Photographing Cars

On Feb 1, 6:04*am, "John S." wrote:
On Jan 31, 11:44 pm, "Ali" wrote:

I have also been toying with the idea of finding a way to attach the camera
to the car on a boom for motion shots without the speed, but am scratching
my head on this one at the moment.

Well... this is how the magazine photographer did the action shots
when they featured my Mustang... The guy had a *Chevy station wagon!
Was like the perfect vehicle for it! *We then recruited my boss to
drive the station wagon while the photographer laid down *on the tail
gate of the station wagon! He got some great shots this way! So you
might want to consider a 3 person...

He said that the 17-40L was his bread and butter lens... *I finally
picked one up a couple weeks ago.. It's the middle of winter here in
Michigan so I the only cars I've been able to shot were at the Detroit
Auto Show... I was very happy with the results!

Hi John -

If you don't mind me asking, what mag and who was the photog? And most
importantly, what kind of 'Stang do you have :-)?

My brother (Tom Shaw) covers the Pure Stock Drags every year.

J

On Jan 31, 5:44*pm, "Ali" wrote:

As for Jay Martins post,...(snip)

Hi Ali -

I'm happy to have helped! After reading your second post, I get the
impression that you are not in the U.S. (your "tyres" versus my
"tires":-) So I'm guessing you may never have heard of any of the mags
I mentioned.

And maybe I haven't been totally honest either...most of the work I
had in those magazines was done quite a few years ago, when I was
still shooting film. I dropped out of the scene when Art Directors
started expecting digital submissions, I decided to wait a few years
until digital resolution came up and digital prices came down. I just
picked up a killer dSLR in October and am ready to get back in the
game.

BTW, Jay Martin is not my real name, it is a play on my first initial
and middle name. That's why I always sign off with just a...

J

In article
,
Don Stauffer in Minnesota wrote:

On Jan 30, 2:54 pm, "Ali" wrote:
A close buddy of mine has just bought a new car and has asked me if I can
take some photos. I agreed, but to be honest, car's are something I have
not really shot much before, so I am a bit in new territory. Still, I think
that it will be interesting to shoot something totally different and a good
learning experience. The difficulty is that I am a bit of a perfectionist
and am determined to walk away with some great shots, so want to do some
preparation beforehand. Of course, on the day with camera in hand, anything
goes when your eyes take over.

There is a disused airfield nearby and I am going to shoot there. I will be
shooting both static and action shots. I am no newbie to photography, so at
the moment, I have a few ideas on certain angles, vehicle/shutter speeds,
etc that I would like to try, however this is just theory in my head at the
moment. So, I would be interested to hear about creative composition ideas,
etc from other people that have shot cars before. Or the more tricky photo
situation of shooting people with a car. Shooting people, I can handle no
problem, but when trying to balance two major subjects, it's a bit more
difficult.

In addition, I would also be interested to see any inspirational photos of
cars or cars/people that you particularly like (from a photography point of
view). I have had a look around, but to be honest, I haven't found many
great shots when cars are involved that give me any real inspiration.

Just for info the tools I will be taking are a 20D and a 40D. I will also
take the following lenses: 10-22, 24 1.4, 50 1.2, 70-200 2.8, and a 1.4
converter. Not really important, but I think that it may help build a
picture of the scenario.

The people who take car photos for advertising have a LOT of tricks.

Use a slightly wide angle focal length, say 40mm (35mm equivalent).
Shoot only in sunlight, not cloudy or cloudy/bright.

Use a somewhat low camera angle- lower than eye level on normal adult.

Try to find a non-distracting (plain) background of color
complementary to car color.

Quartering view- especially front quarter- are preferrable to square-
on shots.

Three mo
look carefully for the "right" camera height--the "sweet" perspective
will vary from one body to another--cars are sculpture
learn to clean wheels & tires without getting any slop on bodywork
when shooting front quarter: turn the wheel you see toward opposite
side--you'll want to show some of the tread (which needs to be clean!),
but not too much
--
"It is the individual alone who is timeless. The individual's
hungers, anxieties, dreams, and preoccupations have remained
unchanged throughout the millennia." Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)

"John S." wrote in message
...
On Jan 31, 11:44 pm, "Ali" wrote:

I have also been toying with the idea of finding a way to attach the
camera
to the car on a boom for motion shots without the speed, but am
scratching
my head on this one at the moment.



Well... this is how the magazine photographer did the action shots
when they featured my Mustang... The guy had a Chevy station wagon!
Was like the perfect vehicle for it! We then recruited my boss to
drive the station wagon while the photographer laid down on the tail
gate of the station wagon! He got some great shots this way! So you
might want to consider a 3 person...

He said that the 17-40L was his bread and butter lens... I finally
picked one up a couple weeks ago.. It's the middle of winter here in
Michigan so I the only cars I've been able to shot were at the Detroit
Auto Show... I was very happy with the results!

Great. Stinkin' great.

I just added the 100mm macro lens, and now I have to read up on this one.
One or more reviewers mentioned that it was somewhat soft at the wide end.
What's your take?

This might just be the replacement for the Rebel's kit lens, and I need the
wide angle to fit in TWO Mustangs.

)

dwight
www.tfrog.com

On Jan 31, 8:44 pm, "Ali" wrote:
I must admit , I wasn't expecting this response. When I re-read my post I
cringed a bit and was only expecting maybe one reply. Not only did I get a
more replies than I expected, but ALL the replies were fantastic.

