Red, White & Blue

So.. many years ago I ran across this fun tradition where automotive photographers will share images of a red, white and blue vehicle that they’ve photographed over the last year. It’s silly.. but hey, it’s become a tradition at this point, so why stop? Anyway.. Each year, I pick a theme based on the images I select. This year, I wanted to pick images I was proud of creating over the last year. Each of these vehicle images encompasses something I'm proud of doing when capturing and creating the final versions. So.. here we go.

Red: I chose this image of a red Chevy SS that I shot for a local detail shop because, if you've photographed and processed red vehicle images, you know how hard it is to keep them RED. The blues in the sky and magentas in your color balance can create an absolute nightmare of a finished look. I worked very hard to create a natural looking final image here because it was challenging and I wanted my client to have a good representation of the work he does.

White: This vehicle isn't winning anyone's heart.. except mine. This is my car. It's taken my family and I all over the country, to various national parks, and even helped pull it's more luxurious hybrid cousin out of some mudslide action at a semi nearby, popular rock formation. I took my Tribute out in the fall of last year with the goal to shoot it in an appropriate environment and I wanted to strobe it in such a way that it could emulate actual sunlight highlighting the shape. Having taken a shot of the rear, using only sunlight, to gauge the overall look - I think I nailed it.

Blue: So another grand idea I'd hoped for earlier this year was to start a video podcast on automotive photography. Something kinda like Top Gear but for photographers. We shot a pilot and it was a blast. This SC400, owned by a close friend, was our subject for the pilot. After we wrapped shooting, we took it up on this train deck to take a few photos in the sun. As a train went rocketing by, I couldn't get to my tripod in time. I knew I wanted to capture the motion of the train but am horrible at having a steady hand. Yes, inbody stabilization helped.. but hey, I'm proud I was able to get the shot I wanted, handheld, when I'm used to planting my camera on a tripod.

And if you’re curious, here’s a glimpse at the previous years. Since this started on Instagram, they’re mostly formatted accordingly.

A.P.E. Challenge: Cheap Car

I recently participated in a photography challenge posted by the Facebook group, "Automotive Photography education." In this challenge, participants were to go about the process of planning and photographing a cheap/ordinary vehicle. There had to be preproduction planning (location selection, time of day, lighting) as well as an artist's statement sharing this information. Also needed in the statement were settings and editing details. Here is what I came away with..

In an attempt to properly capture an ideal environment for today's Crossover vehicle, I decided to find a location that offered the attractive scenery of a road trip along with a family friendly event space. Working with a base model, I figured that the location should reflect a destination fitting of the owner's financial situation. Sure, they'll still go places and do things but perhaps those activities would be more budget friendly and less grandiose.

Having already planned to visit Colorado this month, I chose to do a little investigating via Google Maps. Happening across their rodeo grounds, with plenty of parking, and views along the horizon that helped sell the idea of adventure, I knew I had my spot. Coupling that with mild weather around sunset seemed like the best choice. A little texture in the sky from some clouds would help provide interest and color. The warm tones of golden hour would be ideal for creating a summer feel, selling the story, "It's OK to stay out late tonight. Tomorrow is the weekend."

I used the natural light provided by the sunset for my images. The camera (Canon 6D) was placed on a tripod, set to bracket for three exposures (-1.3, 0, +1.3), at F9 and ISO 100. I used a Canon 24-70L with a Tiffen CPL and did two turns resulting in six photos total. I shot these at approximately 50mm. I had two reasons for shooting at this focal length:

1. To reduce wide angle distortion on the vehicle.

2. To capture a wide enough image to produce a nice scene. I wanted to show an environment where the vehicle fit in without drowning it in the surrounding neighborhood or making it look like it's deep inside the mountains, off-roading.

After taking my photos, I ran them through Photoshop's Camera Raw to pull back highlights and bring up shadows a bit. I then opened all six images into Photoshop, layered and blended them manually to accentuate highlights and shadows where I wanted. My next step was color grading through a couple built in Photoshop LUT's and Gradient Maps. Once that was done, I pulled the image back into Camera Raw to crop, sharpen, and make a few small adjustments with contrast and clarity.

Unfortunately the rodeo grounds didn't have any events planned during my time in Colorado - a realization I came to once I arrived. While I wasn't able to capture the essence of the event location in use, a prime component of my plan, I do feel like the location was still a nice fit for the vehicle. That said, I should have been more prepared and come up with a contingency plan to avoid ending up in this kind of situation.

Gear: Canon 6D, Canon 24-70 2.8L, Tiffen CPL, Sunpak Tripod

Post Processing: Adobe Camera Raw & Adobe Photoshop

Does the gear really matter?

There was a time in my life when I felt like the camera gear was the most important aspect of taking quality images. Don't get me wrong, the right gear can definitely make the process easier but it's hardly a limitation that can't be worked around. Of course, when you're new to the game and heavily invested in tech news, reading about lower noise at higher ISO levels is the thing dreams are made of. Then one day I came to a striking revelation - my landlord, local grocery store and even my insurance guy agreed, camera gear isn't everything.

So, years later I'm using equipment that's considered outdated. Sure, it's still gear that many people would love to have at their disposal, capable of much more than anything I started with. It allows me to use some forms of current technology to make my process easier. Bottom line, I'm pretty lucky with the setup I've acquired over the last 9 years. But a thought hit me.. Knowing what I know now, and having grown in my process, could I produce quality work with consumer level equipment from back when I started? Maybe it's time to find out!

Meeting up with a friend, who fairly regularly complained about his camera being the cause of his photographic struggles, we decided to switch systems. For this challenge, we'd both photograph the same car, at the same time, using crop body cameras, identical focal length prime lenses, and a CPL filter. This was my chance to see if the argument, "It's not the gear, it's how you use it" was true. I traded out my old Canon 7D & Canon 35mm 1.4L lens for a Nikon D3100 & Nikkor 35mm 1.8 lens. What followed was frustrations, more work than I expected, and surprisingly decent results.

Aside from learning that Nikon's opinion of built in bracketing was unnecessary in their entry level DSLR cameras, and that their menu structure is so different from Canon that it makes switching systems a bit of a learning curve, I wasn't totally dissatisfied. This little setup handled most of my needs for this experiment. While it certainly didn't win any awards in the speed department, making panning shots a real beast to acquire, it was capable enough to do what needed to be done. In the end, the only real limitation I encountered was myself.

Gear: Nikon D3100, Nikkor 35mm 1.8, Amazon Basics CPL, Sunpak Tripod

Post Processing: Adobe Camera Raw & Adobe Photoshop