Car Photography

New C7 Corvette Stingray (red) at Cars & Couture 2013 Tampa Jet Center Florida

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The controversial rear of the new C7 Corvette Stingray - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 0.4 secI had a chance to see the new C7 Corvette Stingray in person at the 2013 Cars & Couture event a few Fridays ago.  As is often the case with cars at events, it was not ideally placed for photography from a background standpoint and also available light.  Still, I wanted to get some shots of this brand new American sports car.

Even amongst Ferraris, the new C7 Corvette Stingray still drew a crowd - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRI believe all C7 coupes come with the ability to remove the roof panel for an almost throwback T-tops style.  I thought it added a lot of visual flair.

Red Corvette becomes white in this B&W conversion - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRWhen you convert a red car photograph to black & white it turns all white!

I thought the C7 Corvette looked better in person - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRFor many Corvette fans, going to squared taillights is heresy from the traditional round ones.  Some even say they look too much like the Camaro's.  Still, overall the rear of the C7 looks very agressive.  If you have a new C7 and want it professionally photographed I would very much like a chance to properly photograph it in good light with a complementary background.  Contact me for details.

Ferrari F430 Spider Digital Composite Tampa Florida Car Photography

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This is actually a yellow Ferrari F430 Spider converted to black & white and put on a digital background in PhotoshopFor some reason I got it into my head yesterday afternoon to finally edit this photograph of a yellow Ferrari F430 Spider that I had lingering for almost a year.  I have posted other shots of this particular car actually, but this shot I guess I did not like as much.  My motivation to edit it now was because I envisioned cutting it out of its original background and placing it on a half black half white digital background as seen in the above image.

Original image used for the above digital manipulation of a Ferrari F430 Spider - Tampa Jet Center - Nikon D300 f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRThis is the original HDR image made from a bracketed 7-exposures.  What do you prefer?  The black & white Photoshop edit or the original HDR image?

Lamborghini Aventador in black at Cars & Coffee St. Petersburg August 2013

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Lamborghini Aventador in black at Cars & Coffee St. Petersburg Florida August 2013 meetup - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th handheldA car enthusiast acquaintance told me about a monthly car meetup called Cars & Coffee (Facebook page for the meetups).  I had no idea the size of the event so when I showed up Saturday morning at 8:25am (event schedule says 7am to 9am) I was very surprised to see hundreds of cars there, many of which were already pulling out to leave!  As I walked from my car into the main area I saw most major current model supercars pass by.  I never thought people would leave early and I thought thirty minutes would be more than enough to check everything out, but I was totally wrong.  Still, I was able to talk to a few people and perhaps even make a few new car photography contacts.

The car highlight for me was seeing a Lamborghini Aventador in person for the first time.  There were a lot of people around it naturally and the above shot was the cleanest one I could get of it.  It is so low to the ground I felt like I could jump over the car!  I look forward to the September meetup and know that I have to wake up much earlier next time!

Silver Ferrari F430 Spider Tampa Car Photography HDR Tampa Jet Center

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Ferrari F430 Spider at Tampa Jet Center - Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThe scene in this photograph represents a certain kind of dream, one where you drive up in your Ferrari and hop onto a private jet that whisks you off to some exciting locale, no mess no fuss.  What does it make you think of? dream of?

I photographed this silver Ferrari F430 Spider at the Tampa Jet Center during an event there last year.  I wonder also what the custom license plate implies??

Custom F77 Porsche 911 in black Tampa Car Photography Ybor City

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Custom black F77 Porsche 911 Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/40th blended with another exposure (for the sky) tripod mounted with cable releaseBen called me up about photographing his custom Porsche 911 in Tampa Florida which I learned was done at Champion Porsche, as you can see by the 911 on the back being replaced by F77.  The Porsche 911 has long been my favorite sports car, since I was a kid, and I have not had the opportunity to photograph one for a client yet so I was very excited.  This shoot was a little different though as Ben wanted photos for selling the car!  Many of the shots I made for him were stylized, but a bit less so than I might normally making them more like the shoots I do for big auctions houses that just want the car show from all angles.  Thus, some of the shots you see here were edited just for my portfolio, and not necessarily included with the ones I sent to the client.

Custom F77 Porsche 911 photographed for sale in Ybor City Tampa - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThe above shot was my first time to photograph a car from this above and behind angle, partially to show the vents over the rear engine hood on the Porsche.  This shot also features the custom "F77" badge.  Oh, and if this location looks familiar to you, this is the fifth car shoot I have done at this Ybor City location!  Clients see my previous images from here and want to have it for their own cars also.  

Porsche F77 custom black 911 on the streets of Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThis shot I made black & white for myself, as I thought it made the 911 look even more agressive and menacing just waiting there in the middle of the street for any challengers.

Porsche 911 custom F77 model on brick street Ybor City Tampa - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThis was the first time at this Ybor City location that there were no cars parked on the street, which allowed for just parking the Porsche in the middle of it and getting some new shots I have not made here before in the previous shoots.  That said, some dude did just show up and park his car right by our shoot!  Now this is a desolate area, and after 5pm everything is shut down for blocks around.  So we politely asked the guy if he could move his car, which he did.  Then he proceeded to walk way off to who knows where.  Why park here then??

