Cars

McLaren 650S in black multiple strobist blend layer mask photography tip Clearwater Florida Car Photography

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What if you want to photograph a large object, especially in a low light situation, but you only have two speedlights, or even only one?  No problem!  Here is how you can do it and what you will need.

Photo gear used to photograph the McLaren 650S indoors:

  • Nikon D300
  • Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
  • SB-800 & SB-600 Speedlights
  • 2 shoot through umbrellas
  • Yongnuo radio triggers
  • tripod
  • cable release
  • assistant (to help move and hold the lights)
  • Photoshop CS5

A tripod is a must because you will need to take multiple shots from different angles to properly light the subject, in this case the McLaren 650S supercar.  In all I ended up using five photographs to make the one fully lit photograph (below).  I lit the front of the car first, then moved the lights around the car (counterclockwise in this case) taking another photograph each time.  I even had my assistant hold a speedlight over the top of the car (see top most image).  The assistant being in the shot or a lightstand partially being in the shot is no problem at all as the final step takes place at home in Photoshop using layer masks.

In the above photo all 5 shots have been blended together one at a time using layer masks in Photoshop.  I started with the shot of the McLaren 650S lit from the front.  I then dragged it onto the next photo in the series with the driver's side wheels lit up.  I created a layer mask and then revealed the lit wheels photograph underneath, keeping the front lit part from the other photo.  I then flattened all layers and repeated this process using the other three photographs.  You can see shadows from coming from more than two angles in the above shot because effectively ten speedlights were used to light up the car, not just the two in reality I had for the shoot.  

I could have stopped with the 5 shot composite, but I got carried away with removing objects from the background until I finally decided just to remove them all!  I started this edit on Saturday night, and finished it on Monday afternoon it took that long and I kept wanting to do more and more to it.  I did nothing special to remove the background objects, just simply used the Clone Stamp tool on only carefully selected portions of the photo.  Then I removed a lot of the reflections on the car body and cleaned up the floor.  The final result was my most advanced photopraph edit in Photoshop to date!

Give this multiple exposure strobist blend layer mask type image a try and let me know the results in the comments below.

Cars & Couture 2014 Car Owners Gathering Event at Dimmitt Automotive Group Pinellas Park Florida

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McLaren 650S in black at Dimmitt Automotive Florida during Cars & Couture Car Owners Gathering event - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseI was invited to an event at Dimmitt Automotive in Pinellas Park, Florida for a special Car Owners Gathering thanks to Dona who organizes many great car events under her Cars & Couture brand.  I brought along eldest friend Terry to help out with some of the photography.  As you can see from the above photograph, Dimmitt is a MacLaren dealership.  There were several Mclaren 650S supercars in the showroom.  It was my first time to see this update to the McLaren MP4-12C in person.  The 650S is a much more striking looking sports car in person than the 12C, mostly thanks to a new front fascia inspired by the McLaren P1 hypercar.

Guests at Cars & Couture Dimmitt Automotive stand next to a MacLaren 650S in black Clearwater Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 in shoot-through-umbrella to frame rightOften there is not much space to photograph cars at such events, but there was a black McLaren 650S kind of off by itself in a separate area of the showroom.  This allowed me to setup two speedlights and shoot through umbrellas and not only photograph the car itself in great detail (subject of an upcoming blog post), but also to invite guests over to be properly photographed next to the supercar.

The new MacLaren 650S supercar in yellow at Dimmitt Automotive during Cars & Couture event - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDRIf you happen to prefer yellow, there was also a McLaren 650S in that color looking right out the front windows inviting you to come in and put a deposit down on her!  We got there early to be able to photograph the cars before there were too many people mingling about..

Yours truly with my friend Terry who assisted with the shots at Cars & Couture Car Owners Gathering 2014 Dimmitt Automotive - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 400 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 in shoot through umbrellasFor the last shot of the evening, Terry and I stepped out from behind the camera and the lights for a self-portrait with the black McLaren 650S.  It took a little configuring using the self-timer to position myself symmetrically after pressing the shutter, but I am glad we made the effort to get ourselves both in the shot and add another photo to our scrapbook that now spans almost three decades.

Guests wanted to pose with the MacLaren 650S at Cars & Couture Dimmitt Automotive Clearwater Event Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 in shoot through umbrella to frame rightOne last shot to show how well the McLaren 650S photographs, especially when bookended by willing volunteer models!  Thank you Dona for another great car event and to Terry for assisting in the making of these photographs.

The Shops at Wiregrass Wesley Chapel Car Show Event Photography July 2014

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SLS AMG Mercedes at a car show at the Shops at Wiregrass in Wesley Chapel - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseI was surprised that such a suburban, strip mall kind of place like Wesley Chapel would be the site of something like an outdoor car show.  It seems the Shops at Wiregrass are more than just a place to buy things, but a sort of community event center home to car shows, firework displays and all other manor of outdoor events.  

A good crowd came out to the Shops at Wiregrass to see a car show on a typically hot and humid July in Florida afternoon - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseIt was unusual though to have a car show only start at 12pm and go to 4pm, the hottest time of the day.  Usually they start at least by 9am, which is important as Florida is not exactly an balmy place in July!  Despite the weather, I made a walk up and down the long rows of cars and stopped to take a few photos.  There were no cars I had not seen before, and the only supercar was the SLS AMG Mercedes in the top photo.  Still, it is always nice to have a local event to attend and be around other car fans.

