Shooting Cars or the Dumbest Title Ever!

May 2, 2010 | Category: Lighting, Photography

Here is another attempt at a rig shot, this time I shot a friend’s nice 370Z.

A friend's 2008 Nissan 370Z. © Copyright 2010 Daniel Newton

Looking back, I wish that the car was turning to the right so I could see the wheel better, but I’m still experimenting with the car stuff. Thanks to Mike Sweeney (ETN studios) for gripping, Fielding Cathcart for providing the Zeus and Vagabond setup and Bobby M. and her husband for the sweet ride! 

For more details, photos and setup shots, keep reading…

 

Details:

The shot above was created using a homemade car rig (see setup shots). The car is lit with a single, bare White lightning Zeus, to provide some fill and eliminate reflections. That exposure is combined with the “rolling” exposure for the final image.

Nikon D3, Nikon 17-35mm f/2.8. Camera remotely fired using radio triggers

 

2007 Audi A4 S-line posing. © Copyright 2010 Daniel Newton 

Above is a shot of a friend’s "new" 2007 Audi A4 S-line. I had originally planned on doing some rolling shots with the “rig” but it was far too windy, so I settled for a posed frame.

Details:

Nikon D3, Nikon 80-200mm 2.8 lens, White Lightning Zeus + vagabond (Thanks Fielding)

  • There are multiple exposures involved:
  • One ambient shot at f/4 for the blurry background and foreground as well as proper exposure of the ground
  • One Exposure with the side of the car lit
  • An exposure with the front of the car lit
  • One for the front rim and quarter panel

    • All flash lit exposures were shot at 1/250th at f/16 to bring down the ambient as much as possible

A few more bonus shots…..

The 'Z' Posing. © Copyright 2010 Daniel Newton

Another posing shot. I'm not super happy with this one, but I figured I'd post it anyway. © Copyright 2010 Daniel Newton


And some setup shots….

Holding the Zeus for a lighting test D3 (left), D300 (middle) and D3 (right).

Here is the setup for the rolling photo (Photo Credit: Mike Sweeney)  Fielding (left) and myself (right) shooting the Nissan Here is the setup for the rolling photo (Photo Credit: Mike Sweeney)

 

If anyone out there wants some photos of their exotic/sports/classic/unique/nice car, shoot me an email!

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6 Comments

  1. Tom Compton
    on May 2nd, 2010
    1

    Dan, I think my favorite image is the side shot at the warehouse. I like the low ambient with the backlighting and front-lighting.

    I like the first shot too. It gives you a sense of speed. would it have distorted the image having it turn away from you to the right.

    Anyway, really nice job for both you and Fielding.

  2. asa
    on May 2nd, 2010
    2

    Nice work Dan…I wouldn’t worry about the direction of the wheel in the main shot. It adds to the movement of the shot IMO.

    Nice still shot of the Audi, too.

  3. Rob Stewart
    on August 17th, 2010
    3

    Great shots, the crispness in the moving 370Z shot is impressive for your first try at all this. Thanks for putting some of the learning curve online for the rest of us to learn from.

  4. Rob Stewart
    on August 17th, 2010
    4

    My mistake, not your first try – the idea is that this is great stuff for someone still exploring automotive photography. Hoping to get here to this point soon…

  5. Rally Shots in the Snow! : Liquid in Plastic – Photography and Words by Dan Newton
    on March 5th, 2011
    5

    [...] The Shooting process (similar to my other rig shots): [...]

  6. Greg
    on March 7th, 2011
    6

    Hi, so basically this photo comes with multiple images with different exposures merged into one photo (Audi A4). Great!

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