Car Photography

Photography Tip - replace a busy background with clean sky Corvette Photography

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This Corvette is real, and the sky is real, but they were not really photographed together.

I went to a Corvette car show in South Straub Park this past Saturday mostly to meet the owner of the above customized Corvette.  I first photographed his car back in November.  He was not by his car at the time and only by chance found my photograph of it.  Since then I have been in regular contact with the owner, Bobby, about possibly doing a full shoot of his Corvette.  That still has not happened yet, but at least on Saturday I got a chance to go see him and say hello.  

This is the original image as made on site at a car show in St. Petersburg FloridaI have written several times that shooting cars at car shows often results in less than desirable images, if you want the focus to be on the car itself.  This case was no different as the trees in the background compete for the viewer's eye just as much as the Corvette.  The solution for a busy background?  Replace it with a better one!

Corvette cut out from the background using Photoshop Quick Select ToolIt was pretty straight forward to remove the Corvette from its background using the Quick Select Tool in Photoshop.  I kept the grass foreground as seen above.  I was careful to of course not select the inside of the window so that too could be part of the background replacement.

The replacement background used in the composite image.I went into my photo archives to look for a suitable replacement background.  Using actual objects is rather hard to do as proportions can be very difficult to match (car looks giant, buildings look tiny, etc).  A sky background is usually a good and easy replacement background subject.  I used one I made of Sunset Beach on Treasure Island, Florida.

The new background slipped right behind the Corvette, window included.Then it is just a matter of slipping the sky background layer behind the Corvette layer in Photoshop.  I positioned it taking into consideration cloud placement.  I did not even need to cut out the sandy beach part because that is all hidden behind the Corvette.  The above image is the final composite photograph which allows the viewer to focus on the Corvette as the subject.

Motion blur added to a more advanced edit of the Corvette composite image

After getting a composite image I liked, I experimented with even more Photoshop editing.  I added a motion blur to the grass and a radial blur to the tires to create the illusion that the Corvette is speeding along on the grass.  I darkened the window and put in a silhouette of my own head to show a driver inside to help complete the motion illusion.  What do you think of the motion shot?  Is it convincing or not quite there yet?

1963 Chevrolet Corvette split-window St. Petersburg Florida Car Photography

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A racing 1963 Chevrolet Corvette split-window in Straub Park St. Petersburg Florida Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseAt a Corvette car show in South Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg Florida I had the chance to photograph this rare 1963 split-window Corvette.  The owner was not around at the time so I could not learn much about the car or what it is like to drive it.  The only clean angle to photograph it was from this rear three-quarter panel view due to surrounding cars.  In my mind this split-window Corvette is thinking get me the heck off this grass and onto that road in front of me!

Ferrari 458 Spider in yellow on white background St. Petersburg Florida Car Photography

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Selected crop & edit of a Ferrari 458 Spider photographed in St. Petersburg FloridaGoing through my unedited car photography archives, I found this straight on view of a yellow Ferrari 458 Spider.  It was originally photographed at the Grand Prix Gala inside a office building's lobby (see below).  The background was of course busy and full of people.  To put the focus on the car itself I decided to cut it out of its original background and place it on a digital white background.  Below is the digital photo editing process for making the final image.

I cropped the Ferrari above its bumper to give it a kind of peaking up at the viewer look.  

Festivals of Speed 2013 St. Petersburg Florida Vinoy Park Concours d'Elegance

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The car that greeted visitors at the Concours d'Elegance Festivals of Speed 2013 in Vinoy Park St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDROn a very sunny day in Vinoy Park in downtown St. Petersburg Florida I strolled into the Concours d'Elegance Festivals of Speed 2013 with a media pass and my Nikon.  I spent as much time talking to people there about cars and their car related products and services as I did making photographs.  I already posted images of an orange Lamborghini and a chrome Nissan GT-R.  The photos below are a few car details that caught my eye.

1930 Cadillac hood ornament emblem at Festivals of Speed 2013 Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/800thI first thought this was a Rolls Royce hood emblem and had to do some research to identify it since I never made any other photos of the car.  I found out it was actually a 1930 Cadillac.  

Porsche Cayman bokeh look at Festivals of Speed - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/800thI like the lines of the Porsche Cayman very much.  I used a large aperture to show only the front fender in focus letting everything toward the back of the car start to disappear.

