Stickied Post
This is my first OnePlus device after many years of using a certain 'fruit' phone and wow, I am massively impressed! As a camera lover, I simply couldn't resist this after hearing about the collaboration with Hasselblad, as such, I decided to pay homage to some of their iconic images with these unboxing shots. I tried to tell a mini story with it.
I spent a long, long time setting up the photographs below but I had so much fun creating them. I had an LED moon light which was very useful. Other items used in these photos included my son's Duplo (to prop up the phone), lots of white tack, a whole bag of flour (to create a moon-like surface) and some clear tape (to stop the flour getting into the ports on the phone). I also used some extra large sheets of black card and set up some lighting in a pitch black room.
Arrival
The idea behind this image was to signify the arrival of the OnePlus 9 Pro, the device that we've all been waiting for. I also wanted to catch the zero gravity aspect of space.
How it was made:
The levitating phone was created by carefully propping up the various parts of packaging with blocks of Duplo and white tack. These were carefully angled so that these weren't in view of the camera and I discovered that I had to used light grey coloured blocks to ensure that they didn't cast a coloured shadow or reflection. This shot took the longest to set up as it was really tricky to get a stable setup without the packaging tray or phone moving after a couple of seconds. The front part of the inner tray was taped on the inside in order to keep it down inside the front of the box. The moon in the background is an LED moon lamp.
Discovery
The image is based off the iconic 'Earth Shot' taken on the first manned visit to the moon. I wanted to showcase more of the box contents in this images. I like to think of the box as being the shuttle and the phone being the astronaut.
How it was made:
The image in the earth in the background was of course added in post (I have another version without the earth incase this isn't allowed in the contest). Everything else was set up behind layers of flour. The flour was actually too fine so I had to mix it with some water to create a better texture with larger chunks. It honestly felt like I was doing some late night baking at times! The flour at the front was positioned a lot closer to the camera so that it was out of focus and created an added sense of depth.
The stock image of the earth was licensed under CC0 Creative Commons licence.
Making History
This image is based on the historic photograph of the footprint on the moon. I read an interesting fact somewhere that all of the Hasselblad cameras taken to the moon were left up there in order to save weight on the shuttle's journey home. This fact has been stuck in my head for a while so I wanted to pay homage to those cameras left up there by resembling this with the OnePlus 9 Pro. This became the perfect chance to showcase the remaining contents of the box and have the phone in the case to protect it from the 'moon dust' along with it's life line, the striking red power cable.
How it was made:
As you can imaging, this involved a whole bag of flour. I initially used a small potato to create the basis of the footprint. I then shaped this and made the sole of the print using the blunt end of a children's spoon. To create a good level of contrast, I positioned one of my lights on the floor, coming in from the side so that it created shadows in the footprint similar to that of the iconic photograph. When it came to placing the phone underneath the moon dust, I decided to tape up the ports to ensure that no flour made it's way into the device. I also wanted to ensure that the words 'Never Settle' were still visible.
I hope that you really enjoyed these, I have uploaded a behind-the-scenes photo below to give an insight as to how these were set up. As you can tell, I sort of used whatever I could lay my hands on for this set of unboxing photographs.
I will just finish off by saying that I am new to the community, as you can probably tell and I am looking forward to being a bigger part of it and spending more time here. I have really enjoyed keeping an eye on various threads where people have been posting up the images that they have taken with their new OnePlus 9 phones.
Thanks for taking the time to view my images and read all about them
Last edited: Apr 13, 2021