Cars

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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!