I had a fun challenge the other day where I needed to make an interesting image for a company. The company was Safepath Products. They produce wheelchair ramps, level landings and other products to help architects and builders comply with ADA regulations. Among, other things, these products make the workplace and schools safer to simply walk through the doorway without tripping on a non-compliant threshold.
So, my challenge was to create an image that was going into an email campaign. Everyone knew that the email had only a few seconds to make an impression before it was dumped into the junk mail abyss. So the image had to be compelling.
Here is the completed image we came up with.
We had to do a little planning on how this was all going to come together. Since it wasn’t on video we had the luxury of controlling the image so no one would need to sacrifice their body to get the shot.
We just needed to suspend the actor in place for a short time.
The way to do these shots is to set the shot up the way you want it, with your lighting and such, then take a shot (or two) with the actor in place. Then leaving the camera locked down on a tripod, remove everything from the set. This makes Photoshop work much easier in the end.
Simply lay the shot with the actor directly over the shot of the background only using layers. Make sure they are perfectly aligned. Even the slightest movement of the camera or the set will not show as perfectly registered.
I find it pretty simple of taking the step to lower the opacity of the top layer to about 50%, then look closely at the image. If things are creating a slight double vision look, then they are not perfectly aligned. Simply move the top layer ever so slightly using the move tool and the arrow keys to just nudge the top layer into position.
Next, do the retouching that was required. Here is the list to refer to the image above.
A. remove any distractions that might be in the background. A small thing like a fire alarm might make a viewer look at that and not the image. Clone tool, spot healing brush, or content-aware fill should do the job nicely.
B. Take out the string used to suspend the neck-tie.Fix the tie where the clip was holding it
C. Crop out box from main light.
D. Take out window sign
E. Remove the chain from doors.
F. Remove names from paperwork
G. Remove any logos on paperwork
H. Removal of clear tape holding the papers askew.
I. Miscellaneous retouching removal of debris on the floor.
J. Removed the wooden stool the actor used to support most of his weight.
K. Lighten up the pillar and generally make the outside area look like good morning light.
L. Replaced the toe of the shoe (pulled from a different image) that was hidden from the support box.
M. Removed box used for leg support. With this box, the legs could start high, the actor could lift his legs higher in the image for each shot.
N. Add new floor shadow.
O. Rebuild cuff of pants that was unnaturally bent against the box.
P. At this location the threshold was fine and in compliance. So I had to select out and lift the entire threshold and add a slight shadow to make the threshold look raised and therefor believable that someone would trip over it.
“…a 28% open rate of this email.”
The best part of this email campaign was that upon reviewing of the stats on the first mail out - 28% of recipients opened and read the email and just over 5% went on to click through to the web site. Those are pretty good results.