Canon 1Dx at mOre cafe

I’m writing this post from mOre’s very first international branch down in Muscat Oman. With all their global expansion plans, I’m not sure if I can keep up visiting all their outlets but on this occasion, I happened to be in lovely Oman for some more Oxy work, closing the gaps of their celebration coffee table book.

Back to Dubai and the mOre outlet in Al Marooj is what this post’s imagery is all about. I’ve been shooting the mOre brand for a number of years and seeing them grow gives me great satisfaction. From a single outlet to three of their own, followed by becoming a franchise and now working with international partners. Inspiring. I’m sure success didn’t come easy. Rather, it has stemmed from the absolute dedicated energy of the owners and the backing of a very strong team. Hats off to them.

They’ve just recruited a new corporate chef and needed some headshots done. We created a nice set up with a beauty dish on the left as the key light source and a strip soft box on the right for some fill in. We also brought in some subtle branding at the kitchen’s pass, lit by whatever ambient light was around. Not rocket science you see, just a clean set up producing a simple yet inviting picture.

mOre’s ice and coffee guy, John, was next as we shot him out on the terrace savouring his products. We chose an intimate spot under a big tree with a corner of the grand terrace in the background. It got a bit dark under the tree so we brought in a single softbox. Setting the Profoto B3 at just enough power to throw a nice light on John yet retaining the shadows and letting canadian pharmacy discount the sun light up the surroundings worked a dream.

Finally, the main image they brought me in for was creating a clean-cut terrace shot for future advertising. The sun we hoped for was hidden behind the clouds, an unusual thing in Dubai. We hooked up the 1Dx to a tripod and moved it around a little until I got the right framing … a little more foreground, a few less trees, a shift in the terrace furniture to fill in the gaps. Finding the perfect frame is a little like slow dancing.

Many thanks to Ibrahim for all the running around and setting up of lots of individual lights and an additional thanks to Photoshop for lighting up the image even further.

Bringing in the RAW files into Photoshop really showed the dynamic range the 1Dx can produce. The final image had it all; an overkill bright sky, lots of detail and dark spots under the trees. Photoshop really had a lot of data to play with thanks to the large single-plate CMOS sensor. Quality stuff. You’ve gotta love it!

Wk.