Cars

Ford GT supercar in black Tampa Car Photography

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Making the most of an opportunity to photograph a rare Ford GT in Tampa, FloridaWhile on location in Tampa for RM Auctions to photograph a 1974 Jaguar E Type (photos cannot be published until July), at the end of that shoot I had an opportunity to take a few shots of a Ford GT also on site.  This supercar could not be moved and was just parked along side a building with about a third of the car in shade, the other two-thirds in direct afternoon Florida sunlight.  I knew to get any kind of detail and exposure worth having I would need to make it an HDR shot, and I went all the way to the max of 9 exposures that my Nikon D300 does automatically in bracketing mode.  I was for the most part pleased with the results of the HDR process (which does nothing for the reflections in the paint, unfortunately), but still did not like the foreground nor the background.  To get the foreground like the above I Quick Selected it in Photoshop CS5 and burned and underexposed it, also cloning out a few stray pieces of debris.  I repeated that process for the background and just painted it completely white.

In the above sequence you can see the difference HDR makes and then how cleaning up the foreground and eliminating the background puts the focus on the car itself.  Now about the reflections in the car, there is nothing I can do about those.  Small reflections can be cleaned up, but entire body panels cannot.  Still, I am happy with the results and glad to have the chance to photograph a Ford GT, a car made famous recently by Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear who purchased one himself.

Blue Ferrari California in St. Petersburg Florida white background edit

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Blue Ferrari California in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm lens @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/125th white background added digitallyDowntown St. Petersburg can be surprisingly good for spotting super cars and other exotics.  For example last night parked right on Beach Drive NE was this blue Ferrari California.  I was actually teaching a DSLR Photography Lesson at the time and used the car as a practice subject.  Even if I was on my own and had all the photographer gear with me I would want, it would have been difficult to produce a shot any better than this due to the neighboring cars and the busy background.  

So in making this quick car photograph I concentrated on the best detail clearly visible, in this case the front wheel and huge ceramic brake rotor and bright yellow brake calliper.  There was still the problem of the street it was parked on being in the foreground (see below image).

The original photograph straight from RAW conversion to JPG in Aperture 3 of the Ferrari CaliforniaAfter doing my usual editing workflow first in Aperture 3, then Color Efex Pro 3, I sent the photograph into Photoshop CS5 and did some selective edits (sharpening, contrast) before simply removing the car and wheel from the image and putting only that on a new layer.  Then I added yet another new layer under the car layer, painted it white, and boom, produced the best image I could of a car in a very non-ideal location.

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.