Shooting a supercar

E

edbarton

Messages
145
Edit My Images
No
Bit of a general question but I've got the opportunity to have a ride and then take some photos of a friend's Ferrari F430 Scuderia Spider, like this (http://www.automotiveaddicts.com/wp...11/ferrari-scuderia-spider-16m-angle-grey.jpg)

Anyway, just after some general tips. Haven't done any car photography before really, did a bit of work a few months ago on a Rolls Royce Ghost but I was only assisting and it was video. That was also inside.

Not sure there's a huge amount of tips out there really considering it won't be in a controlled environment (but I'll probably do it on a sunny evening) but I was wondering if anybody had any kind of general advice, particularly with such an awesome car.

Kit I have
5D Mark II and a 7D
Tokina 11-16mm, gives me about 14/15mm on the 5d without a vignette
Tamron 28-75mm 2.8
Sigma 30mm 1.4
Zeiss 50mm 1.4 (only mounts on 7d)
Samyang 85mm 1.4
Speedlite 430
32" Gold/Silver/Black/White/See-through reflector

Fairly weird assortment of lenses, reckon I should be best off with the tokina, sigma and maybe the tamron/samyang for some close-up stuff. Wide stuff is more my thing. I'd love to get some shots on the 24mm 1.4 L lens, might rent one out.

Anyway, just looking for thoughts really. And as an aside, what are the rules on shooting out the back of cars? Just bought a C2 and it has the split tailgate at the rear ala video shooting cars bmw x5 and range rover. Not really the same deal but what are the legalities.
 
I'd be inclined to shoot longer not wider so as to best capture the car's lines. Only reason for shooting a car wide angle is from a rig (to capture motion). Crack on with your 30mm full frame or even the 85mm if you can get the distance.

Scout your location beforehand so you're good to go as soon as the light's right.

Use a polariser to minimise glare and reflections, esp on the car's glass.

Shooting from a moving car is possible but limits your angles. Legalities - you might get away with it but you won't be wearing a belt which is fineable and may also incur a penalty for unsafe load, endangering life, driving without due care. Sort your panning technique and find a quiet stretch of road with decent visibility and a bit of elevation.

Have fun and remember to share the results :)
 
I hope it's not a black one as the link. They are more difficult. The rule with them is usually to add some colour and interest to the background, and try to make something of the outline shapes. Scouting backgrounds and locations is pretty much a full time job for car shooters.

Check the car mags to see what the options are, as I'm sure you have done. Car Mag has the best photography I think http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Magazine/Left-Hand-Nav/wallpapers/

I would definitely have a go at tracking out of the back of your C2. Usual warnings about safety - the pros strap themselves in with an extension to the seat belt. Be very careful where you do it, for obvious reasons. If plod spots you you'll get a talking to and, potentially, a ticket. Be nice, they are always car buffs, sit them in the Ferrari and fire it up ;) I think it's technically quite serious - driving without care and attention or something - but none of the guys I know has ever been done.

Actually, a Police car with lights on could make a great shot! :D

EdiT: crossed post with Andrew. Good advice there.
 
I'd suggest having a trial run of the kind of shots you're thinking of trying with a more ordinary car first so you can learn from your mistakes there before you get to the Ferrari.

And definitely take a look at the shots in a few car mags. Think about the shoot location, the height of the camera, which way the front wheels are pointing, how much motion is captured in the wheels/background, the degree of oversteer... ;)
 
Haha police car with lights on would do the job perfectly. Probably will keep this shoot fairly static, might have a look into shooting out the back of the car next time. Got in mind a few nice locations that should look sweet at sunset.

Out of interest Ev_, I saw on your flickr you do shots for evo. Do you have any photos of the rigs you use for that or some info on the process, just for personal interest really.

Can't use the 30mm on full frame, vignettes. Well I can, I had a go with it earlier but it needs quite a bit of cropping, probably equiv of a 1.4 crop. 85mm feels too long for me really, might be worth a try if I can get somewhere with a lot of distance round the car but I seem to be getting much nicer stuff with my wides.


Had a quick go with my car (which being slightly weird looking, I think the wide angle suits) with my 11-16mm and 30mm both on my 5d. Only on my driveway and all a bit over-processed. Feel I'm getting some reasonable results, just not sure how it'll translate from a C2 to a Ferrari, it's quite the jump. Plus, I was lucky, had a nice blue car, nice blue sky. Maybe need something a bit edgier for a dark grey ferrari. (it's the same colour as the one in the first post)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/edbarton/sets/72157623690582387/
 
Tips?

Watch you backgrounds - ie don't take photos on your drive. If not "clean backgrounds" then go for something deliberately cluttered like an industrial area (factory) or an (empty) multistory car park.

If doing statics, clean the car - REALLY clean, like detailed clean. Nothing worse than a dirty supercar in photos.

For tracking shots, a smooth road surface is a good idea. Remember that you don't need to slow the shutter down too much to get really quite "whizzy" backgrounds. Probably 1/160th will do it nicely. Much slower and you'll just get too much combination vibration from both cars to make it sharp.
 
edbarton said:
Haha police car with lights on would do the job perfectly. Probably will keep this shoot fairly static, might have a look into shooting out the back of the car next time. Got in mind a few nice locations that should look sweet at sunset.

Out of interest Ev_, I saw on your flickr you do shots for evo. Do you have any photos of the rigs you use for that or some info on the process, just for personal interest really.

Can't use the 30mm on full frame, vignettes. Well I can, I had a go with it earlier but it needs quite a bit of cropping, probably equiv of a 1.4 crop. 85mm feels too long for me really, might be worth a try if I can get somewhere with a lot of distance round the car but I seem to be getting much nicer stuff with my wides.


Had a quick go with my car (which being slightly weird looking, I think the wide angle suits) with my 11-16mm and 30mm both on my 5d. Only on my driveway and all a bit over-processed. Feel I'm getting some reasonable results, just not sure how it'll translate from a C2 to a Ferrari, it's quite the jump. Plus, I was lucky, had a nice blue car, nice blue sky. Maybe need something a bit edgier for a dark grey ferrari. (it's the same colour as the one in the first post)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/edbarton/sets/72157623690582387/
Click to expand...

Lots of info on rigs here http://www.rigshots.com.au/

The more I think about it, of the car images that really work best for me, it's the location/light that makes the biggest difference. More so than any equipment or technique.
 
edbarton said:
Do you have any photos of the rigs you use for that or some info on the process, just for personal interest really.
Click to expand...

I haven't got any shots of my rig, unfortunately (it's constantly undergoing modification anyway), but it's nothing special, just the usual combination of suckers, Superclamps and aluminium tubing. The rigshots.com.au link covers the whole process nicely.
 
DDP said:
Hello Ev :) Didn't know you were into photography.

(DaveD on the evo forum)
Click to expand...

Hi Dave. Fancy seeing you here!

Isn't everyone who frequents the evo forum into photography? There certainly seems to be a lot of photography experts on there, anyways... ;)
 
ShawWellPete said:
I've never tried car photography myself but this guy is fantastic. He used to hang around the DC mag forums before they "improved" them and everybody left.
Click to expand...

Tim Wallace. He's in my bookmarks list of car photography stuff. He did a lot using the kit from Cameragrip (B Hague). His work is great and very inspirational.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top