What was especially interesting (and historical!) about this work was that a large portion of images in the book were actually shot on the new RED Ultra HD video cameras (4k and 5k)
I have worked with RED UHD video files before but this was the largest and most intense job yet using special video software to set white balance/colour and tone before exporting the high resolution stills as 16bit tiffs for further work in Photoshop.
As always the work needed to be done ethically so most of the adjustments were to remove cast or exposure differences between different cameras so that the sequences of images shared the same natural colour and tone.
Further work to counter problematic colours in the printing process meant that the images were presented at their best and most natural. All images were individually sharpened in CMYK at size to achieve the best possible detail and smoothness similar to the work I did on the best selling book accompanying Frozen Planet.
The series will be broadcast on BBC1 later this Autumn. You can read more here
I’m very happy with the way the book has turned out and wish it well in the Christmas book market.
Many thanks to the editor Rosamund Kidman Cox for the opportunity to help out with such an important and historical project.
If you need help with getting the most from your ultra high definition stills or photographic assets then get in touch with me.