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My name is Marius and I am a 26 year old freelance digital artist based in Hamburg, Germany. I specialize in the combination of 3D-rendering/CGI (computer generated imagery) and post production. The majority of my clients are advertising agencies working for food, product, and cosmetics/beauty brands.

When I was 15 years old we used to have those flip phones with a camera – guess what I used the phone for the most – exactly. My first time using an actual camera was when I was 18 – still using that 5D Mark III today.

School never really suited me; I was every teacher’s worst nightmare and when I turned 18 I was finally able to drop out. That was probably the most important decision of my life.

It all began when I had my first client at age 16. I had the chance to edit video for instruction manuals and product presentations. This led to working with CAD files and experimenting with 3D software. I was addicted to learning about the industry and experimenting with the endless possibilities my newly discovered virtual world was opening up. At 18, a small 3D animation studio in Cologne hired me for an internship early 2013.

Later that year I moved back in with my parents and I spent a year learning how to retouch, use 3D software, and eventually built a portfolio. Throughout the following two years, I moved to Hamburg and worked for another 3D animation and motion graphics studio, a major industrial design studio (Sieger Design), and a real estate company producing 3D renderings in their specific fields.

I always loved my work but I slowly realized I was losing motivation working 9 to 5 plus endless hours of overtime for someone else.

This month 4 years ago I quit and began my freelance career, probably the second most important decision of my life.

Around that time I got into shooting model portraits and I scratched the surface of the fashion industry as a photographer. My passion grew for clean and natural beauty photography and of course the post processing of my images.

I worked with some of the best stylists and hair/makeup artists in the industry and photographed highly experienced international models through leading modeling agencies.

Photography was always sort of a time consuming and expensive side project for me and I had to remind myself that my full-time job was promoting my brand new business I just started. You can probably imagine being that young and knowing nothing about business and marketing. Building relationships with my first potential clients was a struggle and took a very long time.

My CGI work really benefits from my photographic experience especially from working in the studio with strobes and modifiers.

I explain CGI and 3D rendering as a new or different way of photography – virtual photography based on physics and mathematics in a virtual three dimensional environment.

I recently decided to quit photography in order to focus entirely on post production and CGI. It is no secret that you have to focus on one thing you are really good at to successfully work among the very best in the industry.

I have always felt that I lack a certain level of creativity, but where I lack creativity I make up with absolute technical accuracy and quality. That is where the Infinite Color Panel makes a huge impact on my work.

Coming up with color grading for a project was one of the most difficult parts of the post production workflow. Even before getting into the actual retouching stage you can non-destructively overlay random grades with just one click and try within seconds what direction you want to go with the project.

I use ICP on a daily basis to present a variety of different looks to my clients to choose from. Then I go into the layers and fine tune the adjustments based on the clients’ feedback. I even use multiple sets of grades for different parts of the images. Clients want their products to look as accurate as possible – to avoid color shifts I simply mask out the specific grade wherever I don’t want it to affect the image and I still get the amazing overall color look ICP provides out of the box.

When working with skin I really want to enhance the natural beauty of each model. With ICP I know within seconds what direction I can go and what might not work with a makeup look or lighting setup.

I rarely use any presets for my work. It devalues the art and I believe high end clients don’t take you seriously for using settings another artist created for the work they hired you for – ICP is not a preset, it is a tool just like Photoshop itself. It is still up to you what you create – it pushes your creativity to the next level.

Interested in seeing more of Marius’ work? Check out his Website!!

Have you tried the panel yet? We’d love to see your creations! Get in touch on Instagram @infinitecolorpanel or the Facebook Infinite Color Panel group and show us your work.

If you haven’t tried the panel yet, get started here:  https://infinite-tools.com/infinite-color-plugin/

 

Emily Teague and I hosted our first ever Infinite Color Party in NYC during Photo Plus on October 24th!

When we first thought of the idea, I knew we had to do it. Especially since there wasn’t an event on the first evening. After all NY has done for us over the years, we wanted to give back to the community and come together to have a fun event!

We were so impressed with the turnout and we had such an amazing time! Of course, we had to make sure we captured the night too! We had Tyler Rayburn on photo duty that evening and Bella Kotak and I taking the BTS!

Before jumping into those photos, we want to take a second to thank everyone who played a part in making this happen! It really meant a lot to us to see all of our friends come and let loose that evening.

Thank You!

