Heavy Editing because sometimes, life isn’t perfect.
Sometimes, conditions shooting on location are not the most ideal for myself or my clients. In a perfect world, we could choose the best time of the day, have the ability to remove obstructions and have the luxury of ample time to wait for a project to finish. However, this isn’t a perfect world. Sometimes, content is rushed, time is limited and there are situations beyond our control during a scene that we just have to live with.
To help with these situations, I use a technique that I call “Pitch and Sample”, where I can photograph a scene full of obstructions while keeping a keen approach to removing such obstructions in post. The following are samples that I have done in the past with these heavy digital photo edits.
South Shore Market Opening Weekend
South Shore Market opened in 2017 with a fever pitch. The opening day featured a festive crowd that the property wanted depicted because it brought high sense of life and scale. Unfortunately, the festivities of the opening had a police roadblock as there were a series of events outside of the building.
I was tasked with updating this photo with a “cleaner” image. The challenge was to reshoot the building on a non-opening day, without the roadblock. The shooting time was strict and I couldn’t photograph the same scene at the exact same time of the source image. Therefore, I had to reshoot the clean “Pitch” shot at a completely different time of day.
Tools Used
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Lightroom Classic
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After
Below is the full source image of the “opening night” shot revision. Although both shots were used, the property favored to use this shot for press photos, as the lighting was brighter and it was more on brand for the shopping center.
Waiea Promotional Image
Howard Hughes/Ward Village opened Waiea in 2016. At the time it was renowned for its waterfall facade; created to pay homage to the traditional stream that ran through the property decades before development. I was commissioned to take a press photo of the building.
Heavy editing was used to composite the image. The challenge was to capture it’s architectural features with minimal lens distortion. To correct this (without the budget for a proper architectural lens) I had to composite 10 images together to create the final image.
Tools Used
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Before
After
Ward Village Executive Group Shot
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After
In 2016, the executive team at Ward Village staged a casual group photo. I was requested to remove one of the team members who was not part of this particular group.
Tools Used
Adobe Photoshop
Construction Crane Removal - Kewalo Harbor
In 2017, Ward Village wanted a sunset photo of Waiea from Kewalo Harbor. Unfortunately, there were still construction cranes visible on the skyline. I removed the crane and added some motion blur to the ocean.
Tools Used
Adobe Photoshop
Before
After
ASB Corporate campus Construction Sign Removal & Editing.
ASB on Oahu opened their new campus in 2019. I was tasked with photographing the new building during different times of the day. The purpose of this project was for ASB’s PR team to showcase the new architecture for public announcements and media relations.
Principal photography for the night image was done from sunset to early evening. Principal photography for the daytime image was done a little before noon. Shoot time took roughly 2 hours each day + 17 hours of editing/compositing. The major obstacle was a construction sign on the south wing (highlighted in the red circle). This sign was required by the city and could not be moved.
To create the final night image - I removed the construction sign in Photoshop. I also highlighted the night sky for dramatic effect. A motion blur of a bus driving by was also added to the final composition to provide a sense of life.
The daytime image also had a similar treatment, with images of cars and people walking to add a sense of life with scale.
Tools Used
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Lightroom Classic
Before
After
Before
After