Car Photography
Jason Collin Photography wants to help you always remember your classic car with a custom classic car photography package. Available for the St. Petersburg, Tampa, Clearwater, Orlando and Sarasota areas. Contact Jason today, a car lover himself, to preserve your beautiful classic car for the future with digitial photographs and the present with fine art prints.
Ford Thunderbird 1955-1957 First Generation - decorated for a wedding in Tampa - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/125th tripod mountedIn the early summer I second shot for a very large Tampa Wedding. My first duty was to photograph the groom getting ready then head to the Sacred Heart Church in downtown Tampa to get shots of the pre-wedding ceremony. This allowed me to photograph a first generation circa 1955-1957 Ford Thunderbird in full "Just Got Married" decoration. Though I had the time, there were still obstacles to shooting how I wanted to in limo drivers arriving and taxis and other regular traffic zooming by so I had to keep one eye on staying alive and the other on the Thunderbird.
1955-1957 Ford Thunderbird looking very classy in front of Sacred Heart Church in Tampa - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 5-bracket HDR tripod mountedDespite there being traffic, that did not stop me from scurrying out into the middle of the street to make the above HDR image of the elaborate architecture of the Sacred Heart Church entrance complemented by the classic profile lines of the Thunderbird. Cars from the 50s have such a presence. I wonder if current auto workers feel as much pride when a Focus rolls off the assembly line today as they did when one of these beauties did in the 50s?
Leave the future behind . . . - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th tripod mountedI very much look forward to someday owning a classic car myself and doing the best thing the continental United States has to offer, driving from coast-to-coast.
Example of motion blue with main subject frozon - SETUP: Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/10thIf you have never manually controlled the shutter speed on your DSLR to create motion blur, then you are missing out on a lot of fun! Using a slow shutter speed and a steady panning technique can transform a mundane photo of a car driving down a road into an image showing a vehicle seemingly cruising at warp speed.
SETUP FOR THE ABOVE NIGHT SHOT:
TECHNIQUE FOR CREATING MOTION BLUR:
If you can maintain a focus lock and match the car's speed with your panning speed the car will appear sharp while the background elements will all be blurred. The shutter speed needed will depend on the time of day and ambient light. The suggested settings above can be a starting point for night shots.
Model: Amber Car: Cadillac CTS setup: f/11 ISO 200 1/100th strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power to frame left, SB-600 @ 1/2 power to frame center-right
This second set of photographs featuring model Amber and a Cadillac CTS photographed in front of the Tampa Convention Center feature some of the images chosen by the client (part 1 featured my initial favorites from the shoot). It is always interesting to me to see which photographs the client chooses as compared to the ones I chose. This time, only one photograph of the client's ten purchased images overlapped with one of my top three. We were close on a second, with the client choosing just a slightly different pose than the one I did. Too bad about that too because I had already done the major edit (removing several background buildings) on the pose I chose!
Model: Amber Car: Cadillac CTS Setup: f/10 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power to frame left, SB-600 @ 1/4 power to frame center-rightAll that said, the three featured client choices in this post are now also in my favorites as well. I believe it is really important to get one or more sets of eyes on all the photographs from a shoot in order to really discover all the best ones. If the client had not chosen these, I may never have bothered to give any of them a full edit and thus they would have never made it onto my site or into my portfolio.
The idea to have Amber look at her watch as if she were bored or waiting impatiently on someone was my own. The client had told me at the beginning of the shoot that he wanted an element of the unattainable, of something hard to maintain, hard to keep. So I thought if you want to have a beautiful woman and a cool car, you better arrive on time, at the very least!
Model: Amber Car: Cadillac CTS Setup: f/11 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power to frame left, SB-600 @ 1/2 power to frame center-rightThis was a great project to work on as the client provided me with a clear vision for the photographs while at the same time letting me put my own creative touch on the setup of the shots. Plus, add in a model who can pose gracefully on the hood of a car (not easy!). That equals pretty much the ideal situation.
Model: Amber Car: Cadillac CTS setup: f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power to frame left, SB-600 @ 1/2 power to frame center-right
I returned to the Tampa Convention Center for another commercial car photography shoot, this time though, with the added bonus of having a great model, Amber (her website). I was really excited about this project when contacted by the client and am very pleased with the resulting photographs. I have photographed cars before, and models too, but never a car & model together, thus the extra enthusiasm for this particular Tampa shoot.
I used my typical two speedlight strobist setup for all the shots. I mostly used the setting sun as a third, backlight source (see highlights on Amber's hair). To setup the shots I first directed the client where and how to park his Cadillac CTS. Then I showed Amber what type of pose I would like for the shot. Next I setup my speedlights around her. After this much setup the shooting part is easy, especially since Amber did her job very well. All this allowed me to put into a photograph what I first envisioned in my mind.
Model: Amber Car: Cadillac CTS setup: f/9 ISO 200 1/200th strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power to frame left SB-600 at 1/2 power to frame back-rightI do not normally use my speedlights at 1/2 power, which is a lot, but the sun was really strong so using 1/2 power created the amount of fill light I wanted. I also purposefully tried to create some lens flare in shots, as seen in the above photo. I also wanted to make sure to leave some color in the sky and not have it just washed out white. The Tampa Convention Center can be seen in the background.
