Campaign
One idea carried across print, screen and a six-metre wall, from a single shoot.
Ondine (concept)
THE DARKROOM
Every frameplanned, lit,graded andproved.
The Darkroom is how Halide works. Anything that can be decided before the shoot is decided before it. On the day, we light what was drawn. Afterwards, every file is graded to a measured profile and leaves with a printed proof and a sheet of checks, including the ones that didn't pass.
The four principles
01 · PLAN
Plan every frame.
A shot list, a moodboard and a light diagram for each set, agreed with you before anyone books a van. The shoot day is for making pictures, not decisions.
02 · LIGHT
Light it on set.
We build the light the diagram describes, then shoot tethered and check each frame at 100% on a calibrated screen. Nothing is left for retouching to rescue.
03 · GRADE
Grade to a profile.
Colour is matched to a reference chart shot under the same light, not to taste on a laptop. One profile per set, so frame one and frame forty agree.
04 · PROVE
Prove it.
Every delivery ships with a printed proof and a proof sheet of measured checks. If a number misses, it is on the sheet, with what we did about it.
WHAT WE MAKE
What we make.
Four kinds of photograph, one way of working. Each one ships with its proof print and its proof sheet.
Product
Glass, metal, fabric and food, lit so the material reads before the label does.
Ondine (concept)
Architecture and interiors
Buildings across a day, verticals corrected in camera, shadows on purpose.
Casa Tierra (concept)
Editorial and portrait
People where they already are, in available light, with their consent on file.
Maré Journal (concept)
THE TEN STEPS OF A SHOOT
Step 01: The brief, then questions.
You send what you have, however rough. We answer with questions before we answer with a price, because most of the cost of a photograph is decided by where it will hang and how big.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: every question answered in writing before a quote. Ondine: five questions, one call, one page.
| we ask | because it decides | ondine answered |
|---|---|---|
| Where will it be seen? | size, sharpening, ratio | print, product page, one 6 m wall |
| How large, at most? | camera, lens, number of frames | A2 at 300 dpi |
| What must it not look like? | almost everything else | a beauty counter |
| Who signs off? | where the proof print goes | one name |
| How long, and where, will you use it? | the licence and the metadata | 3 years, worldwide, all media |
Step 02: One idea, agreed first.
Before a light is booked, the shoot is written on one page: what the pictures are in one sentence, and what they have to do at every distance they will be seen from. We agree it with you, and only then plan anything.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: nothing is booked before this page is signed. Ondine: signed on day 3, shot on day 19.
THE CAMPAIGN IN ONE SENTENCE
A bottle that seems to have just come up out of the water: beaded glass, one light from behind, and everything else left quiet.
WHAT IT HAS TO DO
ON A PHONE
Read as one shape of light in one second, at 400 px wide.
IN PRINT
Hold up at arm's length: every droplet sharp, the glass clean.
ON THE WALL
At six metres, still no visible retouching in the glass.
NEVER
Splashes for the sake of it, gold, a hand.
Step 03: Moodboard and shot list.
The moodboard fixes the light and the colour, not the composition. The shot list fixes everything else: every frame with its ratio, its light and the place it will be used. You can count the shoot before it happens.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: every frame on the list has a use. Ondine: 6 frames planned, 6 delivered, each in 2 formats and 4 crops.
| # | frame | ratio | light | used for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | glass beaded with water | 4:5 | strip behind, through glass | key visual, print |
| 02 | bottle split by red and teal light | 9:16 | two gelled strips, either side | counter screen |
| 03 | bottle in a shaft of sun | 4:5 | one hard key at 30° | product page |
| 04 | water, no bottle | 3:2 | two heads, 1/8000 s flash | sequence opener |
Step 04: The light, drawn.
Every set gets a light diagram: where each light stands, what it does, what is flagged off and where the camera sits. The crew builds from the drawing, and the drawing goes in the archive, so a reshoot in a year matches.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: the set is built from the diagram, and the diagram is photographed next to the set. Ondine frame 01: one light, one card, two flags.
Step 05: The shoot.
We shoot tethered to a calibrated screen and look at every frame at 100% before moving the light. A reference chart is shot at the start of every set and whenever the light changes. You can be in the room or on a live link.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: a chart frame for every light change, focus checked at 100% on every select. Ondine: 412 frames, 9 chart frames.
Step 06: Selects and the contact sheet.
At the end of the day you get a contact sheet of the frames we marked, not a gallery of everything. We choose together, frame by frame, and every choice is written down with its reason.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: one select per planned frame, each with its reason. Ondine frame 01: 11A, because no droplet has run down the shoulder.
