The Ultimate Car Rig Photography Thread!

Watch out using ultra wide angle lenses as you'll distort the look of the car. Also make sure you get the rig in such a position that you can actually see the car rather than focusing on the front fog light.
 
Good work Sammy!

Been looking at doing this for awhile now as been enjoying shooting cars so far.

What camera you using and lens?

As I have a canon 7d with 17-40 and unsure if its wide enough for the length of pole your using
 
madmatt said:
great thread, i wish i had the time to make one.
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It doesnt take that long, pretty simple to do :)

POAH said:
Watch out using ultra wide angle lenses as you'll distort the look of the car. Also make sure you get the rig in such a position that you can actually see the car rather than focusing on the front fog light.
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I like the distortion and i purposely put the rig in the low position as thats the shot I wanted, quite like the low angle with the wheel turning. Just trying out different things :)

wildsam90 said:
Good work Sammy!

Been looking at doing this for awhile now as been enjoying shooting cars so far.

What camera you using and lens?

As I have a canon 7d with 17-40 and unsure if its wide enough for the length of pole your using
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thanks mate, shooting cars is really good fun. It the only photography I tend to do.

I use a Sony A200 DSLR and use my 10-24mm lens for the rig shots. I would say nearly all the shots are at 10mm.

Does need to be a wide angle lens, i could extend the beam but then it would bounce more using my current set up.

Going to be looking into adding a wire tensioner to help with the stability :)
 
cheers, was out tonight for some more practice. Gonna keep trying different things out and try to improve my shots.

Tonight I met with a lad who owned a monstrous Ford Zodiac with a 5. something Chevrolet engine in it!

Only had an hour but managed a few rig shots. These three being my favourite...

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then one of his son's friends turned up so took a quick couple of his Civic...

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and one for laughs...

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The surface tonight was bumpier than last night and I think that made a difference in the photos.

The bonus was that one of the lads is a welder, so he is going to fabricate a tensioner for me to hopefully add more stability to the rig. Lookin forward to trying it out with that!
 
Really blown away man, I keep posting in this thread but I just can't believe the quality of these pictures! Will be building my own rig next week, just a shame I don't really have a nice car and don't really know anyone that does. :bang:
 
today during a shoot I took a few rig shots of this Honda Civic Type R. Had to stop due to the rain coming on though so didn't get much of a chance.

Here were three that were the best...

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this is my favourite one...

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Was the early rig with the glass lifters worth the effort? Or am I better off just saving up and going straight for the Manfrotto pump cups? FWIW I would try add a stud to the glass lifters and use some cheap Karlu super clamps.
 
Just read through the thread and looks to be more affordable to achieve than I first thought, I'll mimic the same question as "maninsuitcase" see what route is the best to take.

I think a cheap set of ND filters will be purchased tonight no doubt

Also mite be worthwhile to start up an equipment list for the various versions of your rig, with links to suppliers etc. would be useful for others wanting to get into this like myself :)
 
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Hi. Reading this with interest - I have got to try this with my OH's Staguar when its on the road.
 
maninsuitcase said:
Was the early rig with the glass lifters worth the effort? Or am I better off just saving up and going straight for the Manfrotto pump cups? FWIW I would try add a stud to the glass lifters and use some cheap Karlu super clamps.
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hey! glad some other people are getting involved in the thread!

The early rig was good as it let me give using a rig a try without any large cost. Compared to the Manfrotto cups, they are a nightmare to use though.

But for me it let me see that I enjoyed doing the rig shots and it was something I wanted to improve at and practice.


Sko77y said:
Just read through the thread and looks to be more affordable to achieve than I first thought, I'll mimic the same question as "maninsuitcase" see what route is the best to take.

I think a cheap set of ND filters will be purchased tonight no doubt

Also mite be worthwhile to start up an equipment list for the various versions of your rig, with links to suppliers etc. would be useful for others wanting to get into this like myself :)
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the ND filters made a massive difference, doing rig shots in intense daylight is nearly impossible without them I found.

I will have a look at putting together an equipment list :)

Sammy
 
sduk said:
hey! glad some other people are getting involved in the thread!

The early rig was good as it let me give using a rig a try without any large cost. Compared to the Manfrotto cups, they are a nightmare to use though.

But for me it let me see that I enjoyed doing the rig shots and it was something I wanted to improve at and practice.

the ND filters made a massive difference, doing rig shots in intense daylight is nearly impossible without them I found.

I will have a look at putting together an equipment list :)

Sammy
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Be fantastic if you could and maybe the places to get them? Really need to give this a go! Might be worth a how to on building to?
 
Great thread Sammy.

Love your initiative and the shots.
 
What a great thread, been meaning to make a rig of my own, but always feared it would cost too much. Would really appreciate a breakdown with links to suppliers as others have said above. I've ordered the ND filters already, purely on this thread.

Great work Sammy, get some more photo's up, cant get enough of them
 
Buck said:
Great thread Sammy.

