Weddingrams is a wedding photography company in India that prides itself on being innovative. We came across their 3D photos, and asked them to tell us a little more about their creative process. Divyam Mehrotra walked through the process of creating one of these “3dmotiongrams.”

W: How did you get your start in this area?
DM: As a VFX artist and a big fan of the art, the Harry Potter series always amazed me with the special effects, from flying broomsticks to talking animals each thing was special in that movie. But one effect always used to catch the eye, “moving photos.” I always wanted to make something like that, but being in wedding photography, I never got a real chance to work on VFX.

Earlier this year, the idea struck me, why not use the effect on wedding pictures and make them even more expressive? So the concept of 3D wedding pictures came up.

W: What do you have to do while shooting to make them work for the style of photo?
DM: A lot of pre-planning is involved in shooting to create this effect. We always keep in mind taking a few pictures during a shoot to create this effect later.

It involves capturing the background without the subject first so that we use it in depth (having a background with less distractions or a plain sky is better, as it helps in cloning later).

Then we add our couples in the same frame.

Having several layers of depth is a must for this effect to work.

W: What happens during editing to make them move?

DM: A person needs to have Photoshop and After Effects knowledge to create such effects, even other 3D software can be used.

So to start, you need to keep each subject (foreground, mid ground, and background) in different layers.

Then, by adding them to 3D space in After Effects, you can create depth and effects to it.

Adding rain, smoke, and other effects comes as the last part.

W: Do couples request to have it done or is it something you started doing extra?

DM: We always wanted to do something innovative in our work, and got a chance to do this 3D effect for the first time, but we are sure as these are more interactive and appealing than photographs, couples will certainly request for it.

The second video to the series would be out soon, on our FB page: facebook.com/weddingrams

If you’d like to see more from Weddingrams, visit their website: weddingrams.com

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