- 03A
- 07A
- 11A · SELECT
- 14A
- 18A
- 22A
- 26A
- 31A
412 frames shot, 31 marked on the day, 8 on this sheet, 1 chosen. Rejected frames are kept, not deleted.
Step 07: Graded to a calibrated profile.
Each set is graded from a profile built on its own chart frame, then the look is applied on top, the same for every frame. Colour that matters, like a bottle or a skin tone, is measured, not judged by eye.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: ΔE2000 against the reference chart, per set. Ondine: mean 1.1, worst patch 3.2.
Step 08: Retouched, and logged.
Retouching removes what was never meant to be there: dust, a seam, a stand caught in the glass. Every change goes in a log you receive with the files. We don't change bodies, faces or products beyond what the log says.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: every retouch layer listed, with what it changed. Ondine frame 01: 5 entries, 0.4% of the frame touched.
ONDINE_01_11A.tif · retouch log 01 sensor dust 12 spots healed 02 bottle seam 1 line softened, not removed 03 droplet field 2 hairs cloned from 11B 04 label - left as printed 05 stand in the glass 1 shape removed, see note
NOTE: "the reflection of the C-stand is visible in the shoulder of the bottle"→ LAYER: 05 · removal, 0.3% of the frame→ RESULT: listed on the proof sheet; unretouched file delivered beside it
Step 09: The proof print.
Before anything is delivered, the selects are printed on the paper they were profiled for and sent to the person who signs off. A screen can't tell you what a print will do. A print can.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: the print is checked against the file under a D50 viewing light. Ondine: 6 prints, A3, one reprinted after a 2% density change.
WHAT ARRIVES IN THE POST
Six A3 prints in a flat case, each signed on the back, with the proof sheet folded in front of them.
HOW IT WAS MADE
PAPER
Baryta, 310 gsm, the stock the profile was built on.
PROFILE
Measured for this printer, this paper and this ink batch.
VIEWING
Checked at D50, 2000 lux. Look at it by a window, not under a desk lamp.
SIGN-OFF
You mark the print, we change the file, we print again.
Step 10: The proof sheet, then delivery.
Every delivery is measured on the files we hand over: colour against the chart, print size, clipping, consistency across the set, profiles and rights metadata. The numbers travel with the files. If a check doesn't pass, you read it on the sheet first.
WHAT WE CHECK HERE: the proof sheet. Ondine: every check passed but one, delivered with its number and the reason.
| Check | Target | Measured | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colour accuracy, mean of 24 patches | ΔE2000 2.0 or less | ΔE2000 1.1 | passes |
| Colour accuracy, worst patch | ΔE2000 4.0 or less | 3.2, patch 13 (blue) | passes |
| Print size at 300 dpi | A2, 4961 × 7016 px | 5464 × 8192 px | passes |
| Highlights clipped on the product | none | none | passes |
| Shadows clipped in the label | none | none | passes |
| Bottle colour the same across the set | ΔE2000 2.0 or less between frames | 2.6 in frame 14 | didn't pass |
| Colour profile embedded | every file | 48 of 48 | passes |
| Rights and usage metadata embedded | every file | 48 of 48 | passes |
Frame 14 is lit by one hard shaft of sun. Pulling it to 2.0 flattened the glass, so we stopped at 2.6 and said so. The client approved it in writing before delivery.
A shoot, hour by hour.
The Ondine studio day (concept), as the call sheet had it: fourteen and a half hours, six planned frames, and just under eight hours with the camera in hand.
- –
Load-in. Van unloaded, riser set, filtered water left to warm to the room for the atomiser.
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Build. Set built from the light diagram; the diagram photographed beside it.
- –
Chart. Reference chart shot, tether and screen checked against it.
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Frame 01. Glass beaded with water, backlit. 11A marked at 10:52.
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Reset. Glass dried and misted again; flags stay where they are.
- –
Lunch. Away from the set. Nobody touches the lights.
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Frames 02–03. The split light, then the shaft of sun. New chart frame for each.
- –
Frames 04–06. Water without the bottle, two heads at the shortest flash.
- –
Safety. Clean plates, label close-ups, one frame of every set as it stands.
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Strike. Set struck, the studio left as we found it.
- –
Backup. Three copies on two sites before anyone goes home; the first grade on frame 01.
THE PROOF SHEET
Every line, and its limit.
A proof sheet is only useful if you know what each number can and can't tell you. Here is ours, line by line.
Colour accuracy, ΔE2000
- What it means
- A reference chart is shot under the set's light. After the grade we measure each of its 24 patches against the published values. ΔE2000 is the distance between two colours; around 1 is the smallest difference most people can see side by side.
