Nike + Sports Authority • Another Run Another Story

Objective: Use sports photography to tell a written story on the human body for use in magazine ads, billboards, merchandising displays, and on the web. Process/Solution: This job was a collaboration with photographer Charles “Stretch” Ledford. We were originally going to have the stories physically written on the skin but this approach did not leave any room for copy changes and would lock us into a specific angle of view and scale, which limited options drastically. We needed flexibility, but also a look that seemed 100% real. Our new plan was to have a calligrapher hand letter on paper in the rough shape of the muscle group, then digitize and apply the writing in Adobe Photoshop. The execution was tested extensively before the actual shoot and the tests were shared with the agency so that everyone felt very confident when it came time to do the actual production. The photographer shot a library of defocused background images first and later photographed all of the talent and their various muscles in a studio in Seattle near the client. We received the approved high-res selects to begin compositing and started assembling the pieces. We pushed and pulled the text using the liquefy tool to wrap and match the topography of each muscle shape. The skin texture, highlighting, and individual hairs were painted back over the text to create a convincing effect. Techniques: compositing, retouching, illustration Acknowledgements: Agency: Cole & Weber United Art director: Lance Wei Photography: Charles “Stretch” Ledford