Model: Amber Car: Cadillac CTS setup: f/8 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power to frame left SB-600 @ 1/4 power to frame rightI really like Amber's pose in the above shot. It was not easy for her to do so either while balancing on the front fender of the Cadillac CTS. I set my speedlights to only 1/4 power this time because I did not have to over power the sun to light Amber how I wanted to. Thanks again to the client and Amber for a very smooth, very effortless car & model shoot.
Ferrari 458 Italia front left fender and wheel arch - St. Petersburg Car PhotographyAt a recent car show in St. Petersburg I had a chance to see and photograph my current favorite car in the world, the Ferrari 458 Italia. As I described in this other photography tip post on the Ferrari it is very hard to get good full car photographs at a car show. Therefore, I focused on detail shots more than showing the 458 Italia in full.
Ferrari 458 Italia designed by Pininfarina logo - St. Petersburg Car PhotographyThe few badges that decorate the 458 Italia are all classy, like the above Pininfarina logo, whose meaning is not obvious unless you are a fan of Italian sports cars and supercars.
front grill air spoilers bookend the Prancing Pony logo on Ferrari 458 Italia - St. Petersburg Car PhotographyThese flexible spoilers on the front facia of the Ferrari 458 Italia are designed to change shape at speed to improve downforce. In the middle of the rest of the matte black spoiler resides the Ferrari Prancing Pony logo.
Ferrari 458 Italia LED headlight - St. Petersburg Car PhotographyOne of the most striking design features of the 458 Italia is its elongated LED headlights. These are a new design element being featured on all new Ferraris (California, FF) and ad a distinctive look that to me signals a new generation of Ferrari. They are radical, but I like them even though the remind me of the head of an Alien from the Alien series of movies.
Ferrari 458 Italia LED taillight - St. Petersburg Car PhotographyThe taillights also contain LEDs but maintain the traditional circular Ferrari design, although they are in a single cluster, while the previous F430 model featured dual clusters. I prefer the dual design as a single cluster seems a bit small and in the middle of no where looking.
Ferrari 458 Italia rear view - St. Petersburg Car PhotographyThe rear of the 458 Italia is Spartan with just another Prancing Pony logo and the Ferrari nameplate on top of the engine cover. Not pictured is a triple, centered tailpipe cluster. For some reason I did not think to photograph those!
Ferrari 458 Italia engine block detail - St. Petersburg Car PhotographyThe engine cover is transparent showing off the massive V8 that looks more like something that would power a spacecraft rather than a mere automobile. Obviously the engine sounds even better than it looks.
Ferrari 458 Italia Brembo carbon ceramic brakes with red calipers - St. Petersburg Car PhotographyAny supercar nowadays has to come with carbon ceramic brakes and usually brightly color brake calipers. The 458 Italia is no exception. The wheels themselves are a kind of generic pentastar looking design that seem conservative in comparison to the styling of the rest of the exterior.
Ferrari 458 Italia 2011 model right side view - St. Petersburg Car PhotographyHere again is the full side view photograph I made by cloning out many distractions. I may someday have a chance to properly photograph this particular 458 Italia as the owner did express interest at having photographs. I of course gave him my business card. Hopefully he will call soon!
Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in blue carbon fiber at St. Petersburg Florida car showThe current fastest car in the world is the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. There are no challengers. It is so dominant that just saying the word Veyron ends any discussion. Seeing the Veyron at speed makes me feel like I am looking at something supernatural. The sound it makes, the unblinking performance, the methodical cornering, it all happens in absolute dominant fashion . . . yet with no hard edge. It is like a benign apex predator.
Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in blue carbon fiber - view from above with crowd in St. PetersburgThe crowd at the car show in downtown St. Petersburg either were all very aware of the mystique of this car, or the crowd itself around it kept drawing an ever new crowd. I believe it was mostly the latter. Therefore, it was impossible to get any clean shots of it without someone getting in to pose with it as if it were some celebrity. Using the cloning techniques on this Ferrari photo to clean up the shots was not really possible even.
Bugatti Veyron Super Sport in blue carbon fiber rear view - St. Petersburg FloridaWhat struck me about seeing the Veyron in person for the first time was how small it was. It has a 16-cyclinder engine in the back after all. Yet it looks no bigger than a Porsche 911. You could easily park it or drive it down any road (without speedbumps). It is really compact. There was a guard making sure this $2.8 million hypercar was too fawned over. I spoke with him at length about this particular Veyron. Since it was the Super Sport version and had special blue carbon fiber body work, it demanded that higher than the usual $1.5 million or so price tag. The car was actually just purchased that morning. I was told that a buyer had been interested in it for awhile and finally pulled the trigger on it.
Bugatti Veyron Super Sport gas cap with blue carbon fiber detailIn blue, the carbon fiber body really stands out and looks striking. Underneath the lightweight exoskeleton, the engineering behind the car is mind boggling. It is extremely hard to create a car with air conditioning and blinkers that can also go over 260 mph.
Bugatti Veyron Super Sport wheel and brake caliperAfter watching many videos of the Veryon, to see it in person gave me a new appreciation for it. It is kind of like seeing the Eiffel Tower or any other engineering marvel. The difference with the Veyron though, is you can take it home.
