University of Birmingham

Brand Photography

Whilst video remains at the core of our offering, we often provide high quality photography services too. After producing a suite of video content for their social channels, UoB invited us to capture some still imagery, keeping inline with the video style. UoB’s sports facilities are top notch, sparing no expense across all sporting disciplines and fitness endeavours. Their gym has an outstanding array of high-end Technogym equipment and sports halls you could fit a football pitch in.

The client decided to use members and staff as models. This isn’t an uncommon practice and helps a lot with budgets, the only risk is who turns up on the day and whether people are happy repeating the same motion multiple times. As it happened we had a bunch of very helpful participants on both production days, lucky us!

We had decided on a particular look and feel for the imagery ahead of shooting. The clients opted for very moody, single point lighting with a heavy colour grade. This approach highlights the activity and intensity undertaken. We used Profoto strobes with a mixture of softlight reflectors and 4×3 soft boxes. Our main camera was the Panasonic S1H paired with a mixture of Sigma Primes. Naturally we captured everything in Panasonics .RW2 format, allowing maximum flexibility and processed everything in Adobe Lightroom.

Underwater photography was also a requirement for this project. We have done this before on other jobs, but it’s certainly not a typical day at the office. Luckily we were in a heated pool and had ample time to capture some really striking imagery. Two hours of breath holding later and we emerged, prune-like and purple-faced. But with a card full of underwater gold.

If you ever find yourself in need of a brilliantly furnished sports facility and happen to live in or near Birmingham. Check it out, I can promise you will not be disappointed!