Cars

Red 2004 Corvette Z06 Tampa Car Photography in Ybor City

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Corvette Z06 in Ybor City near train tracks Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/30th +1 ev tripod mounted single exposureDustin contacted me about photographing his 2004 Corvette Z06 in the same Ybor City Tampa location he has seen my photographs of a Mustang and a Lexus IS F.  He was open to me shooting however I liked, not wanting any replicated photos and I really wanted to try and produce some different shots after having already shot at this exact spot twice before.  Thanks to our well timed shoot and Mother Nature cooperating with a very well positioned sunset, I was able to produce some new shots for this Corvette shoot.

Red Chevy Corvette Z06 sunset view in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/40th +2 ev tripod mounted single exposureOne of the big differences with the shots from this car photography shoot was I did not rely on HDR for most of the shots.  I still shot a majority of bracketed shots, but I ended up using one of those exposures, as in the shot above, to produce the final image.  I feel this improves my car photography shooting style offering future clients even more variety in final images.  What motivated me to shoot like this?  Looking at lots of photographs of cars on Autoblog.com.  Looking at photographs is a great way to improve your own photography, no matter what you are shooting or what experience level you are.

Corvette Z06 vs train in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/400th with antique filter in Silver Efex ProOne of the original reasons I scouted this Ybor City shooting location was that the client wanted to have his car near train tracks.  Well these tracks are very active as you can see above allowing me to make a "Corvette vs. Train" shot.  I wonder what the train engineer was thinking?

Z06 Corvette train track sunset in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseI still did make some 9-exposure HDR final images though, like the one above allowing me to show the full details of the red Corvette and full detail in the bright sky background.  As you can see in the shots above, with a single exposure that much detail in the sky cannot be preserved unless you make an HDR image.

Corvette Z06 in Ybor City at sunset Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseMost car shots are usually from a low angle, but I wanted to show more of the shape of the hood of this Corvette so I maxed out the leg height of my tripod to get this upper view of the car and used another 9 exposures to make this HDR image.

Stylized Corvette Z06 view in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th +2 ev tripod mounted single exposureA tight rear quarter panel and rear wheel composition is one of my favorite views to photograph a car from, as seen in the photo above.  I think it creates a somewhat exaggerated and therefore interesting view of a car, especially if it has nice wheels!

Corvette Z06 on bricks in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseFor the last shots of the afternoon we went to the other side of the warehouse out of direct sunlight.  Even though there was no bright sky to contend with, I chose to shoot in brackets and ended up using all 9-exposures to make the HDR image above.  In doing so details in the shadows of the car and gate above were revealed.  

Ferrari F430 Spider in Yellow Tampa Florida Car Photography

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Ferrari F430 Spider in yellow photographed at Tampa International Jet Center - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125thAt the 2012 Cars & Couture event in Tampa, Florida I had the opportunity to photograph this stunning Ferrari F430 Spider in Modena Yellow.  It was parked next to four other Ferraris fortunately at the end of the line so I could make some clean photographs of it.  As you can see it also happend to be sunset time making for an ideal backdrop.

Rear diffuser of a Ferrari F430 Spider - Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRI liked how the yellow line on this airport runway added a detail to the rear view of this Ferrari F430 Spider, and it was doubly nice that it was also yellow!  I cropped in tightly to accentuate the presence of the line.

Jets waiting behind a Ferrari F430 Spider - Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRIt was a very pleasant 20-minutes I spent all alone with this Ferrari far away from the busy event taking place in a hanger a few hundred yards away.

1996 Ford Mustang Cobra Mystic color Tampa Car Photography in Ybor City

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1996 Ford Mustang Cobra mystic color (green purple) in Ybor City Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/125th complex composite of 7 strobist shotsI returned to an Ybor City location I used some time ago to photograph a Lexus IS F.  This time I met a client with a 1996 Ford Mustang Cobra in the rare mystic color that can look green or purple depending on the light.  The above shot used a new technique that I tried for the first time involving taking many shots as I walk around the car with a speedlight in a brolly.  Then all those shots are blended together into a composite showing the best list portions of each one.

Afternoon clouds over a Mustang Cobra in Ybor City car photography shoot - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 9-exposure HDRFor this shoot the surrounding environment was really included as-is, which meant the dumpster with graffiti was composed in the frame to contrast with the car, the ominous sky and the distant city skyline.  Using a 9-exposure HDR composite allows for shooting into the sun like this.

Ford Mustang Cobra car photography shoot in Ybor City Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRMore subjects of varying contrast in this shot starting at the top with the American flag waving coming down to an American icon in the Ford Mustang.  The flag was waving but appears without blur in this HDR image because the final step I took in editing was to mask in a single frame of the flag.

Highly stylized HDR image of a Ford Mustang Cobra - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRIn the above shot you can see some interesting "hearts" graffiti on the brick wall.  I wondered who would make such an expression in such a place and thus definitely wanted to feature it in the background of some of the shots.  

Profile view of a Ford Mustang Cobra - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRNo hearts in this rectangle of red graffiti.  Maybe a yet to be finished work?