We’d like to also give special thanks to everyone who came to help in any way they could. There are SO many people to thank but without them, we couldn’t have done this. I love you all!

Also a special thanks to our sponsors! As word took wind, our friends from these groups reached out to us to take part as they shared a similar philosophy on community!

Elinchrom brought all the lights for the venue, from the photo bay to the LED lights you saw around the space. They have a similar and vested interested in being at the pulse of the community to see just what we’re looking for. I’ve been so impressed with them.

SmugMug and Flickr provided direct support and SmugMug is where we are hosting the photos from the event (below). They have incredible and customization photo galleries for clients and an easy to use interface. I’ve used them since I started doing photography.

Screw the Metadata helped us coordinate the distribution of drinks, setup, and the bartenders at the event. They have a philosophy of talking about things beyond the technical and really breaking down what creatives should be thinking of in order to maintain a successful business. I love their approach!

Obsidian Studios for the support in providing and making a custom backdrop for the event! If you need a custom backdrop, I highly recommend them for the most personalized approach. With their art history and business background, they are my favorite company.

A special thank you to the full Infinite Color Panel team that came through with all the help in filling in the gaps to execute this party and last minute unexpected stressful hurdles that came up!

Now, it’s time to check out the photos!

Please Share! Before You Do…

Feel free to use the images as you wish and be sure to use #infinitecolorparty if you post any on social media!

If you can, please tag our sponsors @smugmug, @screwthemetadata, @flickr, @theobsidianstudios, @elinchrom_ltd.

You are allowed to retouch the photos as you wish.

Please do not crop the photos, it’s the sponsors that made this possible and we want to show them love, especially if you want to see another one in the future!

Because of which, we highly encourage you to share the photos! It really helps to make the next one a success and better than ever!

See the Studio Images here

To say Curtis Jones is a landscape photographer, would be like saying Gordon Ramsay likes to cook. Curtis is someone who (unlike Ramsey) is extremely humble and unassuming in nature. However, when you speak with him you’ll realize that he has a lot of great thoughts about his craft.

This statement drew me to Curtis’ work in the first place!

 “I often struggle with my place in the outdoor photography world. Too abstract and you lose the message, too literal and it starts to feel less personal. I guess it’s a balancing act for all of us. Walking that line between expected brand or content vs. constant evolution. Landscape photography, in particular, is a paradox. Landscapes (mountains, oceans, arctic tundras) in of themselves do not ‘feel,’ they require the human experience. So, for me there is always a discussion I have with myself; How does a place ‘literally’ look and then how does it look to me, with all my experiences, hopes, fears, and intentions. In a sense, we are projecting our thoughts, emotions, fears, hopes, etc. on the physical world around us.”

You can find more of Curtis’ work on his Instagram and Website!

Finding that balance you mentioned above is so critical. Your shots carry a lot of emotion in them! What is it that you want each photograph to convey after you’re done working on them? How much of that comes from the post-processing and how much comes from framing the scene?

I guess I’m always trying to distill my experience into a single image or set of images. I have so much appreciation for how vast our natural world is. The words epic, or awesome, can easily become cliche – quick nods to the power and beauty of the world around us. I want my images to have resonance. Ideally, I would like my work to convey humility and respect for a place or an environment. An appreciation for what makes me feel most alive and human. To feel insignificant but connected to something bigger than myself, this is truly freeing for me. Much of this energy that I am trying to convey comes from spending extended time in these places. I feel my best work comes from letting a place settle. I always have a bias or vision when exploring new scenes. I try to let that voice have its moment then let go of it. In the field, composition is a slow and deliberate process. Like songwriting, I’ll often find my “hook” first. That thing that draws me back over and over. Once I have identified what I find compelling I’ll get to work refining the frame, working toward minimalism, cutting away everything that’s not necessary.

More and more this process is just the beginning. With time my mindset has shifted from capturing the literal toward conveying resonance and mood. I’ve always been a sketcher and half-ass painter. I love enhancing a scene in post. Not because I feel my raw image is not good enough but because it feels necessary to replicate my experience. My experience is never a literal one, how could it be? Post-processing work helps get my photograph closer to how I perceived the scene, how it felt. And this, as well, is a sliding scale. Sometimes needing a very light touch and other times hours of craft.

What is something about your work that most people don’t realize just by looking at it? I assume most of our readers shoot portraits. I wonder if there are any commonalities between landscapes and portrait photography. If so, what are they?

