Cars

Porsche 911 GT2 RS white with black rims St. Petersburg Florida

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Porsche 911 GT2 RS in white with black rims - Vinoy Park - St. Petersburg, Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/2000th - black & white processing in Silver Efex Pro, white background digitally inserted in PhotoshopSitting at my desk now, before me on the wall is a large poster of the new 991 generation Porsche 911 Carerra.  I found the poster in with an edition of the Wall Street Journal.  To my left on the wall is a custom photo of a Cayman S made by Porsche specifically for me from a Facebook promotion they had last year.  In the photograph above, is the current apex Porsche, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS.  I made this photograph in Vinoy Park where the Porsche was one of several others waiting to be part of a car show the next day.  

The problem with photographing cars at car shows is that it is very hard to get a clean shot.  Choosing the angle I did insured no other cars appeared in the shot.  The background bokeh of trees and condos was busy.  In my post processing of the image in Photoshop, the final step I took was removing the GT2 RS itself from the frame and placing it upon an empty background.  I then created a new layer and inserted it behind the Porsche layer.  I painted this layer white thus removing the background distraction resulting in a clean image.

The original color photograph on left; The black & white digital white background image on the rightIn the above comparison you can see how removing the background (also in the windows too) puts the focus on the GT2 RS.  Also notice the optical illusion created by using a white background.  Doesn't the color image make the Porsche look much bigger in the frame?  However, they are the exact same size.

Classic Car Photography - The Judge Packard Corvette Hot Rod Mustang

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Pontiac GTO The Judge - a very famous car - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDRClassic Car Shows are a fantastic opportunity to photograph cars, almost.  The benefit is hundreds of amazing classic cars all in one walkable space.  The main disadvantage is that there are hundreds of classic cars all in one very small space.  This means there is no lack of subject matter, but there is a severe lack of space and clean backgrounds to photograph the cars.  So when I shoot a car show I often choose to only show a portion of the car in order to be able to fill the frame with just the car I want to include in the shot as much as possible.

The Pontiac GTO Judge was the first classic car I photographed that afternoon and one of my own personal favorite classic cars.  I cannot think of a better nickname for a muscle car than "The Judge."  I just love it!

A red hot rod engine - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDRAs soon as I saw this hot rod I knew I wanted to shoot it in a way that highlighted the exposed engine.  I considered an even tighter crop on the engine itself but decided to show it more in context for the final edit.  I like to look at hot rods, but personally they do not do much for me from the aspect of ever wanting to own one.

1960 Corvette convertible - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 7-bracket HDR

Now this first generartion era Corvette convertible (1953-1962) is my absolute favorite classic car and the one I would personally most like to own.  It is the best looking roadster there ever was.  It looks best in profile, but there was no space to photograph it that way unfortunately.  

Vivid red Packard - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDRI chose this perspective for photographing this Packard because of the wheel repetition.  Also, it provided the cleanest background as well.  A Packard is a very classy looking car appropriate for showing up at black tie affairs.

A blue 1965 Mustang Convertible - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDRI think the most interesting thing to me about classic cars are their interiors, even over the exterior body work.  The purity of the analog dashboard really fascinates me.  I cannot help but think that the first time the owner sat behind the wheel, they thought to themselves, "this is as modern as a car looks."  Now, as with this 1965 Mustang, 46 years later the interior looks ancient, or rather, classic.  It really makes me think, as modern as car interiors look now with large LCD displays, even color LCD gauges and info screens, plus carbon fiber interior trim, in twenty years how dated will they look?  In forty years?  Most importantly, how high tech will interiors have to be to make today's look as quaint as this Mustang's?

Classic Car Photography Florida Tampa St. Petersburg Clearwater

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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 Sacred Heart Church Tampa Wedding

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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.  

Photography Tip - creating motion blur for car photography

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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: 

  • Nikon D300
  • Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8D
  • manual exposure mode
  • f/2.8  ISO 800  1/10th  AF-C (AI Servo)  single focus point 

TECHNIQUE FOR CREATING MOTION BLUR: 

  • find a car driving towards you (driving away just produces a rear end shot)
  • start tracking it through your view finder while it is still some distance away
  • twist your body at the hips panning at the exact same speed as the vehicle
  • wait for the vehicle to pass in front of a background with the most lights possible
  • press the shutter all the way, but still keep panning (like follow through in a tennis swing) 

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.  

Cadillac CTS with Model Tampa Commercial Car Photography Part 2

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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.  

Cadillac CTS with Model Tampa Commercial Car Photography

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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.