Randi Coran:
Macs at the End of the Runway
With its arched windows, glossy hardwood floors and lofty ceilings, Shoot Digital provides a complete digital imaging facility for studio as well as location shoots.
Picture this. “They say, ‘Just let me shoot beautiful images.’ We take care the rest.”
In addition to covering runway shows for Polo Ralph Lauren, for instance, Shoot Digital handles Lauren’s magazine features, product shoots and its “look books” — an internal catalog for buyers that illustrates each outfit in a new collection.
“It’s an absolute boom,” says Coran of digital imaging. “Four years ago I was pleading with ad agencies and photographers to give digital photography a try. Now I get calls all day from clients who want our digital support.” She explains: “Digital imaging eliminates the problems of high cost and inconsistent quality, and process time shrinks considerably with an on-set lab.
“The demand is there.”
Shooting to the G5
Each studio at Shoot Digital includes a Power Mac G5 with 23-inch and 20-inch Apple Cinema Displays, which are calibrated daily.
“The whole point is to let photographers do what they do best — get great quality images. We don’t want them ever to worry about the technology.”
“The G5s are outstanding,” Coran says. “Hundreds, if not thousands, of images come in from a typical shoot, and the G5 handles them incredibly quickly — 33 percent faster than the G4s.”
During a studio shoot, she and her team use the hardware and software to make sure their image is in focus, the lighting is correct and everything is captured correctly.
“The whole point is to let photographers do what they do best — get great quality images. We don’t want them ever to worry about the technology,” she says.
Quality Control
Because Shoot Digital handles all aspects of digital imaging from capture to retouching, inconsistent results are a thing of the past.
“Our technicians know how things should look,” Coran says. “They watch the monitors throughout the shoot, and the images go straight to our retouchers.
“So we’ve got a lot of quality controls in place. If you turn the images over to someone who had nothing to do with the shoot, there’s a bigger gap in terms of getting the image and color exact.”