I think there are commonalities. At the very least a point could be made about capturing the essence of place vs person.

In a sense, both subjects can be fleeting. A candid portrait can capture perfectly a moment or the true nature of a person. Similarly, a passing moment in nature, morning light reflected in an ocean break, for example, may say more about a place than an entire week spent waiting for the stars to align.

As creators, something of ourselves goes into every photograph. The moment we decide to shoot a person or a landscape, any subject really, we change it.

To be honest, mostly, I have no idea what people realize about my work. I guess something that I don’t promote or include with the images is a detailed backstory. Almost all my work has an element of self-deprecation, insignificance and humor. I like that creating these photographs allows me to live life in the places and with the people that I care most about.

You always seem to be very present in the moment based on how you try to really capture the essence of where you are. When do you decide to pick up the camera and take a photo vs putting it down and appreciating the moment?

It’s a sliding scale for me. Sometimes I hit an area with an agenda and I rock it hard for as long as I am there. That’s less common if I am shooting primarily for myself though. In an ideal scenario, I would arrive at a location a day or more before I really needed to produce and take my time letting the place sink in. Hiking around with only my phone, snapping quick compositions and making note of sun or star placement or an interesting hook when the light is better. I’m sketching ideas, loosely keep track of things to revisit but mostly just getting a feel for a place. There is a certain amount of anxiety and pressure that accompanies shooting beautiful light in epic locations. Capturing the moments that make the world scream with envy as they scroll social media feeds. It’s always a battle to give that anxiety it’s moment, acknowledge it and then move on. Sometimes this is as simple as shooting like a crazy person for 10 minutes then putting the camera back in the bag. Other times I will intentionally leave the gear and walk until I’m not afraid of missing out anymore and instead I’m just super excited to shoot. It’s a fine line, but an important one.

A dead giveaway for me in knowing when to put the camera down is if I’m constantly battling the conditions for progressively poor results. I decided a long time ago that if the sole purpose of the trip was to make a stunning image, I’d likely not enjoy that trip.

How do you decide on what location you want to go to next? Or is that something decided by the “client?” Speaking of which, is most of your work produced for the sake of a client or do you go on your accord?

It’s always been a mix of both what I want to explore or seek out and where someone might ask me to go. I spent so much time in the arctic, building that sort of remote wilderness portfolio that it’s often what clients will hire me to do now. I love going back to the same places and rediscovering things more deeply, or differently. For example, when I teach a workshop in Greenland or Mongolia and return the following year I will often try to tag on some personal adventure time. This allows me to keep expanding my view of a place and potentially have more to offer prospective clients looking for that kind of work in the future. I do keep a list of interesting places I’d like to visit as well. If I can pitch an idea to a client or corral some funding for a story, I’ll take the financial help. If I am really motivated or the project is deeply personal or not quite at a marketable stage I often just go it alone.

Renée Robyn and I have started a photography workshop company, called Newfound Shores, in my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. I have spent most of my life exploring those shorelines and coastal towns. We aim to deliver authentic Newfoundland experiences in inspiring photographic locations. Newfound Shores is a great example of me deciding on locations I want to document and the client, in this case, participants, deciding if that’s a place they would like to get creative in too.

Being a lover of all things outdoors, you also stay connected online to share that work with the audience. Do you find it hard to balance the online world with the desire to be outdoors as much as you love it?

The balance is something I struggle with weekly. It’s a funny thing to be able to share so easily and at the same time resent that ease. Getting outside is not difficult. Some trips are large endeavors, yes, but I also live ten minutes from some of the most beautiful ocean on the planet. The battle for me is in the compulsion, the absentminded need to check-in online and the self-deluded competition to always be bigger, more noticeable. I don’t think I am an overly active person online but it can get the better of me sometimes. When the relation to work becomes toxic, ego-driven or wrapped up in my sense of self-worth – I know it’s time to dial it back. I have learned that if the content I share comes from a positive place for me or helps build real connections to other folks in those spaces, I can enjoy it much more. Like anything, honesty with myself and my audience and real intention makes the balance easier to maintain.

Processing and color is such an important part of conveying that emotion. I was so elated when you told me how much you enjoyed Infinite Color for your work. What about it helps you achieve your vision in a way that nothing has done for you in the past?

