CLIENT AND DESCRIPTION
Technical Sheet
Client: Nashi Argan
Year: 2020
Services: Art Direction, Set Design, Product Photography, High-End Retouching, CGI Integration.
Sector: Beauty / Retail
The Challenge: Beyond the limits of the physical set
The brief for this retail campaign presented a series of logistical and technical obstacles that made a traditional photographic approach impossible.
Extreme Format: The final image had to be printed on large vertical billboards for points of sale. This required incredibly high resolution and a vertical panoramic format that no standard sensor can capture in a single shot while maintaining the required detail.
Logistics (and Sand): Covering such a vast area with real sand in the studio would have involved logistical and management issues, as well as the concrete risk of extending production time.
The Lockdown Factor: The project was realized in 2020. Restrictions prevented the client’s marketing team from being physically present on set to supervise the complex arrangement of objects.
The Neoz Images & Visuals Solution: Strategy and Technology
To meet these needs, I transformed the set into a visual engineering project, combining technical photography and advanced post-production.
1. The Digital “Bunker”: Remote Shooting Unable to host the client, I implemented a complete Remote Shooting workflow. Through an advanced tethering system, Nashi Argan’s art director was able to view what the camera was framing in real-time on their own screen, guiding the placement of products as if they were right next to me. Today this is a standard for my clients who need remote control over production, but in 2020 it was the key to saving the production during a complex historical period.
2. Multi-Shot & Stitching To obtain the resolution necessary for large format printing, the image is not a single photograph. I used a bridge stand with a central arm to shoot perfectly on axis from above (zenithal), dividing the scene into two separate sections. The images were then merged in post-production to create a final file of enormous dimensions and razor-sharp details.
3. The “Phantom Sand” Spoiler: the sand you see doesn’t exist. Or rather, it wasn’t on set. To have total control over the texture and lighting of the products without the chaos of real sand, I photographed the objects on a neutral plane. The sandy surface was entirely integrated in post-production (CGI/Compositing). This allowed for a perfect “beach”, without unwanted footprints and with the ideal grain for printing.
The Result
An impactful visual, technically impeccable and ready for large format printing, delivered without the client having to move from their office and without bringing a truckload of sand into the studio.
This project demonstrates that modern commercial photography is not just aesthetics, but is 50% creative vision and 50% strategic problem solving.