As for Jay Martins post, I really, really wasn't expecting this. I must
admit, I haven't been totally honest. I took my own car out to the location
and took some test shots before posting, just to experiment and also to look
at particular areas/ambient light on the airfield. Reading Jay's post is a
bit freaky for me, because his post was so, so close to my own logic and
what I was looking for and also the shots that I actually took (with the
exception of the tyres melting into the road surface).

I have also been toying with the idea of finding a way to attach the camera
to the car on a boom for motion shots without the speed, but am scratching
my head on this one at the moment.

I haven't had a chance to look at the external links in the posts yet, but I
will at the weekend when I have a bit more time.

"Ali" wrote in message

...

A close buddy of mine has just bought a new car and has asked me if I can
take some photos. I agreed, but to be honest, car's are something I have
not really shot much before, so I am a bit in new territory. Still, I
think that it will be interesting to shoot something totally different and
a good learning experience. The difficulty is that I am a bit of a
perfectionist and am determined to walk away with some great shots, so want
to do some preparation beforehand. Of course, on the day with camera in
hand, anything goes when your eyes take over.

There is a disused airfield nearby and I am going to shoot there. I will
be shooting both static and action shots. I am no newbie to photography,
so at the moment, I have a few ideas on certain angles, vehicle/shutter
speeds, etc that I would like to try, however this is just theory in my
head at the moment. So, I would be interested to hear about creative
composition ideas, etc from other people that have shot cars before. Or
the more tricky photo situation of shooting people with a car. Shooting
people, I can handle no problem, but when trying to balance two major
subjects, it's a bit more difficult.

In addition, I would also be interested to see any inspirational photos of
cars or cars/people that you particularly like (from a photography point
of view). I have had a look around, but to be honest, I haven't found
many great shots when cars are involved that give me any real inspiration.

Just for info the tools I will be taking are a 20D and a 40D. I will also
take the following lenses: 10-22, 24 1.4, 50 1.2, 70-200 2.8, and a 1.4
converter. Not really important, but I think that it may help build a
picture of the scenario.

I agree that the posts on this thread were quite informative! I am
just reading through threads almost at random to just gleam knowledge
and came across it. One thing I would add is that I have read when
taking shots of moving objects your photo should sort of suggest a
space for the object to go. I imagine this would come in to play when
taking shots of moving cars as well.

--
David Cantwell . . .
St.John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

On Feb 1, 6:18 pm, wrote:
On Feb 1, 6:04 am, "John S." wrote:



On Jan 31, 11:44 pm, "Ali" wrote:

I have also been toying with the idea of finding a way to attach the camera
to the car on a boom for motion shots without the speed, but am scratching
my head on this one at the moment.

Well... this is how the magazine photographer did the action shots
when they featured my Mustang... The guy had a Chevy station wagon!
Was like the perfect vehicle for it! We then recruited my boss to
drive the station wagon while the photographer laid down on the tail
gate of the station wagon! He got some great shots this way! So you
might want to consider a 3 person...

He said that the 17-40L was his bread and butter lens... I finally
picked one up a couple weeks ago.. It's the middle of winter here in
Michigan so I the only cars I've been able to shot were at the Detroit
Auto Show... I was very happy with the results!

Hi John -

If you don't mind me asking, what mag and who was the photog? And most
importantly, what kind of 'Stang do you have :-)?

My brother (Tom Shaw) covers the Pure Stock Drags every year.

J

"The Mistress" is a 2005 V6... was featured in August 2006 Modified
Mustangs. Photos were by Tracy Stocker. Due to certain circumstances,
I unfortunately had to part with the car... Was a very very tough
thing... but sometime a guy has to do what a guy has to do...

I keep my website up for reference... You can check it out at www.v6john.com

I still stay active in the Mustang community... looking forward to see
what the make-over in 2010 brings...

On Feb 1, 8:43 pm, "dwight" wrote:
"John S." wrote in message

...



On Jan 31, 11:44 pm, "Ali" wrote:

I have also been toying with the idea of finding a way to attach the
camera
to the car on a boom for motion shots without the speed, but am
scratching
my head on this one at the moment.

Well... this is how the magazine photographer did the action shots
when they featured my Mustang... The guy had a Chevy station wagon!
Was like the perfect vehicle for it! We then recruited my boss to
drive the station wagon while the photographer laid down on the tail
gate of the station wagon! He got some great shots this way! So you
might want to consider a 3 person...

He said that the 17-40L was his bread and butter lens... I finally
picked one up a couple weeks ago.. It's the middle of winter here in
Michigan so I the only cars I've been able to shot were at the Detroit
Auto Show... I was very happy with the results!

Great. Stinkin' great.

I just added the 100mm macro lens, and now I have to read up on this one.
One or more reviewers mentioned that it was somewhat soft at the wide end.
What's your take?

This might just be the replacement for the Rebel's kit lens, and I need the
wide angle to fit in TWO Mustangs.

)

dwightwww.tfrog.com

Well... i've only really used the lens twice so far... once at the
Detroit Auto Show and then took some pictures of my daughters...

My take is I was blown away with this lens! I'm not super picky,
being that photography is strictly a hobby... I am more than happy
with the results! I could not believe how this lens made the pictures
pop! I do believe this lens will be perfect for the car shows! (I'm
currently using a 20D)

Here are some samples:

http://www.v6john.com/Main/Other/200...eo_1_frame.jpg

http://www.v6john.com/Main/Other/200...eo_2_frame.jpg

http://www.v6john.com/Main/Other/canon/bailee01_l2.jpg

http://www.v6john.com/Main/Other/canon/kylee01_l2.jpg

Can't wait for spring!!