Five Ferrari at Tampa International Jet Center - Florida Car Photography

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Five Ferrari parked on a runway at Tampa International Jet Center - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseI believe the purpose of supercars like Ferrari existing is multifold.  First and foremost of course, they provide a driving experience like no other.  Of course due to the cost of owning (and maintaining!) a Ferrari this is a very exclusive experience.  I believe there is another, even greater experience, for the existence of Ferrari, however.  That is the joy of seeing (and hearing) one drive by and to give one something to daydream about.  In short, the existence of Ferrari is about inspiration.  

Which Ferrari would you pick from the five above?  Having seen them in person, I would go with the yellow F430 Spider.

GTP Corvette Custom build car photography for Mecum Auction

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A custom built GTP Corvette in Lakeland Florida I photographed for Mecum Auctions - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/30th tripod mounted - Strobist: SB-800 in brolly to frame rightEarlier this year I had the opportunity to photograph a Jaguar for RM Auctions and now I have had a chance to work for another major auction company, Mecum Auctions.  I went to Lakeland to photograph two Corvettes for the upcoming auction in Kissimmee, Florida.  The owner and builder of this custom GTP Corvette were friendly guys who even helped me out by keeping my light stand upright in the surprisingly breezy and chilly morning!

Custom interior for a GTP Corvette photographed for Mecum Auctions - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 in brolly by passenger door & SB-600 on driverside door sillThe interior of this car looked as radical as the exterior with its sweeping red bucket seats that could not have been more than six inches off the ground!  I used a couple of speedlights to illuminate all the features of the custom built Corvette.

Custom GTP Corvette with hood, doors and engine cover fully open - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 9-exosure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseOne of the guys said the car looked like a Transformer with the hood, scissor doors and engine cover all fully open.  

Exhaust system of a custom GTP Corvette - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/30th tripod mounted - Strobist: SB-800 in brolly beside me

The exhaust sounds brutal when the car starts up.  I cannot imagine what it sounds like when driving and revving that engine close to its redline!

This was the first time all year I had to don a jacket!  Lakeland is a good ways inland from St. Petersburg where living right next to the water keeps things a few degrees warmer.  The guys are working on several new projects which I hope I will have the chance to photograph when they are complete.  Good luck to them at the Mecum Auction!

Audi R8 HDR highly stylized black & white image Florida custom car photography

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"Essence of the Audi R8"

I photographed this Audi R8 at the Cars & Couture event at Tampa International Jet Center.  There was very limited space to get any shot and from no angle was there any kind of clean background.  The rear three-quarters view I felt was the best composition given the constraints knowing that I would ultimately remove the car from its real surroundings.  The following is the digital editing process I went through in making the final image you see above which I feel shows the essence of the Audi R8.

I initially thought I could keep the existing cement floor background only making the upper half of the image a digital white background.  However, I was not happy with the lack of consistency in how the floor looked from left to right as well as having no good natural cut off point for it.  I never actually removed the floor from the background.  Through several editing steps it became lightened and smoothed out.  The silhouette filter in Silver Efex Pro essentially made it disappear, but critically leaving the natural shadows under the R8.  Although much of the body of the R8 was also lost in appying this filter, I liked that.  The remaining view of the car, basically all the black trim including the unique "blade" air intake and the black wheels, still showed enough for a knowledgeable viewer to know it was an Audi R8. 

Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera HDR in black at Tampa International Jet Center

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A black Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera at Tampa International Airport - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThe Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera is a special version of the Gallardo for high performance on the track.  I believe it is the best looking Gallardo of the many varients.  I had a chance to photograph this Lambo at the Cars & Couture event at Tampa International Jet Center last week.  As is usually the case when photographing cars at events, the background had people and other objects in it distracting from the beautiful Lamborghini itself.  Plus, this was a very black car being sidelit by the setting sun.  To produce the final, fully edited image you see above, it too 1-hour of digital darkroom effort!  This is how editing this digital photograph progressed . . .

As you can see, if I simply set the exposure mode to aperture priority at f/8 and let the camera's meter make the decision, the result would have been a decent looking sky, but a very underexposed Superleggera that lacked detail in the many shadows.  There was no doubt that I would need to make an HDR image to have a chance at getting both the car and the background looking well exposed.  I went to the max that my Nikon D300 can do, 9-exposures.  

After processing those 9 shots in Photomatix Pro, the middle image was the result.  The worst part of it really were all the reflections in the side of the Lamborghini from another car next to it.  That required a lot of careful clone stamping and even a little painting to get to an at least acceptable level of reflection.  

After that task I set to removing the people standing behind the Superleggera, then the building over the passenger's side, then the cones and finally the person half-visible in the left edge of the frame.  Once the image was all cleaned up I began selectively adjusting contrast levels and doing a little dodging here and there to balance the look of the pavement.

All that is not even counting my initial color correction and adjuting done in Aperture 3 and Color Efex Pro 3!  So you can get an idea of how much work is involved in trying to get a usable car shot from a car event!