Effective advertising starts with getting attention.

Sometimes, an unusual image is just the right thing to accomplish that.

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This image was created as the cover to a promotional package that included a golf outing. It was being presented in late winter to customers who would be waiting feverishly for spring and the chance to get out on the course.

The image was the whole cover of the piece and much larger than it appears on the page giving it more power. Just click on the image to blow it up and you'll get a better idea of the effect.

Other times, what you need is the perfect image

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Like this one that we created for www.teenvibrations.com. We were looking for a young girl with hispanic roots, in a setting that potential customers would feel comfortable in wearing the product. The budget didn't allow for use to do custom photography. So we combined images to make the perfect image.

1. The girl was removed from her white background with special care to make sure we kept her hair intact.
2. Then we added the mall scene behind her - carefully resizing it to remove the multistory aspect and to keep anthing that might be identifiable out of the final image.
3. Adding the jewelry came next. First it needed to be removed from the bust, then we needed to stretch it to fit the woman's neckline, and add in shadows and details to make it look like it was on the model when she was photographed.
4. Finally, we changed the color of her jacket to better match the color of the jewelry.

Here are the source images:

Sometimes you just get lucky...

Here the assignment was a picture to use as part of an Ugly Car Promotion. Grabbing a camera, I hit the streets and within 15 minutes ran across this beauty. By the way, you can click on any of the pictures for a larger version.

Of course, we didn't want it to be too identifiable. The first step was to fog the windows up so you couldn't see the background. Along the way a sponsoring radio station logo was removed from the front window. I also decided to primer the driver's door. And I took off the license plate number.

Next we got rid of the rest of the background, highlighting the flat tires. A shadow was added to make it a bit more realistic when it was put in the final poster.

Finally, to make it show up better on a white page...and because it was the least fashionable color I could come up with, I gave it a paint job of pale yellow. And I gave it a Vanity Plate!

I later ran into the young man who owned the car and we had quite a laugh. He said that his friends had seen it and wondered if it really was his car, so they had sought out a poster and decided that it had to be!