For years, I’ve looked at color theory as a bit of fantasy in the world of post-production. It baffles me. I don’t trust my choices so I tend to stick to the bare minimum. I mean, I know the basics. I understand the color wheel, I think. And I get primary colors – Ketchup, mustard, and what’s a blue condiment? Honestly, I have always sort of played it by ear, relying on my gut while trying to stay close to “reality” in my editing style. I play with the vibrancy and saturation or warm things up by sliding Mr. Yellow a little to the right. But there has always been a part of me that feels color grading is kind of a taboo subject for landscape and outdoor photographers. On the outside looking in, it felt like there was more latitude for creative color processing in other genres.

The truth is, whether it’s theory, grading or spinning the wheel. Color processing done well demands purpose and sometimes it’s hard to figure out where to begin. I have found that a good place to start exploring is other people’s work, art books and film, but the big shift in my workflow came after I was introduced to Infinite Color. IC is intuitive and addictive to use. My experience so far has been great. I can quickly generate a well-balanced, sometimes unexpected shot. I discovered, however, the real magic is in the ability to open the randomized layer steps and get in there to muck about. I could see the impact changing these things had on different areas of my photo. At its simplest, the panel generates creative new options I may not have considered before. An engaging jumping-off point. When you decide to get your hands dirty and pop the hood it becomes a powerful tool for understanding and using color.

Not all my work requires an extreme creative color grade. Most look beautiful with minimal enhancement that compliments what was already there. Nature has a way of looking great all on its own. Every image is different. Just as each of us has a different take on how we compose and light a scene, we have a great aptitude for unique and ever-evolving processing choices. Whether we wield that sword with a heavy hand or a subtle touch, aspiring to master the basics make us more skillful color ninjas.

Some of my work with Infinite Color might be considered a “nontraditional” edit, at least for me. The finals might not work for marketing or documentary purposes, sometimes these shots are not exactly as seen in person. But something about the edit brings back more of the feeling of what the place was like when I was there shooting. I feel these more naturally convey my experience – the way I remember it. Infinite Color has helped opened that door for me.

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Have you tried the panel yet? We’d love to see your creations! Get in touch on Instagram @infinitecolorpanel or the Facebook Infinite Color Panel group and show us your work.

If you haven’t tried the panel yet, get started here:  https://infinite-tools.com/infinite-color-plugin/

 

The majority of editing takes places in Photoshop, which makes IPC such an amazing tool in my workflow. I usually go into a shoot with colour toning in mind. For The Day Dreamer series, I knew I wanted a blue colour palette, as blue has a lot of associations with dreaming. Once I’d played around with colour balancing and a few other presets, I was at a loss. I had the blue tones, but they just felt a bit lackluster…I needed a palette that made my images ‘pop.’

Enter, Infinite Colour Panel…

Before Color Grading

After Infinite Color

My favourite thing about Infinite Colour Panel is the intensity settings. I tend to hit the create button on the medium setting most often, which I find gives me an amazing amount of colour, with only a few opacity tweaks needed to make it perfect. If I feel an image is ‘almost there,’ I may play with the ‘light’ colour adjustments. The fact that every layer is adjustable makes it the perfect colouring tool – no look is ever the same!

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Follow Joanna on her Instagram and see more of her work on her website!

Have you tried the panel yet? We’d love to see your creations! Get in touch on Instagram @infinitecolorpanel or the Facebook Infinite Color Panel group and show us your work.

If you haven’t tried the panel yet, get started here:  https://infinite-tools.com/infinite-color-plugin/

Insights curated by Pratik Naik & Brandi Nicole

We’re excited to introduce a brilliant artist, and recent addition to the Infinite Color digital community, Rob Domenech. His emotive color toning, shooting style, and compelling storytelling is so distinctive. We think that you’ll enjoy Rob’s work as much as we do!

With Color Grading

Four years ago, I found myself at an electronics store, shopping for nothing in particular. I had wandered into the camera section and, on impulse, decided to buy an entry level DSLR. I believe it was the Nikon D3100. Up until that moment, I had never owned a camera and, still to this day, I don’t know what possessed me to make such a random purchase. I sat down with the instruction manual and learned the function of every button and knob. I told myself that I would keep the camera in manual mode until I understood what was going on. I taught myself about exposure and how the ISO, aperture and shutter speed all work together. With this new knowledge in mind, I felt ready to take some pictures, but I had no idea what to shoot. I’ve always been a very imaginative person and had some prior experience with graphic design, so I was comfortable behind the wheel in Photoshop. I thought I might be able to put the two skills together to translate the thoughts in my head into images. I didn’t want to just create visually appealing pictures. Rather, I wanted my work to tell stories. Stories that have real meaning. Stories that have a real message.

