photo post production & cgi Jul 2009

414 is a retouching company founded in 2005 by Frédéric Moreau and Nicolas Chazé.

After 10 years of experience in one of the most renowned companies in Paris, Fred and Nico decided to put their talents to work on their own venture specialising in fine retouching for luxury brands.

Located in a cosy flat near Opera Garnier in the centre of Paris, 414 helps clients realise their ideas from digital capture to final fine retouching.

"Come with your creativity; we'll manage the rest!"

Adam Bartas is a Prague-based freelance retoucher. He travels all over central Europe working closely with leading commercial photographers on local and international campaigns, editorials and catalogues. His digital work was awarded 3rd place in last year's International Photography Awards.

Adam utilises his practical experience of commercial photography and his background in chemical retouching to work closely with photographers on set to guarantee an efficient workflow and perfect results.

In recent months, Adam has been concentrating on fashion and beauty post processing work. He participated in the creation of campaigns for clients including Oriflame Russia, Nestle, O2, Vodafone, Renault and Citibank. He has also post processed movie posters and retouched editorials for Elle and Eva magazines.

Adam is currently operating in Warsaw, Poland.

You can email him for more information. His website is temporarily under construction, but you will be able to visit it soon on adambartas.com

A mixture of location, package and automotive renderings from the team at alphadog are featured in this Spotlight, alongside a selection of videos.

• Schüco was made in cooperation with the Peter Schmidt Group for an environmental protection campaign.
• 'Identität', personal work for photographer Tom Mennemann. alphadog carried out post production and added CGI elements.
• Airport location rendering and post production for Sparkasse. Photographer: Sven Glage. Agency: Jung von Matt Berlin.
• Lucky Strike package rendering and post production. Agency: G2 Hamburg.
• Blackberry full computer-generated product visualisation.
• Porsche 911 Carrera 4 entirely computer-generated by alphadog. The car was developed using computerised virtual studio lighting.
• AMEX 'Departure' magazine. Photographer: Dirk Messner. Butterflies were rendered and placed using animation techniques.
• Deichmann campaign. alphadog arranged virtual CGI backgrounds and handled composing and beauty retouching. Agency: Grey Dusseldorf.
• Audi TT RS. alphadog worked with photographer Holger Wild on two visuals for the campaign and was responsible for rendering and post production. Agency: Phillip & Keuntje.
• Calgonit complete computer-generated product visualisation. Client: Reckitt. Agency: EURO RSCG.

Founded in 1996 as a creative boutique retouching studio, Armstrong-White focuses on producing artistic work for automotive advertising agencies.

The company's work was quickly showcased in national automotive ads and international car catalogues, and today Armstrong-White produces unrivalled 3D motion and print for some of the most legendary nameplates on Earth, including Lexus, Infiniti, Toyota, Acura, Mercedes, Jeep, Ford, GM and Saab, to name just a few.

The pioneering spirit that first fuelled the company's breakthroughs in the conversion of CAD data into usable 3D art lives on in every new undertaking, and an ability to decipher the most complex languages of data allows Armstrong-White to create poetry of the visual kind.

Contact Chuck White on +1 248 594 1818 to bring concepts to reality.

Blaupapier was established as a full service post production house in 1998 by Helmut Kansky and Gernot Weninger. The company has since been in great demand as a specialist in digital post production as well as for on-set consultancy during shoots and productions.

The Blaupapier team's objective is to offer the perfect final touch to suit both its client's interests and the company's own high quality standards. Blaupapier offers solutions from one source - from a fully equipped photo studio to CGI solutions, pre-production and production services. The company was a pioneer in Austria for offering the perfect combination of HDRi photography, 360° spheres, 3D-modeling and high end retouching.

In close cooperation with clients, Blaupapier's first-rate experts respond to individual demands to create convincing realisations. For clients in various sectors, including telecommunications, automotive, lifestyle or jewellery, artworks are precisely created by means of state-of-the-art techniques and are prepared or finalised for all kinds of advertising. Over the years, the company's work has received awards in many notable advertising categories.