Love your initiative and the shots.
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thanks mate, I love that more people are getting involved in it now! :)

Mr Squibbs said:
What a great thread, been meaning to make a rig of my own, but always feared it would cost too much. Would really appreciate a breakdown with links to suppliers as others have said above. I've ordered the ND filters already, purely on this thread.

Great work Sammy, get some more photo's up, cant get enough of them
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thanks mate, when I get a chance I will sit down and right it out. Not much too it to be honest.

Away to load more pics now! :)
 
Today I had only 45 minutes with my friend's Audi S5. Had to cut it short as I am off to shoot a drift/track car shortly!

So time enough to come home and edit two quick ones. I know there have been a few negative comments about the low shots I take, but I honestly love the rig shots from that angle.

So not gonna please everyone but I guess that's always gonna happen :)

So onto today, it was blazing sunshine and 22 degrees!

I put the ND8 filter on and here are my favourite two....


This one was pushed as normal...

steveaudi2.jpg



This one we did with the car being driven to hold it the wheels on full lock as there were only two of us....

steveaudi1.jpg
 
I have just bought a wireless shutter release for my DSLR. At the moment I use a wired one so looking forward to getting the wireless one. Should allow me to stand further back and reduce my reflections in the shot.

Also been told that my tensioner that is getting welded onto my beam will be ready by Friday! be interested to see how that affects the bounce on the rig!
 
thanks! Here is the front shot of the A5 with no editing in photoshop. Thought it might be interesting for people to see. The vignette is caused by the ND filter stacked on top of my UV filter and the camera at 10mm.

Show's how much photoshopping needs doing and what a filthy sensor I have on my camera! I am looking into having it professionally cleaned lol. Have tried myself with no success!

steveaudi3.jpg


and the edited one side by side to compare...

steveaudi1.jpg


Amazing what a bit of photoshop can do :) haha
 
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last night I was out shooting a Toyota BDC Spec drift car and we did a couple of rig shots!

Here is a front/side shot...

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and then one mid-drift...

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The drift shot was particularly difficult due to the welded diff needed for drifting! Good fun though!
 
yeah it is! the smoke isn't though haha.

The turning rig shots were nearly impossible, because the back wheels had a welded diff it meant that the inside wheel was trying to travel faster than the outside wheel and it skipped making the camera jump :)
 
Manfrotto pumps v £5 Screwfix/B&G glass lifters.

The cheap, double sucker with handle type clamps work well at clamping. Usually they have a lever to pull down for the suction to work.

Advantages are that they are very cheap, have a handle, so are easy to attach a pole to (think jubilee clips), have have a double sucker so twice the holding power (you think). I've seen them best used in a T shape with the bottom of the pole in line with the handle clamp at the pivot clamp across the pole.

Disadvantages are the rubber on them is quite hard and leaves marks on delicate paint work. OK if you just clamp to glass, but there's no way I've used them on a fibreglass car or something that's detailed.

Manfrotto pumps, more money but you can pick them up cheaply sometimes as people buy rigs then never use them. Larger size suckers are very strong (I've climbed a wall using them!) but you need to make sure you're on a suitable flatish surface. They will distort around slight curves much better than the glass type clamps. They also come with protective covers for the suckers.

Disadvantage is cost, because you will probably need super clamps as well which also adds to the weight (with the most on the securing panels), but it then becomes a very flexible tool with lots of adjustment.

Either way, which ever you use, include a clean microfibre cloth or two, clean the rubber before hand and store them in a clean bag.

and the obligatory pic.
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Today I picked up my modified bracket for my rig! A lad whose car I photographed a few weeks ago offered to make it for me when I explained what I needed.

So the steel extension had a "T" piece welded onto it and with a couple of holes in each end, I can attach a tensioning strap.

This massively reduced the bounce on the pole. I also extended the pole at either end to allow me more freedom with the shots.

Here is the new set up on my mates Fabia that I was trying it out on for the first time...

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Then we tried it out. Only had half an hour so didn't get much chance to do more shots...

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Really happy with the extra stability the strap provides.

Going to look into using a steel wire in it's place!

Sammy
 
thanks mate :D

Well I got my new wireless remote trigger delivered today! Be nice to not have to walk along with the car and use my cabled one.

Was hoping to go out today to try it out but have ran out of time :)
 
Sammy,

Could you make a update to your original post added below saying your current set up inc what's been done?

Thanks
Sam
 
sduk said:
I will do mate, got work and a funeral over the next few days so not had a chance to get out with the rig.

Will try and put as much info up as I can on it soon :)
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Sorry to hear, and look forward for your update. Selling the unused Xbox to help fund!
 
sduk said:
another one I did today at the end of the shoot. I decided that as the sky was going to be blown out I would take a static shot (i needed to anyway to put the driver in the car) and then I added the sky into the rolling shot to make it look better....

stevetriumph28.jpg
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(y)(y)(y)

What an excellent shot - much better than all these jap and german cars :LOL:
 
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