- Its limit
- It proves the profile is right, not that the look is. A deliberate grade on top moves colours on purpose, and the sheet says where.
Print size at 300 dpi
- What it means
- The largest print each file makes at 300 pixels per inch, the density a print needs to hold up at reading distance. We state it as a paper size and in pixels.
- Its limit
- A billboard is seen from metres away and needs far less. If your largest use is bigger than the sheet says, we tell you before the shoot, not after.
Highlight and shadow clipping
- What it means
- Pixels pushed to pure white or pure black hold no detail and print as bare paper or flat ink. We count them inside the areas that matter: the product, a face, a label.
- Its limit
- Some clipping is right: a specular glint on glass, the sun itself. Those are listed as allowed, with where they are.
Consistency across a set
- What it means
- The same object, or the same skin, measured in every frame of a set, so a page of six photographs reads as one shoot. Target: ΔE2000 2.0 or less between frames.
- Its limit
- Light that changes on purpose, like a backlit frame or late sun, can miss it honestly. When it does, the sheet gives the number and the reason.
Retouch log
- What it means
- Every change made after the shoot, layer by layer: what, where, and how much of the frame. The unretouched file is delivered beside the retouched one.
- Its limit
- It records what we changed, not what we chose to leave. If you want something left alone, say so and it is written down.
Colour profile embedded
- What it means
- Every file carries the colour space it was graded in: Adobe RGB for print, sRGB for screens. Without it, software guesses, and usually guesses wrong.
- Its limit
- A profile can't fix an uncalibrated screen at the other end. The proof print is the reference when the two disagree.
Rights and usage metadata
- What it means
- Creator, copyright, licence, usage term and territory written into every file, so the terms travel with the photograph wherever it is copied.
- Its limit
- Many platforms strip metadata on upload. The licence document is the record; the metadata is the reminder.
File formats
- What it means
- 16-bit TIFF masters for print and further work, full-size JPEGs in sRGB for screens, and the crops named by ratio and use.
- Its limit
- We don't deliver raw files as standard. They are kept for five years and can be licensed; see the questions below.
What we don't do.
We don't generate images or composite a scene that wasn't in front of the camera without saying so on the proof sheet. We don't reshape bodies or faces. We don't shoot weddings or events, and we don't deliver a gallery of everything we shot. And we don't put a number on a case study that we didn't measure ourselves.
Questions
By the shot list, not by the hour. Once the one-page idea is agreed we know how many sets, frames and shoot days it takes, and we quote that as a fixed fee, with the licence priced separately so you can see both.
If the shot list grows, the quote changes before the shoot does. Nothing is added to an invoice that wasn't on a page you signed.
A licence written for how you said you'd use the photographs: media, territory and term, for example print and digital, worldwide, three years. It is embedded in every file and set out in one document.
Extending it later is a short email and a known fee. Exclusive or perpetual licences are possible and priced as such.
Yes. Architecture and editorial work is mostly on location, and the method travels with us: the chart, the calibrated screen and the light diagrams come on every job. Travel is quoted at cost, on the same page as the fee.
Digital by default: it is tethered, measurable and quick to prove. We shoot medium-format film when the brief calls for its grain and its colour, and the film is scanned, profiled and checked like any other file. The proof sheet says which is which.
The contact sheet arrives the evening of the shoot. Graded and retouched selects, the proof prints and the proof sheet follow in ten working days for a typical one-day shoot; larger series are scheduled in the quote.
We do, and we keep them on two sites for five years, so a reprint or a new crop is always possible. You own your licence to the delivered photographs. If you need the raw files themselves, they can be licensed with the job or later.
As far as the log allows: dust, seams, stray reflections, a stand caught in the glass, a blemish that won't be there next week. We don't reshape bodies or faces, change a product's form or colour beyond its real specification, or composite a scene without saying so on the proof sheet.
People and interiors, yes: two of our three case studies are exactly that. Food and drink, yes, when it is product-led. For anything that needs a specialist rig, like moving cars or underwater work, we say so early and either bring in someone we trust or tell you who to call.
Who we are
Halide is a photography and art-direction studio: a photographer, an art director and a retoucher, with crews we have worked with for years. We direct every shoot, sign off every file, and answer for every number on the sheet.
Silver halide is the light-sensitive crystal in film and photographic paper. Light strikes it, the darkroom brings out what is already there. We named the studio after it, and the method after the room.
A product, a spaceor a story to photograph?
Send a short brief or write to us. We'll come back with questions, then one idea for the shoot before anything is booked.
studio@halide.studio