Ferrari F430 Spider Tampa Florida Car Photography black white or yellow??

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Ferrari F430 Spider with black & white filter from Silver Efex Pro 2 entirely changing the look of the car - Tampa Car PhotographyConverting a color photograph into a black & white photograph is not a one result affair.  There are many, many possible results of black & white conversion.  A program like Silver Efex Pro makes this conversion process easy in addition to producing the best results.  Starting with a yellow Ferrari F430 Spider, applying a pinhole black & white filter makes the Ferrari appear white while darkening the entire background and foreground.  The supercar appears to now glow in its setting.

Using a different filter in Silver Efex Pro 2 makes the Ferrari F430 Spider look black - Tampa Car PhotographyStarting with the same yellow Ferrari image, choosing the full spectrum inverse filter in Silver Efex Pro flips everything, so that darks appear light and vice versa resulting in the yellow Ferrari looking like a sleek black exotic car.  The neutral colored existing background is little changed with this filter, especially since no vignetting is applied either.

The actual yellow color of this Ferrari F430 Spider - Tampa Car PhotographySo starting with the yellow HDR image of a Ferrari F430 Spider seen above, it is possible to make radically different looking black & white versions of the car photograph.  Which is your favorite look--white, black or yellow?

Audi R8 Clearwater Car Photography on digital orange background

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Audi R8 supercar at Crown Audi in Clearwater - Nikon D300 f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR - orange background added digitallyWhile photographing an Audi A3 premiere event at Crown Audi in Clearwater, I took a moment to make a photograph of an Audi R8 supercar that was also on site.  It was parked just outside the greenhouse like showroom, which made for a pretty good background, but when I was shooting it I already had in mind I would remove it from the existing background and put it on a digital one.  

Below is the existing background HDR image.  Despite the complexity of the background, it was not too complicated to use the Quick Select tool in Photoshop and cut out the Audi R8 onto an empty layer.  I chose an orange gradient digital background as recently I am starting to really like that color (also used for a headshot).

The same Audi R8 as above in its original setting at Crown Audi in Clearwater Florida - 5-exposure HDR

One day it would be nice to be able to just shoot a car in a large studio with an existing white background for an even easier and more efficient editing process.  

Ferrari 458 Spider Nero in St. Petersburg Florida Supercar Exotic Photography HDR

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Ferrari 458 Spider in Nero edited in a stylized HDR way processed in Silver Efex Pro 2 in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDRI have actually seen this Ferrari 458 Spider many times.  I first saw it at the Cars & Couture event at the Tampa Jet Center in November 2013.  Then the next week I saw it driving in my own neighborhood in St. Petersburg!  I regulary saw it after that, especially on Friday afternoons.  So I recognized it right away when I saw it at the 2014 St. Petersburg Grand Prix Gala.  

A nero Ferrari 458 Spider fills the frame in St. Petersburg Florida supercar photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDRThere was only one car next to the Ferrari, a Maserati Ghibli, so from some angles I had a clean shot at the car, although I chose to make a tight composition for the above shot and fill the frame edge to edge with the supercar.

Profile view of a nero Ferrari 458 Spider in St. Petersburg Florida Professional Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDRThe profile view was the cleanest angle I had to photograph the Ferrari 458 Spider.  A downtown skyscraper provides the background.

St. Petersburg Grand Prix Gala 2014 featuring Maserati Ghibli & Ferrari

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The 2014 St. Petersburg Grand Prix Gala featuring a Ferrari F430 and a Ferrari 458 Italia - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDRLast Friday evening was my second year in a row receiving a media pass to the 2014 St. Petersburg Grand Prix Gala.  I got to see a number of interesting cars last year, including Lexus LFA #406.  This year, there was only one car I had not seen before, the Maserati Ghibli.  

Mingling among supercars at the 2014 St. Pete Grand Prix Gala - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDRMaybe it was because I got there just as the event started at 7pm, but it seemed to be a bit of a low key affair this time.  Then again I only go to be able to see supercars, so having not that many people around when I was shooting is a plus.  

Guests of the 2014 St. Petersburg Grand Prix Gala with a racecar - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDRWhen photographing the same event as years past, I try to find shots I did not before.  This year I went up to the open second floor to make photographs from a bird's eye view of the gala.  I am not sure why this never occurred to me last year.  

I have seen this Ferrari 458 Spider many times before - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDRContributing to the smaller feel to the gala this year also was that there were only three cars outside.  Last year I got to make one of my favorite images of the year, framing a row of cars with the open scissor door of a Ford GT supercar.  At least the lack of cars let me photograph the above Ferrari 458 Spider from a couple of angles, which I will feature in a future post.  However, I already saw this particular Ferrari last year and actually see it regularly driving around my neighborhood.  Is it possible for a Ferrari to become commonplace in my mind??

The stunning Maserati Ghibli at the 2014 St. Pete Grand Prix - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDRThe best part of this year's gala for me, by far, was getting to see the Maserati Ghibli in person.  Immediately I thought this is a stunning car and the best looking sedan I have ever seen.  The Ghiblie previous to this was not a car I thought about much or daydreamed about.  That all changed after seeing this beautiful metallic gray Ghibli seemingly waiting for me to just come and photograph it, if not drive home with it!