view more Commercial Lifestyle images created at Studio 3, Inc. click here!

Commericial Photographer: Jim Felt talks about creativity!

Posted on June 27, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

A few words from Jim Felt – The guy who thought of our name!*
Solving someone insurmountable creative visual opportunity is one of my passions and one of the main reasons for starting Studio 3, Inc. My love for the Art of Commercial Photography and Technology has not only been broadened and deepened by the advent of Digital, but it allows us even more creative solutions then ever before.
In the Analog era we couldn’t capture certain visual assets purely due to costs. Digital has allowed us to travel to places without ever stepping foot at the location. For instance currently you couldn’t be at the Washington Monument, you can no longer park in front of the Alamo, and you are not granted the same access to the Portland Airport due to our 911 era of security. I am excited about our creative future and thrilled with where the digital road will lead us. I was searching online and found this list on creativity and thought our blog would be a great venue to share!
Keep creating and carry on!
1. Make Lists
2. Carry A Notebook Everywhere
3. Try Free Writing
4. Get Away From The Computer
5. Be Otherworldly
6. Quit Beating Yourself Up
7. Take Breaks
8. Sing in the Shower
9. Drink Coffee/Tea
10. Know Your Roots
11. Listen To New Music
12. Be Open
13. Surround Yourself With Creative People
14. Get Feedback
15. Collaborate
16. Don’t Give Up
17. Practice, Practice, Practice
18. Allow Yourself To Make Mistakes
19. Go Somewhere New
20. Watch Foreign Films
21. Count Your Blessings
22. Get Lots Of Rest
23. Take Risks
24. Break The Rules
25. Do More Of What Makes You Happy
26. Don’t Force It
27. Read A Page Of The Dictionary
28. Create A Framework
29. Stop Trying To Be Someone Else’s Perfect
30. Got An Idea? Write It Down
31. Clean Your Workspace
32. Have Fun
33. Finish Something
* Studio 3, Inc. was a lot better then “Felt, Bash, Ngan”. Don’t you think?

Food Photographer David Bell Fish Out of Water

Posted on June 25, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

It’s finally summer and that means summer food, like delicious fish…or sardines? David Bell Studio 3’s Food Photographer had quite the challenge ahead of him making the shiny, little fish look quite scrumptious. He decided to shoot a recipe of sardines, radishes, and lemon, highlighting the freshness of it all. Read below to learn about his techniques and inspiration behind the series:

I wanted to shoot this particular recipe, because it is that time of year when the radishes are fresh, yummy, and abundant. As you will see in the images the radishes are roasted, which brings out that fresh, rich flavor that we all love. Not to mention the beautiful color!

Pairing the radishes with a strong taste, like sardines, makes a very nice earth and ocean dish…delighting the taste buds. Knowing the mix between the two I knew I wanted to create a beautiful daylight effect. Being the control freak that I am I knew I could control this lighting and really bring out the uniqueness of this dish and to create that I used the Studio Strobes. I used the Hasselblad tilt shift adapter to capture the details and showcase the beauty in the elements. I wanted a surface that was not too rustic or modern. My intention was to find a table that could easily be in ones home or even a restaurant.
In the images below I was trying to attain a real & natural look, without everything being overly styled and perfect. For this project I chose to work with a stylist that was trying to break into the industry. This was a fun experience!
I think the lack of perfection in the styling is what draws you in and makes you want to try the dish. I hope this series will make the viewer want to experiment with sardines and fresh, earthy produce!

To view more Food Photography images created at Studio 3 please click here!

Studio 3 Films Director David King and Hog Wild's President Joe Rooper discuss their latest video project!

Posted on March 19, 2013May 22, 2019 by Studio 3 Inc

Studio 3 Films, Behind the Scenes, Click Shot Commercial Video, Power Popper Commercial Video

Studio 3 Films is so excited to partner with Hogwild in Portland to highlight their latest products! For insight into this video project read below to hear from our Director, David King!

Hog Wild, a Portland toy company and one of our long-time photography clients, came to us with a need for two video commercials to launch their newest products: Click Shots and Power Poppers. Both spots were to be shot in studio, featuring kids, voiceover and a lot of action. We brought in frequent collaborator and Director of Photography Andy Maser with his RED Epic for the shoot. We wanted to shoot with the RED for a couple of reasons: 240 frames per second, slow motion would help us capture the fast action of the products and the 4k resolution at 24 frames would give us the option of doing some fast, optical zooms in post production.

We shot the spots over two days; one day at Studio 3, and because our stage was already booked for another shoot, we shot the next day at Picture This Studios. While not professionals, the kids were fantastic. The RED Epic performed as expected. Two weeks later, the post production was done and the spots were on their way to Hong Kong for one of the biggest toy trade shows in the world.

“Studio 3 produced two .30 TV commercials for us. Both were for toy products brand new to the market and both need high energy and pizzazz. We gave them a decent script and storyboard but what they came back with based upon their creative input, camera techniques, direction and post production was a mile above where we started. We’ve used other companies for our TV spots in the past but we’re incredibly happy with the results we received from Studio 3. Three thumbs up for their creative smarts, direction and technical expertise.” President/CEO Hogwild