User Showcase: Terry Townsend
Hasselblad H3DII-50 Multi-shotTerry Townsend is a southeast-Florida commercial photographer with a professional career spanning three decades for numerous accounts in Miami such as Burger King, TD Bank, Pfizer, Seminole Hard-Rock Hotel and Casino as well as others. As a member of ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) he is active in the photographic community and bought his first Hasselblad when he was 16.
Terry attended a Boca Raton workshop provided by Hotwire-Digital in the spring of 2010 and learned about the multi-shot technology used in the Hasselblad digital backs and integrated DSLR camera systems.
This proved to be ideal for an upcoming job with a global brand in the transportation industry for their fleet of commercial trucks. Sales and marketing of this Fortune 500 company needed images that could meet a variety of uses from web to PDF to point-of-purchase. The most important aspect was maximum detail for flexible use over the next 5-7 years.
"Initially, I considered the highest resolution digital back, figuring the 60 mega-pixels would certainly meet the need for detail and resolution," Terry explained, "and I knew we needed to have the dynamic range from the bright white on the side of the vehicle to the dark equipment on lift gates and wheels without noise in the shadows." Terry's research revealed a troubling concern; "...current issues regarding image clarity and detail in dark areas were unacceptable to the client if we went this route [with a competitive 60MP product.]"
After discussing the technology behind multi-shot with John Williams of Hotwire-Digital, Terry said, "we decided to use the H3DII-50 MS (50 mega-pixel) multi-shot camera system for this shoot for the low noise and high-detail."
Multi-shot technology takes four successive photographs, moving the sensor in 1-pixel increments in a square formation, then joins the four images into a single shot. The advantage of multi-shot versus traditional single-shot is greater detail through increased contrast and avoiding color interpolation required by single shot captures to render the actual colors in the scene. [More multishot from Victor Magazine article]
"I have shot with Hasselblad throughout my career and I was concerned about the Fuji glass compared to my Carl Zeiss lenses," Terry stated, "and, a local source cautioned me against using the Hasselblad DSLR and Phocus software for reliability."
This project required lots of planning; a month of preparation and due to the size of the vehicles, locating and shooting in a studio with 18-foot doors (at Riverwood Studios, about 45 minutes southwest of Atlanta.) The last thing we needed was another challenge from equipment or software.
The digital tech hired for the shoot was familiar with CaptureOne PRO, but after a quick overview of the Phocus interface, felt comfortable using the software. Remote focus of the lens while in live video mode allowed for fast, precise focus and composition and dual monitor support allowed for large, 100% views of the images.
"Lighting the highly-reflective vehicles was a tough challenge, and [the digital tech] used multiple RGB anchor points on the image to help guide the lighting crew in positioning lights and flags for proper exposure across the entire scene. Our schedule was tight and the crew needed to move quickly."
"In the first day of the shoot we were seeing things I haven't seen in digital before; gradations in specular highlights, detail in the highlights and shadows, midtones - it was blowing my mind." Terry noted, "The client was impressed and we knew we made the right decision."
"In the weeks after the shoot, my retoucher continually commented on the quality of the files and the ease of making adjustments to the 16-bit TIFF file without negatively affecting the image. The HC lenses were tack-sharp and the multi-shot files were incredible; the detail was extraordinary," Terry continues, "we were tracing white antennas from the blown-out white background and the relief from each tire."
The H3DII-50 MS can shoot in either single shot or multi-shot mode; "We used the camera inside the cab for hand-held interior shots with the 28mm wide-angle lens; it was gorgeous...when the client sees that you are shooting with a Hasselblad - they know that brand - it elevates their perception of you as the photographer. In their mind, they are thinking 'he is using the best.'"
Terry concluded, "Our client was more than impressed with the files and I would choose and recommend multi-shot over any single capture for my future product photography."
Editors note: Hotwire-Digital specializes in Hasselblad imaging solutions, workflow training, and is the premier Hasselblad partner in the southeast with operations in Atlanta and Boca Raton.
Townsend Photographics, Inc.
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(954) 491-8555
Hotwire-Digital
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(678) 365-0435
http://www.hotwire-digital.com
American Society of Media Photographers
http://www.asmp.org
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