Douglas Fisher uses a careful blend of CG, photography and animation to create wonderfully emotive, exuberant images. His many years experience in photography and CG afford him an unparalleled knowledge to problem solve any challenge, whether technical or creative.

His commissions range from shooting international sports stars, through to the latest CGI automotive "shoots" both on location and in the studio, be it real or virtual.

Many clients choose to use Douglas for his creative drive whilst he still finds time to exercise his passion on personal projects to further the boundaries of the medium he loves to work in.

Happy Finish has recently collaborated with award-winning photographer Benedict Redgrove on a project to recreate the TWA Flight Center, part of JFK International Airport in New York, entirely in CGI.

"The TWA is a striking example of Saarinen's futurist thin-shell structures. Our aim was to transform this iconic landmark back to the full glory of it's 1960's heyday," explains Happy Finish CGI artist, Matt Painter. "Most of these angles, especially exterior shots, are impossible to get from the building today, as it has been built up so much over the years. The terminal is now out of use and there is no public access. Through CGI we have created a photo-realistic environment that is true to the original setting. The TWA can now be used as a breathtaking and freely accessible shoot location that would otherwise have been lost."

Alongside cutting-edge CGI projects in photo-realistic environments, luxury advertising and art, Happy Finish works with award-winning photographers and ad agencies worldwide creating advertising images using retouching and CGI.

Since the founding of Magic Amsterdam in 1999 and Magico Barcelona in 2006, Magic has worked in partnership with some of the world's most renowned art directors and photographers.

Magic has assembled a group of creative digital retouchers, CGI artists and illustrators who consistently produce work of the highest standard and handle the application of CGI in the fields of design, product development, model making and specialised projects. Through its knowledge and craftsmanship, Magic brings the much anticipated benefits of CGI to reality. 

Magic always looks for the best route to optimise creative output without losing sight of timing and cost control. A selection of eye-catching and award-winning creative projects can be found on the company's website.

PIQTURE is a high-end post production and CGI studio that produces high quality images for campaigns, catalogues and animation projects. The company's clients include national and international creative agencies, photographers and industrial names.

Using CGI, PIQTURE rendered the entire catalogue, including interiors and technical images, for the outstanding new BMW X5 M and X6 M. The company also produced a variety of CGI images showing the entire model portfolio.

Besides high-quality stills, PIQTURE also realises animation projects with the same high quality execution. The company recently developed 'Cyber City', an entire virtual city for Mercedes-Benz. For this unique animation campaign, the Mercedes-Benz showroom in Stuttgart was fully reproduced based exactly on the original.

In the fashion and beauty worlds, Stephanie Wencek Post Design represents a creative way of retouching art work.

The company is committed to turning customers' image files into affecting, high-end compositions.

Offering individual image development, a solid sense of proportion and a flair for detail, Stephanie Wencek provides the requirements for effective client-focused services.

Visit the website for more information.

Taylor James is a new breed of creative production studio, creating visual content for print, interactive and broadcast media. Known for producing photo-realistic work to the highest standards, the company has been delivering award-winning imagery for iconic worldwide brands for a decade.

With expertise in CGI, photography and post production all under one roof, Taylor James can run complete productions as well as tailor services to meet clients' specific needs. With a wealth of tools at its disposal, plus internal creative leads and robust processes, the company can deliver the most effective project solutions across all media.

Whatever the concept, Taylor James can deliver the creative and technical solutions to turn ideas into a working reality.

This Little Fish helps businesses make exceptional images to support their communication efforts. Using its skills and experience in conventional photography and advanced digital techniques in Computer Graphics (CG) and High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI), This Little Fish makes images that people want to talk about.

The company has all the skills required to help create compelling imagery, as can be seen from its work for clients Nike, Nissan and Bols. Visit the website for more examples of work and to see how This Little Fish produces such compelling results.

Areas of expertise:

• CG - pre-visualisation, modelling, rigging and animation, texturing and shading, match-moving, VFX, lighting and rendering.
• Technical services - scanning, HDRI scanning, technical direction and digital garaging.
• Post production - compositing, retouching, colour management and reproduction.