“The Family” CGI + Photography Photoshoot

One of my favorite things to do is to work on passion projects. Recently, I've been particularly drawn to CGI and photography composites, as they offer unparalleled flexibility and endless creative possibilities. However, with such limitless potential, it can sometimes be daunting to decide which direction to take the image in. It's essential to ensure that the visual composition and story-frame work together seamlessly to create a cohesive final product.

Throughout our years of collaboration, working with CGI artist Jaka Tavs has been incredibly fruitful. We have developed a deep understanding of each other's creative and visual styles, which has allowed us to work seamlessly together.

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The latest project titled "The Family" started with a simple idea of creating a stock photo of a mother and daughter cooking in a kitchen. However, as we started working on the project, it evolved into something much more complex and visually striking. Working with CGI artist Jaka Tavs, we were able to push the boundaries and explore the limitless potential of CGI+Photography composites. The end result was a visually stunning image that showcased the power of CGI, even in seemingly simple shots. Our long-standing collaboration and creative understanding allowed us to take this project to the next level.

The goal was to demonstrate to agencies and potential clients the versatility of CGI for simple mid-range shots. However, as we delved deeper into the project's interior architecture, we found ourselves drifting towards a Star Wars-style image with a more intricate narrative. It seems we just can't help but infuse complexity and depth into our work. We'll have to work on simplifying in the future.

Initial CGI positioning of interior architecture and characters.

The next step was lighting the interior and the characters. Our aim was to have hard shadow low-angle sunlight to create a realistic ambient. However, we realized that this could potentially result in unpleasant lighting on the characters' faces, so we decided to soften it a bit while still maintaining the desired effect.

Initial sun light visible on the dummy characters.

After we added the third character, the son, who was fiddling with a real lightsaber and unintentionally destroyed the kitchen counter, we moved on to interior decorating.

3rd CGI dummy character added to enhance the story and improve the visual composition.

Jaka continued to sculpt the CGI damage to the counter and added numerous details both inside and outside the CGI environment. The next step was to photograph the characters in the studio with the exact same perspective and lighting as the CGI dummies, as both are crucial for creating believable composites.

Characters photographed in studio.

The next step was to clip the characters and composite them into the CGI interior. We also added correct shading to their feet and adjusted their color grading to match the CGI.

Final composite.

Creative Direction: Jaka Tavs, Matevz Kostanjsek

Art Direction: Jaka Tavs, Matevz Kostanjsek

CGI: Jaka Tavs

Compositing: Jaka Tavs

Character Clipping & Smoke: Bojan Perko

Models: Brina, Nik, Zala