Greg Peruski, Mid Coast Studio
Thoughts on HDR Light Studio 2.0
- Sector:
- CGI and Retouching
- Location:
- USA
About Greg
I am a digital artist at Mid Coast Studio in Troy, Michigan. Midcoast is a full service photo house offering everything from location and studio photography to CG and retouching, all under one roof. I have been here for approximately five years, four of those as a CG artist. For the seven years prior to this I worked exclusively as a retoucher.
Our work consists of images for advertising, catalog, and online use. Images have to be product correct and are used at quite high resolutions.
Our clients have been steadily moving toward a CG workflow to produce these assets, as it can often times reflect a significant cost savings over traditional photography. CG also allows imagery of preproduction automobiles to be created before the actual vehicle is manufactured. Additionally, CG is an ideal way to update existing imagery, whether digital or photographic, to reflect new product changes such as revised facias or wheel and tire combinations.
The HDR Light Studio 2.0 pipeline
HDR Light Studio 2.0 is fantastic for creating studio lighting for virtually any object or product. It streamlines the process of creating and positioning light sources to achieve lighting that is pleasing and flattering for our clients’ products.
Advertising imagery dances the line between reality and idealism. HDR Light Studio 2.0 allows me the flexibility to achieve the right 'look' quickly and easily. The introduction of the LiveLight preview window has greatly minimized the guesswork involved with studio lighting. Real-time feedback to the intensity, position and shape of light sources is invaluable, and until now has been missing from my digital workflow. Previously, 90% of my time was spent doing test render after test render trying to create the desired look. As with all things, there is a finite amount of working time, HDR Light Studio 2.0 maximizes productivity without compromising the final image.
HDR Light Studio 2.0's new capability of placing and augmenting HDRI images as backgrounds now brings an exciting new plurality to the table. Using LiveLight to position the HDRI relative to the camera and objects allows me to quickly establish the environment of the scene. Then by adding and adjusting light sources then the image can quickly be refined. The process is simple and effective. I like simple and effective!
Whereas I used to reserve HDR Light Studio for studio lit shots only, I am now using it for creation of location shots. I have been beta testing for a number of weeks and have to confess that I have used HDR Light Studio 2.0 on live jobs from the get go. It was quickly and seamlessly integrated into my workflow.
Will HDR Light Studio 2.0 save you time and money?
Positively. Ideally HDR Light Studio 2.0 will be installed on all the workstations in the studio. By creating the bulk of the required lighting using HDRIs, as opposed to shadow casting lights rendering time is greatly reduced. If one subscribes to the ideology of 'Time is Money'...this is a win-win situation. The benefits are two fold, quicker creation of lighting and shorter render times.
Favorite features in HDR Light Studio 2.0?
Aside from being intuitive and easy to use, overall LiveLight is an easy favorite. Followed only slightly by being able to use an existing HDRI as a background and enhance it.
