Holmes Marketing also supplied a Condor Iceberg at the same time as the crushed ice effect - this is the largest fake ice block, expanding to fill an entire bucket and taking nearly a week to do so. These products absorb hundreds of times their volume in water to form crystal-clear frangible jelly with a refractive index more icy than the real thing.
We didn't have the subject-matter or the time to test the 'berg'. Then, over a year later, advertising photographer Angus Blackburn called into the offices for some advice and a chat. He had to shoot a poster for Tennents (Scottish brewery and very good!) Ice Beer, to an exact brief; could we retouch an image on the computer to add the ice electronically?
The answer was no, but we still had the Iceberg in the studio cupboard - and a small 'Dew' spray from Condor which adds durable 'water' drops on 'cold' bottles. We handed over the goodies on condition that Angus let us use the result, including any before and afters from the computer retouching his art director reckoned was needed.
He called before the end of the week to say that two further cubes had been obtained from Holmes and his shot (above) had been successful. The Condor ice had created a plausible effect and proved a great talking-point in the studio for the art director from Apex Design (Edinburgh) and the client. We would have loved to have done the Photoshop work on our Mac, but a IIfx with 32Mb isn't really up to handling an A2 sized poster image. So the retouching work went to Glasgow repro house Scott Stern.
For a small outlay Condor's Icebergs (about �20, $30, per unit) had helped a poster (above) to be produced in record time for the pre-Christmas party season. Actually, we rather like the natural, brilliant effect of the original unretouched shot. The poster is obviously what the brewery wanted as you can read the label like a proof print!
Angus Blackburn can be contacted on (+44) 1835 850710. He shoots feature and advertising work in Scotland and England. For the Condor Foto special effects products, call Mark Holmes on (+44) 1635 32321, or ask your photo trade counter/pro dealer/prop shop. Some of the effects can't easily be shipped (liquids, aerosol cans) but others like the grated ice, small ice cubes and iceberg are easy to post anywhere in the world.
Angus says that he kept the bergs in a couple of buckets after the shoot, and they are still bright and clean three months later. If you let them dry out slowly they can be rehydrated, too, but you can't repair the fractures in them which you have to make to ensure they look realistic.