Car Photography Anyone?

Zascar

Hey guys, I'm wondering has anyone here done any car photography, that would be able to offer me any tips and advice? I've just bought a lovely old classic car and of course I want to go and take some really nice 'car magazine' type photos of it. However not only that, I have a contact who said if I can get some really good photos of it he will help me get a feature in one of the magazines - which would really be a double dream come true for me.

I need to think of some good locations in/near Dublin to go and take some pix, and some creative ways of shooting. Anyone got any suggestions? Or can anyone post any nice shots you've taken of cars for ideas?
Thanks

PCPhoto

Paddy (cant remember his username) ... but he's based in Waterford ...does some fantastic work.

ronanc15

Paddy McGrath is who you are thinking of. He really would be the best person to ask - heres his website pmcgphotos.com

Good luck with the photos!!

Borderfox

There is a couple of articles here http://pix.ie/keithjack/album/379276

For me an underground car park would be perfect or wicklow mountains around luggala or glenmacnass. Light it off camera and you might need to composite in different lighting

I don't mean to derail the thread, but I remember the last time I was asking about cars in here, the most information i was being given was to take multiple exposures with the flash in different places and such (inside the car, to the left of the car, under the car, etc.) to make the photo look really well.

What I'm curious of is, if you have a fair few flashguns, for example, is it possible to nail it in two photos (an ambient one, and a flash one)?

Paddy@CIRL

I'm very flattered by the recommendations, thank you everyone.

OP, it depends what look you want to achieve. It can be as easy / difficult as you like but the most important thing is to keep it simple. Take a look at these two examples for successful yet contrasting methods

Linhbergh - Uses mostly natural light

Sean Klingelhoefer - Specializes in studio lighting

My advice would be to research as many different styles / techniques as you can to try and identify something you like. After that it's a straightforward case of breaking down the selected style to see how it's created. If you need any help, drop me an e-mail or PM.

hoganpoly

Yeah Paddys stuff is fantastic, maybe he can give a tutorial someday on the correct lighting set-up for cars ,I would be interested in meeting up

ronanc15

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

I'm very flattered by the recommendations, thank you everyone.

OP, it depends what look you want to achieve. It can be as easy / difficult as you like but the most important thing is to keep it simple. Take a look at these two examples for successful yet contrasting methods

Linhbergh - Uses mostly natural light

Sean Klingelhoefer - Specializes in studio lighting

My advice would be to research as many different styles / techniques as you can to try and identify something you like. After that it's a straightforward case of breaking down the selected style to see how it's created. If you need any help, drop me an e-mail or PM.

Some greats pics on both those websites. 2 very different styles. Quite like the natural lighting ones although I would love to see a proper studio lighting shoot to see how its actually set up. Must be tough!

Zascar

hoganpoly wrote: »

Yeah Paddys stuff is fantastic, maybe he can give a tutorial someday on the correct lighting set-up for cars ,I would be interested in meeting up

Yeah a meet up would be great. If anyone else here would be interested in a meetup - get a few cars together and take a few shots and learn a thing or two - I think it would be fantastic.

Anyone interested? Any pros/experts willing to help out and teach us a thing or two?

Kenny Logins

That's a great idea. If this was down south I'd be up for it.

Paddy@CIRL

Deleted User wrote: »

What I'm curious of is, if you have a fair few flashguns, for example, is it possible to nail it in two photos (an ambient one, and a flash one)?

Absolutely - most of my lit work is two frames combined with each being processed separately. The below being a prime example (also shows a simple light setup using the sun as a key light)



Regarding a car photography meet, I'm sure it could be arranged? I was meant to do one with the people on Octane.ie last year but between the jigs and the reels (and an incredibly busy season) it sort of got pushed to one side. The only problem is usually when a group of people arrive at one spot with lots of cars, the Gardaí usually aren't too far behind!

If it were somewhere reasonable from me I'd be happy to attend that. Car photography is a bit of a mystery to me. The shiny surfaces and the likes. Never tried it (and will most likely never need to do it), but would be curious to see how you do it properly and how someone thinks when approaching such a subject (are there compositional rules most obey, etc.).

EDIT: Your post wasn't there when I posted this for some reason, Paddy.

I'm sure if most people came in cars it'd be a shambles. If everyone parked elsewhere or used public transport, with maybe two or three cars at most (a sporty motor, a family car and a jeep or something, three different things so we could talk about how you light/"pose" them etc. and what makes them different? Or am i reading too far into it?). I'm sure it'd be a laugh, if nothing else.

Paddy@CIRL

Deleted User wrote: »

If it were somewhere reasonable from me I'd be happy to attend that. Car photography is a bit of a mystery to me. The shiny surfaces and the likes. Never tried it (and will most likely never need to do it), but would be curious to see how you do it properly and how someone thinks when approaching such a subject (are there compositional rules most obey, etc.).

EDIT: Your post wasn't there when I posted this for some reason, Paddy.

I'm sure if most people came in cars it'd be a shambles. If everyone parked elsewhere or used public transport, with maybe two or three cars at most (a sporty motor, a family car and a jeep or something, three different things so we could talk about how you light/"pose" them etc. and what makes them different? Or am i reading too far into it?). I'm sure it'd be a laugh, if nothing else.

I don't think there are really any different 'rules' for car photography, maybe their application changes slightly but that's about it. I guess the most important thing is having a result in mind beforehand and then acting accordingly to achieve that result.

I will say that post processing is where it really gets interesting though ...

TestTransmission

Zascar wrote: »

Yeah a meet up would be great. If anyone else here would be interested in a meetup - get a few cars together and take a few shots and learn a thing or two - I think it would be fantastic.

Ahem, I think I'm lost by being in here but I'm sure we could rustle up a few volunteers for ye from Motors (myself included)

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056570830

meenaghans

For anyone round mayo the rally is on this weekend in claremorris.
there a cermony thing on sat nite so it would be a good photo op

this page has a list of most of the info

http://www.mayomotorsportclub.com/launch_night.html

ronanc15

Paddy what lenses do you get the most use out of for shooting cars/motorsport?

Paddy@CIRL

ronanc15 wrote: »

Paddy what lenses do you get the most use out of for shooting cars/motorsport?

On track - 70-200 2.8 & 300 2.8
Pits - 70-200 2.8 & 35 1.4 (17-40 F4 the odd time too)

ronanc15

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

On track - 70-200 2.8 & 300 2.8
Pits - 70-200 2.8 & 35 1.4 (17-40 F4 the odd time too)

Cool, Paddy @PCPhoto was saying the 70-200 was a good multipurpose lens too. Trying to save the coppers to purchase one.

Out of curiousity did you shoot the Koenigsegg pics with the 70-200 or the 300?

Paddy@CIRL

ronanc15 wrote: »

Paddy@CIRL wrote: »

On track - 70-200 2.8 & 300 2.8
Pits - 70-200 2.8 & 35 1.4 (17-40 F4 the odd time too)

Cool, Paddy @PCPhoto was saying the 70-200 was a good multipurpose lens too. Trying to save the coppers to purchase one.

Out of curiousity did you shoot the Koenigsegg pics with the 70-200 or the 300?

I'm away from the office at the minute but near certain it was with the 300mm with a 1.4x on a 1D MKII N (550mm equivalent on a full frame sensor) I usually find I only need the reach of the 300mm on the international circuits and 70-200 is perfect for most events!