In the middle of March 2020, everyone's lives changed. COVID-19 ushered in a new practice-social distancing- that required everyone to rethink every action they take. As team and group photographers, we had an unusual challenge--How do you take a group photo when everyone needs to be 6 feet apart?
A huge part of our business is taking those classic group photos. They are an important part of growing up. They are a part of a person's history. Overtime, the images will become family heirlooms.
Some of the phrases that we would use when taking a group photo were "squeeze in a little closer," "move in," "get your heads closer together." Obviously, we aren't going to be using those phrases for a while. Getting closer to another is the opposite of what we are to do if we want to control the virus.
We had to come up with another way.
Enter ChromaKey. ChromaKey technology has been around for decades. It was developed and utilized by the film industry in the 1930's and 1940's and was used in films that many have never heard of like "The Old Man and the Sea" and "The Thief of Baghdad." When color television was developed, ChromaKey was used for weather reports so that the weatherman could be shown standing in front of an electronic weather map. Nowadays, ChromaKey technology is used extensively in Hollywood, and virtually everyone has seen the effects in one film or another (and not even know it.)
Photographers use ChromaKey also. In fact, we've been using it at Bender Photography for our wrestling photos for years. It creates a good look for the individual photos we offer. However, we have never utilized it in team photos in the past. Then came along COVID-19, and we had to rethink how we create team photos safely. With the help of ChromaKey and some skilled editing, we are able to make a composited team photo. A team photo that has 17 people in it means that a composited group photo requires at least 18 photos- one for each player and one for the background. All of them have to be assembled with Photoshop and other specialized software.
The good news is that our team at Bender Photography is well qualified to create composited group photos. Some of the techniques that we utilize in our light paintings, which are a different type of composited photo, work the same for group photo composites.
While a composited group photo is more work than what we did in the past, it is the right thing to do if we are to be serious about social distancing. Watch the video below to see a glimpse of what the compositing process looks like.
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