We shoot chrome and grey references in the same light as the plate. HDRI is a start, not a finish: we rebuild key and edge in the renderer until the contact shadows sit.
If the physical product cannot be there, we still light an empty stand so the CG object inherits the same wrap. The test is simple — if a producer can point to the render in the first second, we go back.
Materials are photographed, not guessed. Polarisation, roughness, and a measured white help more than a downloadable ‘studio HDRI’ from a different room.
Grade happens with the composite, not before. A plate graded in isolation will fight the CG no matter how good the look-dev was.
We deliver layered files when the contract asks, and flattened masters when it does not. Either way the public image is one picture.
Fedstar produces commercial photography and motion from Salzburg. Stills and film share a recce so a lookbook does not argue with a cut, and a campaign does not arrive as two vendors in public. The rooms on Getreidegasse hold tabletop, a compact cyclorama, and a colour desk. Clients review tethered stills and a calibrated picture in one visit. Product and grade are not two appointments. Location days stay on the stone we recce. Bounce and a quiet key match the alley; we do not gel a brochure sunset onto a grey street. If the weather turns we wait or we rewrite the shot. Agencies come with a media plan. We name masters for print, 1:1 and 9:16, keep a working project for the revision window, and hand an archive another team can open a year later.