Shooting a campaign for Infiniti Europe

 
 Infiniti by joao carlos
 
 
Some Mondays are more interesting than others. Back in November I received an email from a photo producer at Infiniti Europe. This made for a very interesting Monday.
Infiniti is a luxury automobile brand established in 1989. They have a bold vision that breaks away from convention and that is reflected in their distinctive vehicles Q30, Q50 and QX70. They’re also expanding to Europe right now — and I got to shoot their newest campaign in Cascais, Portugal, on December 4, 5 and 6.
 
 
Most emails start with the client asking for a quote and sending over some reference images of the overall concept. The advert is called DRIVE ON and it’s originally meant for post sales media, brochures and flyers. The concept was pretty straightforward: a variety of subjects driving their new cars. The general look and feel was perfect for my style of work so I was excited about the call.
 
After multiple emails and phone calls, and once the budget was approved, I scheduled a casting for the main models — there were six different  models in total, including two four-year-old twin sisters that were totally adorable. The lighting for the casting was quite simple: I used a Westcott Giant Umbrella and a Profoto B1 because I wanted a big light source so that I would be able to see the models without any dark shadows. I also used a grey seamless backdrop so that all attention would go to their expressions and not be distracted by anything else. Finally, I had the models at the casting use a steering wheel, to get a better Idea of how each model would drive a car and what their hands would look like. I ended up selecting six models in total and had four backup models. Over a hundred and fifty models came to the casting in total.
 
 
 
 
Below you can see some of the final images. Originally I was supposed to create ten images but I shot some other minor options and variations and they went with a total of sixteen images.
 
 
I don’t have a behind the scenes image but I can tell you that I used a single Ice Light suction cupped to the front window screen along with a second Westcott Ice light with a blue gel in the back seat.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Behind the scenes stills:
 
One of the ways to create movement in the image but still capture my subjects driving and frozen was to set up a rig using tubes and suction cups — I do this all the time when I am filming. I used a Hasselblad H3D 39 with an 80 mm lens, tethered to my MacBook Pro that has two Sandisk 480 Gb SSD hard drives. I also mounted two Profoto B1 strobes to light the inside of the car; the good thing about the B1 off camera flash is that they don’t have any cables or cords, making a set up like this possible.
 Different angle showcasing my crazy rig.
This is just another angle showing how the suction cups are placed on the moving vehicle.
Close up shows 3 Legged Thing Air Head mounted to the tubes to make it easy to release from this setup and rapidly move on to the next setup. It also helps to be able to adjust my camera on the spot.
Profoto B1: small, compact and versatile.
 
 
Another setup: Hasselblad on my 3 Legged Thing tripod. I used a 6 in 1 reflector to diffuse light and I also used the omega reflector to shoot through it — this made for some beautiful light control inside of the car.
 
 
 
You can just see my Westcott Scrim Jim 2×4 to my left. I use it to shade the model from the sun and then add light using the Omega Reflector.

On location with my G Technology rugged EV. It integrates perfectly into my workflow from on location to the studio.
Above you see my total digital platform: Macbook Pro, G Technology EV rugged and portable battery. When I am shooting with big clients like this, I will also shoot tethered.

This setup is kinda cool  and complex. I used a  Scrim Jim Cine 4′ x 4′ 1/2-Stop Grid Cloth Diffuser above the front of the Q70. Then I added a total of four Profoto B1 on C-stands; two with Halo 45 Rounds and one with a Rapid Box 36″ Octa XL on a Profoto Speedring. One of the Profoto strobes was kept raw, which made for a great back light in the rearview mirror. I also use I used a second Scrim Jim Cine 4′ x 4′ 1/2-Stop Grid Cloth Diffuser to block out the sun to have total control inside the car. Let’s not forget I have a woman driver (mom character) and one of the daughters in the back seat.

Another interesting setup: we rigged the tubing to the front of the Q50 with suction cups. Since the idea was to shoot at sunset, I tried to use the most natural beautiful light as possible. I also used two Profoto B1 off camera flash with two Westcott Halo 45 Round.

For this setup I just used a Scrim Jim Cine 4′ x 4′ 1/2-Stop Grid Cloth Diffuser to make the most of the glowing sunset.
 
Last but not least, this was an interesting shot to create: I used a Westcott Ice Light suction cupped to the front view window and then a Kick Light mounted on the outside windows in the back seat. The Kicks are great because I can control the color temperature my phone, so I added some cool color effects to create more of a mood.
 
 
TEAM
 
Producer & Photography:
Production Manager:
  • Pedro Davim 

 Creative Direction:

  • Garret Murphy, from G-Wizz Agency
 
Models:
  • Dani Yordanova          – Central Models
  • Martina Hrenbenyu     – Central Models
  • José Ferreira              – Central Models
  • Paulo Carotini             – Just Models
Make up and hair:
  • Alex Me
Styling:
  • Alberto da Silva Mendes
 
Assistants:
  • Diego Veríssimo
  • Rui Rodrigues
  • Paulo Goulart Reis
Digital Assitant 
  • Marta Machado
Behind the scenes video:
  • Pedro Davim
  • Rui Rodrigues

Behind the scenes video edit:

  • Rita Karayianni
 
GEAR LIST
 


Related posts:

PHOTO PRO EXPO – BEUATY IS IN THE LIGHT – SPEAKER BEAUTY IS IN THE LIGHT – FROM PREP TO PRINT PERSONAL PROJECTS & SELF PUBLISHING BOURBON – LANCY

See my Contacts 

or send me an email to:
info@joaocarlosphoto.com
Facebook-f Instagram Youtube

Copyright 2022 @ all rights Reserved João Carlos Photo.

Design pdavim