St. Petersburg car photography

1963 Chevrolet Corvette split-window St. Petersburg Florida Car Photography

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A racing 1963 Chevrolet Corvette split-window in Straub Park St. Petersburg Florida Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseAt a Corvette car show in South Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg Florida I had the chance to photograph this rare 1963 split-window Corvette.  The owner was not around at the time so I could not learn much about the car or what it is like to drive it.  The only clean angle to photograph it was from this rear three-quarter panel view due to surrounding cars.  In my mind this split-window Corvette is thinking get me the heck off this grass and onto that road in front of me!

Ferrari 458 Spider in yellow on white background St. Petersburg Florida Car Photography

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Selected crop & edit of a Ferrari 458 Spider photographed in St. Petersburg FloridaGoing through my unedited car photography archives, I found this straight on view of a yellow Ferrari 458 Spider.  It was originally photographed at the Grand Prix Gala inside a office building's lobby (see below).  The background was of course busy and full of people.  To put the focus on the car itself I decided to cut it out of its original background and place it on a digital white background.  Below is the digital photo editing process for making the final image.

I cropped the Ferrari above its bumper to give it a kind of peaking up at the viewer look.  

Orange Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera HDR St. Petersburg Florida car photography

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An orange Lamborghini Superleggera on digital black background photographed in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRMy favorite Lamborghini is the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera because of why and how it was made (super lightweight to be the best driver's car possible).  At the Festivals of Speed Concours d'Elegance 2013 in St. Petersburg Florida I had the opportunity to photograph this orange Superleggera.  As is often the case with shooting at car shows, the background was less than ideal.

Original HDR image of this Lamborghini Superleggera at the Festivals of Speed St. Petersburg Florida 2013I had this in mind when looking for the best angle to photograph the Lamborghini.  I knew the background did not matter, I would edit it out.  What I looked for was minimal reflections in the car body.  To my surprise there were almost none the entire length of the driver's side, hence I setup my tripod to shoot it from this angle.  Choosing a black background also hid any imperfections in carrying over the shadow under the car.

St. Petersburg Grand Prix Gala 2013 featuring Ferrari Lotus & Lexus LFA

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This pink Lotus Elise attracted a crowd at the 2013 St. Petersburg Grand Prix Gala - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 2.5 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseThe Friday evening before the actual 2013 St. Petersburg Grand Prix race was the Grand Prix Gala featuring numerous supercars and other things, but for me of course, all my attention was on the cars.  The Lotus Elise above was painted a shockingly bright pink.  Though this car looks rather exotic, it is relatively not that expensive and can be had for around $55,000.  

Ford GT in the foreground at St. Petersburg Grand Prix Gala 2013 - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDRWelcoming you to the Grand Prix Gala was a Ford GT (in foreground doors open) followed by a line of Ferraris, Porsches and a Maserati.  There was a sudden rain shower as I arrived limiting the shots I could get outside, but it did add a nice sheen to the look of the above shot overall.

Ferrari 458 Spider in yellow at St. Petersburg Grand Prix Gala 2013 - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRThis was my first time to see a Ferrari 458 Spider in person.  I had seen the 458 Italia many times before, so I was glad someone brought this Spider to show what an open top adds to what most consider the best current supercar in existence.   

Lexus LFA #406 at the St. Petersburg Florida Grand Prix Gala 2013 - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRFeatured prominently also was this, famous to me, Lexus LFA #406.  I have now seen it on at least four different occasions.  The comments I hear most as people walk by it is their surprise that the car is a Lexus.  I guess not everyone is subscribed to the Lexus Enthusiast then!  

St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013 Classic Racers

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Porsche 911 Series 993 racing on the track at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/1250thI entered the 2013 St. Petersburg Grand Prix raceway area around noon not know what type of cars I may see on the track at that time.  To my delight the classic racers were out and I got to see my favorite car, the Porsche 911 in several forms roaring around the course.  It took me awhile to find a suitable spot to photograph the cars because the double fence around most of the course just could not be shot through with any success.  

A Mustang takes the corner ahead of a Jaguar at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/1250th

I ended up using a spot where a TV camera guy was.  There was a hole cut out of the fence that his huge camera was pointing through so I then only had one fence to shoot through and I could put my lens right up against essentially making it invisible to my camera's sensor.  This spot is where most of these shots are from.

Another classic Porsche 911 with huge rear wing taking a turn at the 2013 St. Petersburg Grand Prix - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/1000thI had some idea it would be very loud because as I sit here at home now with the windows open some 4 miles away I can hear the faint sound of engines even.  I actually liked the intense sound and did not use the promotional air plugs handed to me by some social media guy.  I was there less than an hour, so perhaps longer exposure to the engine sounds would have been headache inducing, but for me it was a rush to shoot and feel the subject so viscerally.  

Going down a long straightaway at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix 2013 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1000thI always wonder what the people do who live in the condos right on the race course.  Do they eventually block it out, love it, or just spend the weekend out of town?

Custom Classic Van HDR at Madeira Beach Car Show St. Petersburg Florida 2013

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Classic Custom Van Photography at Madeira Beach Car Show 2013 - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR digital background

I went to the Maderia Beach Classic Car Show this past Sunday on a cold and blustery afternoon.  Apparently custom car owners do not much like that type of weather as there were only 8 cars there total!  Of those only one really caught my eye, a custom van that with the hood open, looked like the roaring mouth of a dragon or vulture or similar creature.  I wanted to make a shot to accentuate that feature of the car.  As is often the case at car shows, the background was not great and there was only a tight space to shoot in.  So even as I was making the shot that cold afternoon I was already thinking I about how I wanted to edit the shot and I knew I would just remove the background.

The graphic below shows what a single exposure would have looked like, a 9-exposure HDR, then the final image with all edits and digital background added.

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.