Boogie Board Stuntz - Sketch to Image
ROLES
Retouching
| Photography
| Creative
This image was created for the release of a Bunker Brewing and Other Half collaboration beer. It was built as a composite of in-studio product photography of the beer can, stock images, and splash images I had taken previously.
Final composite image for Boogie Board Stuntz Can
My process almost always starts with a sketch to work out a rough concept. I like to stick with a black-and-white, super basic sketch that shows the general layout, then add notes to call out key details. For me, it’s the right balance of providing direction while leaving the concept open to develop as it's created. Obviously, the can was going to be boogie boarding. Sometimes the concept is really clear but figuring out the right scale and details is where the "boogie board hits the wave" and makes or breaks the image.
1.The basic concept sketch outline | 2. The can photo after basic Capture One adjustments to the RAW file.
After compositing the backplate (flipped from the original sketch), I was able to get a sense of the lighting I wanted for the can. It would be coming in from the right — a hard light softened by the shadow of the wave — with the rest tweaked later in Photoshop. I also wanted to shoot it with the Velcro leash attached so it matched the scale of the beer, and so I could spray down both the can and the leash with a water/glycerin mix.
The before after shows the individual pieces outlined and then the final blended composite
The before/after shows the major pieces that were composited — around 10 images in total. It stays pretty true to the original sketch, even though the final image ended up being a horizontal aspect ratio and had the wave coming from the opposite direction. There is a lot of depth added to the image from the out of focus splashes in front of the can, and it pops on the blue background. A totally rad image for sure, brah!
A close up detail of the can in the final composite
Below is a quick video walkthrough of the layers before for extra pixel peeping, if you're into that. Sadly no sock images were used, because as much as it pains us to admit it, this is one scenario not made better by socks.
A walk through of the layers building the final composite
