Go Behind The Scenes With Photographer Dave Hill Shooting For Scion

Dave Hill has become known for his amazing, over the top compositing work, but last year Scion hired Dave for something very different. A large photo and video campaign that needed to be shot mostly natural light and without heavy retouching. 

Dave's style has changed dramatically over the last few years. If you visit his website he appears to be shooting mostly car campaigns these days. A few years ago, car ads were all about perfectly lit composites but recently, they've become much more natural looking. The work on Dave's website ranges from grungy black and white shots to very colorful and filtered studio style imagery. 

I really enjoyed watching Dave work on the Scion campaign and seeing just how complex a relatively simple shoot can become when the stakes are so high. The finished images are by no means jaw dropping but I don't think they are supposed to be. They look simple and natural and I think that is what Scion wanted; real people driving real cars in the real world. 

Check out the final tv commercial from this shoot below.

Lee Morris's picture

Lee Morris is a professional photographer based in Charleston SC, and is the co-owner of Fstoppers.com

Log in or register to post comments
6 Comments

It's nice to see some natural work from the guy. He's very talented but the "Dave Hill Look" couldn't live forever.

I too went through a Dave Hill phase 6-8 years ago. It was brief and fun. I don't think my images from that phase will stand the test of time.

Yeah, it seems like he understand that too, so I'm glad to see he's excited about getting away from it.

That was refreshing!

Really cool behind the scenes video. Always cool to see how other artist's work on set and their thought process. Thanks for posting Lee!

Couldn't help but chuckle when he said "ok fine I'll just keep renting" His dry humor is just as spot on as his photos.

that was a great BTS! Definitely a down to earth guy it seems too, thanks for sharing!