Posts Tagged LAGO more.than.pure.photography

Power Coffee “commercial CGI banner”

I always try to keep up with the latest trends, technologies, techniques and of course – commercial client’s demands, which are pushing your skills to the limits or even beyond. Although, being a photographer is a dream job, which allows me to express things through my perception of the world, sometimes my visual dreams are many steps ahead of reality. I can clearly recall the moment, when I saw the paintings of Salvador Dali for a first time. I was so impressed and overwhelmed, I felt like jump right into that world of his fantasy.

CGI

Recently, being already recognized as a full-time professional photographer, I came across few visually powerful advertisements and outdoor billboards, that made me really curious and I couldn’t stop asking myself – how did they do it? The answer was hidden in three letter abbreviation – CGI, which stands for Computer-generated Imagery. In terms of photography, CGI means mostly the creative workflow consisting of 3D rendering software (in my case it’s an amazing free software, called Blender) and Photoshop. As a beginner in field of CGI, I was desperately looking for some inspiration. Well, I found it pretty quickly in Radoxist Studio – 3D, CGI & creative retouching production. What a surprise – these skillful guys serving for clients worldwide are based in my hometown Bratislava, Slovakia. Well, hats off Radoxist, you’re doing a stunning job!

Blender

So, I also accepted the challenge of 2D and 3D composites, set the goal of being able to create whatever I want at the end. I started from scratch, learning step by step Blender’s UI, modelling objects, texturing them, and so on… I’m still a beginner in terms of what Blender is capable of.

Yesterday, I created a CGI scene including coffee mug, plate with butter, and coffee beans… All right, this excercise was absolutely intentional. I was ask to do so by my friend Dusan Plichta, to support his start-up idea known as Power Coffee. Well, you can find the rendered and Photoshoped image above. If you like it and wanna support my, as well as Dusan’s work, please share or like this post.

Take care and stay tuned for my next works.

Matus / LAGO more.than.pure.photography

forget your facial rashes

A facial rash is an inflammatory reaction of the skin of the face. Facial rashes can be caused by a wide variety of mild to serious diseases, disorders and conditions. They can affect a small to large area of the face and can occur in all age groups and populations. But there is an obvious solution, how to eliminate or even better to get rid of such a skin reaction – Aknecolor, a medicine developed by Spirig.

Recently, there was an online competition going on, called “How To Take a Picture with the Rash” (ran by Zaraguza Digital), giving the winners the unique opportunity to go through the professional make-up procedure and the portrait photo shoot afterwards. I had the privilege to be the one, who took the portraits of three finalists of this competition.

A girl on the photo placed above is one of them. Well, I guess I should take her into consideration for any further commercial photo shoot… yeah?

ROM [royal ontario museum]

The Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) is a museum of world culture and natural history based in Toronto, Ontario. It is one of the largest museums in North America, attracting over one million visitors every year. The museum is located north of Queen’s Park in the University of Toronto district, with its main entrance facing Bloor Street.

Established on 16 April 1912 and opened on 19 March 1914, the museum has maintained close relations with the University of Toronto throughout its history, often sharing expertise and resources. The museum was under the direct control and management of the University of Toronto until 1968. It then became an independent institution. Today, the museum is Canada’s largest field-research institution, with research and conservation activities that span the globe.

Designed by Toronto architects Frank Darling and John A. Pearson, the architectural style of the original building is Italianate Neo-Romanesque, popular throughout North America until the 1870s. The structure is heavily massed and punctuated by rounded and segmented arched windows with heavy surrounds and hood mouldings. Other features include applied decorative eave brackets, quoins and cornices.

The new main entrance to the Royal Ontario Museum, Daniel Libeskind’s The Crystal, first opened in 2007. The Deconstructivist crystalline-form is clad in 25 percent glass and 75 percent aluminium sitting on top of a steel frame. The Crystal’s canted walls do not touch the sides of the existing heritage buildings, used to close the envelope between the new form and existing walls. These walls act as a pathway for pedestrians to safely travel across “The Crystal”.

Jízda králů / The Ride of the Kings

The Ride of the Kings from Moravian Slovakia is a unique tradition in the Czech Republic which is included in the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list. You can experience it during the last weekend in May in several villages and towns in Moravian Slovakia and Haná. Only in Vlčnov, where it has a tradition dating back more than 200 years, is it held every year.

The tradition of the Ride of the Kings is shrouded in many legends. According to the most famous of these, the Hungarian king Matthew Corvin was fleeing with his retinue from the Czech king George of Poděbrady. In order to not be recognised and captured, he dressed himself in women’s clothing, veiled his face with ribbons and held a rose in his mouth.

The modern-day king is a young boy with a rose in his mouth and ribbons around his head. He rides into the village on a white horse and has his retinue dance to gain the favour and a gift from the onlookers. The whole village is caught up in the whirl of events, during which you can admire the luxuriant folk costumes passed down from generation to generation.