Formica - Strategic Retouching
ROLES
Retouching
CREDITS
Photography by Scott Dorrance
Formica was a recurring project over the years — one that still excites and terrifies me simultaneously. It’s also a perfect example of how retouching can become an integral part of the image-making workflow, to the benefit of all parties: saving time on location, stretching budgets, and delivering the best possible images in the end.
Read on and see more before and after images below!
All photos were shot by Scott Dorrance and created on location with his team: by building out sections of counters for edges, placing Formica sheets on horizontal surfaces, and hanging/wrapping/taping sheets onto vertical surfaces by any means necessary. Scott had the unenviable task of determining the right balance between what to build out on site and what to leave for post. Even with the best team, there’s a point of diminishing returns on time spent on location. Keeping an entire crew on site another day isn’t cheap — and while there were countless hours of retouching in every file, when handled strategically, it saved a ton of money and added real value for the client.
One of the benefits of the project recurring year after year was the ability to coordinate and provide feedback to strengthen the process. There was a creative vision balancing between photography and the possibilities in post; that vision also had to meet the client’s expectations for what the product would look like once installed. Developing the best method for working with sinks became one of those constantly revisited feedback loops. Sink frames often required multiple exposures: one to pull detail from inside the sink at the correct perspective, another to capture all the sink hardware, and at least one more for the new Formica surface,
Below is the extra sink image used in the final image.
In this sink/counter image the image below was captured to provide basins. In this scenario creative direction was the Formica would just overlap to the edge of basin. The sink hardware needed to be saved but adjusted to meet the new height of the counter. Sometimes selecting and moving the whole hardware setup is easier, but here the background made that more difficult so the hardware base was shifted to meet the new counter surface level.
The Formica job was filled with technical challenges to solve. Shadow lines from new edges extended over panels so they couldn’t simply be stretched. Reflections in glass and metal had to be corrected to match the final scenes. Surface patterns couldn’t be cloned willy-nilly; this was pre-generative fill, folks — everything was extended by hand, matched to real product patterns, and blended into existing shadows and highlights to make it look like it had always been there.
Often, sheets of Formica were used to represent an entire wall of cabinets for speed on location, meaning every door angle and corner had to be created from scratch in post. And every edge and transition needed to be reviewed and receive a Formica thumbs up to ensure it made technical sense (how does it actually install in real world use) and aligned with their visual standards, which sometimes called for unique looks.
At least dozens of retouching processes were developed through this project. Looking back now with AI available, it could have helped with a number of scenarios. And honestly, I would’ve loved it in certain moments; no doubt, it would’ve saved time. But it’s also clear that many of these scenarios required a level of precision and creative judgment AI still can’t touch. It would have created a new pattern or decided the edge detail should be something not approved. It’s a good reminder: high-end creative decisions still need a human brain, a steady hand, and a slightly unhinged obsession with pixel accuracy.
Check out some more of our favorites from over the years below.