 

Sketch

RAW

Before

With Color Grading

My work has been described as many things, ranging from beautiful to creepy to surreal and everything in between. None of these descriptions are wrong, because art is a very personal thing. Symbolism plays a huge part in my work. I like to think of my images as a type of Rorschach test where the viewer is given a glimpse into a story and must project a piece of themselves into it to make sense of what they see.

My work begins its life as a story in my head. These are often stories that come from personal experience. I’m a visual person that thinks in pictures, so these stories play in my brain like a short film. I choose a scene that best tells the story, then sketch it out on paper. With the image pulled from my mind and materialized on paper, I then begin to plan out how to shoot the image and what is needed to make it work. Once I have a plan in place, I begin looking for a model that best suits the image and we get to work. I shoot tethered in Capture One, do post-processing in Capture One, then do the heavy lifting in Photoshop.

With Color Grading

One of the things I have always struggled with is color. It’s funny because, on the surface, color seems like such a simple thing, but the reality is that color is an extremely complex monster! I would spend countless hours tinkering around with adjustment layers just trying to get something that feels right. Honestly, this was always my least favorite thing to do, but then one day I came across an ad on social media for Infinite Color Panel. It looked too good to be true! I decided to take the plunge and it has become an invaluable tool in my workflow.

With Color Grading

What I really love about the Panel is the randomness of the tool. This is great because I can use it as a springboard for colors that I would’ve never considered and it’s all done with the press of a single button! The customization of the layers it creates is amazing! For example, let’s say I love the color tones, but I’m not fond of the contrast that was added. I can simply go into the created curves adjustment layer and change it to better fit the image. With infinite color and tone combinations at my fingertips, I am only limited by my imagination.

Follow Rob on Instagram or browse more of his work on his website.

Have you tried the panel yet? We’d love to see your creations! Get in touch on Instagram @infinitecolorpanel or the Facebook Infinite Color Panel group and show us your work.

If you haven’t tried the panel yet, get started here: https://www.infinitecolorpanel.com

 

Interview curated by Pratik Naik

I’m so excited to be welcoming guest Aakaash Bali on our platform to talk about his work! He is a great artist in our community and he’s been producing eye-opening concepts that we think deserves to be noticed! Have a read and learn about what inspires him, his history, and where color plays a role in the final set of images!

Follow Aakaash on Instagram at both of his accounts (personal, the shadow district) or browse more of his work on his website.

My name is Aakaash Bali. I’m a 28-year-old conceptual photographer based in New York.

When I was much younger, my father brought home a 35mm Minolta camera, which I proceeded to steal and never give back. Since that day, maybe 15 years ago, I’ve had a hard time putting the camera down. While my family had tried to get me into music (playing the piano in this case) as a kid, I kept gravitating towards the camera. It became the only thing I enjoyed, and the one thing I was passionate about at a young age. Soon after that, I started teaching myself an early version of Photoshop.

I started off photographing just about anything I could. Abstract pieces turned into portraits, and portraits turned into weddings and events. One day, I discovered a love for cinematography, filmmaking, and just watching movies in general. From then on, I fell in love with storytelling, how a film set operates, and the distinct mood and “feel” that movies had. While I did not want to make films of my own, I wanted to somehow translate that storytelling structure into my photographs.

I learned to love “less than perfect” lighting, such as hard, harsh light. I learned to love the use of practical light. Haze, fog, and texture have become immense parts of my work. When I create a piece, I try and simulate as many real-world scenarios and light/color/texture applications as possible in-camera, rather than in post-production. I dont always have access to a location to shoot in, or a planned set, so I occasionally turn to abandoned places and outdoor locations.

I would describe my images as emotional, cinematic, and sometimes just plain tragic. I enjoy telling stories that are thought-provoking and intense. Sometimes they may not make literal sense, but they evoke an emotional response in the viewer. Sometimes, they’re quite literal, and feel like you’re watching over a scene unfold in a film, waiting to see what happens next. I do my best to either leave my images up for discussion or questioning, or I try to answer any potential storyline questions visually to “bridge gaps” in my narrative. I also try to connect my photographs with creative writing to put my work into perspective.