The Maserati logo on a Gran Turismo at Festivals of Speed Vinoy Park Florida 2013 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1250The distinctive Maserati logo found on the side of a silver Gran Turismo at the Festivals of Speed.  Using a 105mm prime lens forced me to look for details as getting an entire car into the frame in a crowded car show was impossible.  

Orange Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera HDR St. Petersburg Florida car photography

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An orange Lamborghini Superleggera on digital black background photographed in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRMy favorite Lamborghini is the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera because of why and how it was made (super lightweight to be the best driver's car possible).  At the Festivals of Speed Concours d'Elegance 2013 in St. Petersburg Florida I had the opportunity to photograph this orange Superleggera.  As is often the case with shooting at car shows, the background was less than ideal.

Original HDR image of this Lamborghini Superleggera at the Festivals of Speed St. Petersburg Florida 2013I had this in mind when looking for the best angle to photograph the Lamborghini.  I knew the background did not matter, I would edit it out.  What I looked for was minimal reflections in the car body.  To my surprise there were almost none the entire length of the driver's side, hence I setup my tripod to shoot it from this angle.  Choosing a black background also hid any imperfections in carrying over the shadow under the car.

Chrome Nissan GT-R at Festivals of Speed 2013 St. Petersburg Florida Car Event Photography

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Chromed Nissan GT-R at the Festivals of Speed 2013 event in St. Petersburg Florida, highly stylized & editedAt the Festivals of Speed 2013 car event in St. Petersburg, Florida, there was no shortage of cars getting a lot of attention.  However, a chrome Nissan GT-R was getting more than most.  Anytime you chrome out a car, it is going to be eye catching.  Whether such a finish to a car is to your taste or not, you cannot help but stare at it.  Since this GT-R was surrounded by people, I had to do a lot of editing in Photoshop and other apps to get a final result I liked.  Below I show the process.

I chose to completely replace the sky because that was much, much easier to do than to edit out the people and trees in the existing background.  This way I only had to select the car and foreground and then place that on a new layer and slip in behind it a blue sky I had in my archives.  The choice to go infrared was because of how black it made the sky, and in contrast how shiny the car looked in comparison.  Editing out the reflections in the car was just a tedious process that needed to be done to complete the look.

Festivals of Speed Luxury Lifestyle Jet Port Reception 2013

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McLaren MP4-12C Spider at the Tampa Jet Center - event photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR imageI received a media pass to the Festivals of Speed Luxury Lifestyle Jet Port Reception 2013 to go in and make all the photographs of supercars I wanted.  This was my second time shooting at the Tampa International Jet Center, which is an outstanding location for Tampa car photography, although since it is an event for people, most cars were rather surrounded and close to each other.  Therefore, I looked for the best partial angles most of the time in composing my car shots.  One benefit of the formal event going on was that there were numerous colorful lights flashing across the space creating vivid backgrounds.  It seems everyone is getting a McLaren MP4-12C Spider nowadays as the white one above was the second one I saw in as many weeks.

Aston Martin DBS painted like a kaleidoscope at the Tampa International Jet Center - Tampa event photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDRAn Aston Martin DBS is normally an understated supercar that looks both fierce and classy at the same time.  I would not want to try to describe how this kaleidoscope painted DBS looks, so that's why there is a photo of it for you to form your own thoughts.  

Fisker Karma parked beside a private jet at Festivals of Speed Luxury Lifestyle event 2013 - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDRThe supercars at this event were parked along a variety of luxury lifestyle items, even private jets.  The photo above suggests one could step out of their private jet (huge environmental impact) into their Fisker Karma electric vehicle and perhaps offset using so much jet fuel to transport so few people.  

Classic motorcycles at dusk - Tampa International Jet Center - event photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 13 sec single exposureA line of classic motorcycles fanned out onto the tarmac at the Tampa International Jet Center.  That is not the sunset in the background, just a large flood light, but I chose to overexpose the shot to look like it was.

Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder with engine cove open at Festivals of Speed Luxury Lifestyle 2013 event - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDRI spent an hour looking for shots at this event, trying to find suitable backgrounds and to use the existing flood and strobe lights to compliment the mostly HDR techniques I was using to make images that evening.