The birth of an ELC Pro HD

CompositingPortraitStorytelling

John Wilhelm
& The Birth of an ELC Pro HD

When John gets a new toy, he needs to play with it.

We had the pleasure of seeing the result of his latest creation after he recently purchased a new flash unit for his work.

One of the first things I could think of when I held my first Rotalux Deep Octa in my hands was “bees”, or bee combs…

When I received the ELC Pro HD 500 and was appointed Elinchrom Ambassador, I thought that it was about time to do something around this initial idea. I wanted to create some kind of tribute to the ELC Pro HD because it’s such a great tool.

“I wanted to create a tribute to the ELC Pro HD, because it’s such a great tool.”

For this composition, I could use lots of Elinchrom equipment and practice my compositing skills!

First I had to shoot the Rotalux Octa on a rotating table (3 x 36 shots). With these images, I created a 3D model in Capture Reality (a photogrammetry program I really love). At first, I wanted to sculpt the Softbox in ZBrush but the scan-approach delivered far better results.

After the 3D scan, I brought the 3D model to Cinema 4D where I created the “Octa-landscape” and rendered it with Octane.

Everything is CGI except the Girls, the ELC unit and the paper-top!

A few days later, it was shooting time.

First, I crafted the teared Octa Softbox top with an old paper backdrop. I used the Fiber Optic kit to bring some light into the low-hanging areas (which are all lit with the small Octas on the ground surrounding the main Octa box).

I used the Fiber Optic kit to bring some light into the low-hanging areas.

I told my wife about my vision of creating an intergalactic world where women were giving birth to the ELC head.

And so as she is a costume designer, she created the two costumes for our girls with two old bras, a belt and two black shirts.

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