This morning, I had a Commercial Photography project where I needed to shoot a few play rooms for one of Bay Area’s finest family entertainment centers: Super Franks.
I thought it’d be fun to share a lighting challenge I had in one of the rooms and show you how I ended up shooting it.
THE CHALLENGE
For Super Franks’ newest room, the Beach Room, it was completely enclosed for the kiddies, but a section of the space was uncovered, so there was sunlight, and the other section was covered with no artificial light and very little ambient light. Since this is a new room, they hadn’t set up toys and props yet. Also, in the uncovered section, the sun didn’t shine evenly, so one side was super bright (as you can see in the photo below). Another kicker: I had about 10 minutes.
How would you shoot this room?
WHAT I DID
First, I talked with Mannie, the Marketing Manager, to determine that I didn’t need to get the covered area since nothing was set up there, so I focused on the uncovered, sunny area.
I asked Mannie to bring in an activity toy, which I placed on the blue flooring and turned it, so it would catch the light that bounced off the walls. Now the image has more dimension and color, and the bus toy establishes the room as a play area.
Next, I wanted to show that the room was outdoors and create the illusion of being by the beach.
I shot from the sunny side of the open area. I crouched down and shot upwards into the brightest umbrella. Now the entire frame is filled with the beach scene and you can see the sunlight from above.
Here’s another perspective…
This time, I positioned the umbrella rod in the center of my frame and processed the image with more sunny goodness. This image makes me feel like I am sitting at an outdoor beach cafe after rollerblading on the strand!
After shooting four rooms, I got a bonus: I got a peek at Super Franks’ little campers! (This is their first year offering Summer Camp.)
Super Franks is making some major changes this Summer. I didn’t even think it was possible to make this place even cooler!