Lights on modified Porsche 911 with F77 options Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105 VR micro @ f/8 ISO 200 1/80th tripod mounted with cable releaseHDR is not always needed to shoot in mixed lighting, as seen in the above shot.  No sky is featured in the shot, so I just let the shutter speed stay open until I got the exposure I wanted.  Shooting with my Nikkor 105mm VR micro f/2.8G lens, which of course is a prime lens, resulted in the starburst look coming from the headlights.

Stylized Porsche 911 Carrera S type 997 interior with manual shifter - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power in 43" shoot through umbrella frame rightThis exact interior shot was my first attempt, and the lighting looked cool and dramatic, but not appropriate for the purpose of trying to show the interior for selling the car.  I liked the image for myself, though, and made it more stylized by converting it to black & white.  For the client, I introduced another speedlight on the driver's side to produce an evenly lit shot.

Yours truly (on left of course) with client Ben after the photo shoot of his Porsche 911 in Ybor City TampaI never remember to get a shot of me at my shoots, but this time the lights were already setup and I asked Ben if he would mind getting in a portrait with me and his Porsche.  Good luck selling it Ben!

Nissan GT-R 360 Forged Wheels Ybor City Tampa Florida Car Photography - part 2 strobist night shots

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Nikon GT-R with custom wheels in Ybor City Tampa Florida black & white - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th tripod mounted with cable release - strobist: SB-800 in shoot through umbrella to frame right & SB-600 same setup to frame leftIn part 1 of the Nissan GT-R in Ybor City shoot I did for 360|Forged wheels, I featured daylight images.  Here in part 2 are late evening to night car photographs made using strobist techniques.  Thanks to help from the owner of the GT-R and his friend, I was able to make these bonus shots during the shoot with very specific light placement.  Basically, instead of my speedlights just being on light stands, the lights were able to be used upside down pointed at the wheels or areas of the car I thought best highlighted the GT-R. 

Nissan GT-R front quarter panel view Ybor City Tampa Florida Car Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - strobist: SB-800 in shoot through umbrella to frame right & SB-600 same setup to frame leftFor the above shot I achieved the black background by first aiming the two speedlights only at the car to manage background light spill, and then using Photoshop to turn any visible spill to pure black.  In reality, this shot was made in the same spot as the first photograph in this post.

Nissan GT-R Tampa skyline street strobist image Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/8th - strobist: SB-800 in shoot through umbrella to frame right & SB-600 same setup to frame leftWhere in the first two photographs the lights were both pointed low toward the Nissan GT-R, in this shot one light was held high above the hood of the car (see setup shot below).  Another light was used along the rear quarter panel and driver's side to let shadows be created for showing the different lines of the car's design.  The slow 1/8th shutter speed was used to pull some light out of the Tampa skyline for the background.

Nissan GT-R Ybor City photo shoot strobist setup, not seen is another strobe to frame right

Nissan GT-R in white with 360 Forged Wheels Ybor City Tampa Florida Car Photography - part 1

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Nissan GT-R with custom 360 Forged wheels in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/15th tripod mounted with cable releaseI received a phone call last week from 360|Forged about photographing a Nissan GT-R in Tampa owned by one of their clients.  They make custom wheels and wanted a shoot of the GT-R focused on showing the wheels.  They saw my Lexus IS F shoot and liked that Ybor City location so the whole GT-R shoot came together quickly. (view Part 2 night strobist images)

A white Nissan GT-R custom photographed for 360 Forged wheels in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/3 tripod mounted with cable releaseI had done three previous car shoots at this particular Ybor City location that I found on my own during a scouting trip a few years ago for the IS F client.  I never like to repeat myself when I go out shooting, but having already made close to three dozen car photographs in this spot, I had to really look to find some fresh angles and backgrounds.  Luckily, there were still plenty of new setups to mine from that Ybor City location as the above shot I had never done before.  I utilized the ONE WAY sign in the shot, pointing in the opposite direction of course to create a more rebellious nature to the look of the image.  

White Nissan GT-R supercar photographed in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/20th tripod mounted with cable releaseI knew for the photo above I wanted to make just a front quarter panel composition of the Nissan GT-R in a long shot using an 80-200mm lens.  I shot from downhill to further exaggerate the angle.  Quite a bit of distraction was cleaned up from the backround leaving just the white Nissan GT-R on red brick framed by white clouds.

Nissan GT-R (white) with custom 360 Forged Wheels in Ybor City Tampa Florida Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/13th tripod mounted with cable releaseI often shoot with a lot of extra space around the intended subject.  This was the case in the above photograph.  In the uncropped version the sky was visible as well as the intersection down the street.  I liked that shot as it was, but I decided to crop in and put more of the focus on the car and the red brick background.

Thank you to the GT-R's owner and his friend for assisting in lining up the car for these shots.  This collection of Nissan GT-R photos is just part one, all in daylight.  Part two will feature strobist twilight images.