The Studio Christmas Card
It was some 17 years ago that we first started creating our family/studio Christmas Cards. We didn’t know exactly what we were getting into, what with just having our first child, and all. This was before Rocket Boy and Gears was a concept. But, we knew that we wanted to create something a little different from the standard family holiday portrait. Plus, I wanted a little play time to stretch creatively.
It took a few years before our “cast” really gelled together and Rocketboy and Gears were old enough to get the joke. Inspired by the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series that Julie and I, like so many others, read when we were growing up, the series has allowed us to play and create together as a family.
Everyone has a role to play, from brainstorming, propping, and the all important proofing for egregious crimes against grammar.
So, during this Winter Solstice season, we wish you all the happiness in the world and, please, take a moment to be creative with the ones you love!
Will Rocketboy and Gears be back next year? I certainly hope so!
No matter what, there will be exciting adventures to come!
Creating the Composite
For the first time in a long time, we didn’t do a behind the scenes video look at how we created the photo composite. There was just not enough time and it was going to be hard to top last year’s video.
The concept was simple enough, Rocketboy and Gears outside of a giant bank vault. The challenge was that no one wanted to let us play with their vault. Something about only being able to shoot during the school day (nope! Kids’ need their schoolin’) and there is the whole security issue. Plus, we were really running against the clock to get it done.
We opted to shoot the boys in the studio with our collected props and then drop them into a 3d scene created and rendered in Photoshop CC 2017. It took a little while to get up to speed and learn some new techniques, but the results are pretty cool!
- Tags: Christmas
Related Holiday Card Stories from the Studio . . .
Someone is downstairs... I can hear the sound of paper on cloth and a soft, "ho, ho ho!" as if someone were chuckling under his breath. What could it be??
The boys are deep in the cave this time! They have to save the Man in Red from Yetis!
Can you believe its our 19th McKee Photo Studio Christmas card? See behind the scenes and how we put together these fun little photo composites.
Our Very First Studio Christmas card, wrangling a one year old and keeping the fire lit in the fireplace. What could possibly go wrong?