A couple of weeks back i had a phone call, the factory manager of Heinz Echuca was retiring after 32 years with the company and the guys from heinz wanted to give him a gift, a photo.
The trouble was they work shifts at Heinz and getting all the shifts together is a bit of a challange and often means stopping production for a day, So i was asked if it was possible to photograph the shifts as they where rostered on then photoshop them together later, Sure! we'll give it a shot.
Tuesday 6;30pm, shift 1 and first part of the portrait.
The sun was a little harsh but this was the location to tell the story, and the weather focast was for clear sunny skies for the next week,we had to work with the hand we were delt.
Wedesnady 12;30pm, all the dayshift & office, second part of the portrait.
Still harsh sun to work with, I had to set the camera up the same as the day before, hight focal length and direction, then try to pose the next groupe so they wouldn't overlap the first but at the same time make the photo look natural.
wednesday 6;30pm, last shift and part of the portrait.
Now i had all the layers it was time to blend them together in photoshop CS5, lining every thing up, color matching and the hardest part, removing sections of the layers to show all the shifts, I'm so glad CS5 has the new "refine edge" tool, without this the photo would look like it had been cut out a stuck together, but the refine edge tool lets you bring back the fine details which you see in natural photo's.
once I was pretty happy everything and one looked real it was time to flatten the layers and then start to work with the clone stamp to remove any artifacts left over from the blend, if time was on my side another day fixing harsh shadows on very face, but it wasn't, the photo had to go the printers and them framers in time to be presented.
So the last task was give the image a last once over and take it to the printers.
From what i've heard the retired manager was pretty happy with his gift, and the new manager was also happy the photo was done at cost much lower than it would have been if the factory had to stop for a day to get all shifts together, smiles all round :)
Cheers.
