WHAT IS SOAP IMAGES?

SOAP IMAGES is a bureau for professional image creation serving international clients.

We are a one-stop shop of creative freelancers that offers all steps of image production: from idea & conception via photo shoot to the final retouched artwork.

WHO ARE WE?

The founders of SOAP IMAGES are MIKE KRAUS and MARC PERINO.

Mike Kraus is a photographer, director and art director. Marc Perino is retoucher, art director, director and VFX artist. Both of them have been working as a team for two decades in the film, TV, photo and advertising industry.

We concentrate experience from countless projects and we are working together with a network of experts from all creative realms of visual communication. Team spirit, the will to find solutions to complex problems, the enthusiasm for creative visual design and an excellent service are parts of our DNA. If you want to know what fuels us take a look at our portfolio and let us work together on a project.

„Daily Soaps“ have been developed in the 1940s by the advertising industry (»Mad men«) and their clients in order to sell products in commercial breaks. That is when commerce met art. Although it is an old idea - the approach is still modern. Soap Images represents strong visuals that is elaborate and sells.

WHERE ARE WE?

We operate from MUNICH & BERLIN.

But we are ready to go wherever you need us. From studios to remote locations.

Production

• video production
• music production

PHOTO SHOOTS

STUDIO

From the small cozy studio to the 300 square meter studio hangar - been there, done that. We love complex light setups with 10-15 studio strobes as much as lighting a model with just one polypard or reflector. We either bring our own lighting equipment with us or we rent it - for bigger gigs - on site. When there is no studio on location - we build one.
We shoot directly tethered into our computer with an iPad preview for the client. At the end of the shooting the client can take a harddrive with his data back home. Or - as an online alternative - we provide a password protected link on german servers to preview the images on his personal computer/tablet/phone.

 

ON LOCATION

For portraits or background element shoots we are also mobile with iPad and Camranger. We have battery-powered strobes, foldable reflectors and mobile computer equipment. This approach is mostly suitable for shooting so-called “background assets”. For the creation of a filmposter e.g. you need backgrounds or textures. If it is feasible from a production budget and the logistics we drive to the original film locations in order to shoot buildings or landscapes in high resolution. For the Constantin Film/Netflix tv show we drove to the belgian marshlands and across North Rhine-Westphalia.

CREATIVE RETOUCHING

RETOUCHING

Separately - or additionally - to photo shoots we offer creative retouching. Our goal is to optimize the appearance of a person or an object to a degree that results in maximum impact but does not distort or changes the original charateristics.
Less is more - but sometimes also more is more.
 

COMPOSINGS

Complex composings in photoshop with 200 layers or more do not deter us. Whether we need location stills, stock photos or our own library of photos we always seek for the best images in the highest quality and we try to merge it into something new and unique. In doubt we shoot the elements ourselves - depending on budget and logistics.
 

SERVICES

• High End Retouching, Creative Retouching & Composings from digital images or RAW files

• digital image data management , conversion into diverse file formats

• digital asset management

• pre-press data conversion in CMYK format

• the image processing is being done on a calibrated Eizo monitor

• print- or scanservices on request

KEY ART DEVELOPMENT

CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT

We even go one step further. We also offer the whole chain of idea and concept development via photo shoot to retouching and key art development.
We also offer only parts of it if that is the client’s wish. Sometimes the photo shoot is already done and the client does not see the forest for the trees. We enter the scene from beyond the forest and take a fresh approach to the project.

EQUIPMENT/SOFTWARE

The choice of cameras dependents on the challenges of the job. At the moment we work with a Nikon D850 which is suited for most applications. From time to time we also work with high end medium format cameras from PhaseOne.

• Nikon (D850, D810)

• Canon (5D Mark II, 5D Mark III, 5D Mark 4)

• PhaseOne (IQ160, IQ260)

• Fuji (X-T2, X-T20)

• Leica (S, SL)

• Apple (iMac, Macbook Pro, Mac Pro, iPad)

• CamRanger, CamFi, TP Link 3040, QDLSR Dashboard

• Hensel, Briese, Profoto, Broncolor

• Adobe (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Acrobat, Premiere, After Effects, etc)

• PhaseOne Capture One Pro