Hi, so i approached an elderly gentleman today who was driving a Bentley Continental GT V8 and asked if he would ever be interested in having his car photographed that i would love the opportunity. Long story short he said to meet him at his garage tomorrow morning (9:00pm australia now) where he has an AC car and 2 Bristol cars, all historic automobiles. He mentioned that if i helped him remove the covers that i could photograph all i like. I don't know how much time i will be allowed to shoot for, i don't know that i'd be able to ask to move them, for all i know they could be all parked next to each other... i guess i'd try and get detail shots, close up interior stuff, lights, curves etc...
I guess i'm asking for some advice on shooting these kind of shots? Also just wanting to get this whole thing off my chest, really excited also really nervous as not sure what it's going to be like. It's a free shoot as i offered and want to build up my portfolio.
Any words or advice would be much appreciated.
Also this guys spends 6 months of the year racing historic cars in England and around Europe and the other 6 months in Aus fixing vintage cars and selling them. Googled his name, he's legit.
Cheers
Sounds like an awesome opportunity. Use a CPL, it will really allow you to control the reflections on the cars. Twist it until the reflections are flattering (generally when there are less reflections on the hood depending on the angle of your shot). Definitely do not go without one. If you can't move the cars you really may really need the cpl to minimise unwanted reflections from the environment.
Get details of any of the interesting parts. Ask him what is special about each car or what made that particular model special/interesting. Of course if you are getting detail shots the go to's are gauges, gear stick, steering wheel, badges, wheels, lights, grills etc.
If you aren't able to move the cars to ideal locations, use your environment to frame the cars and make them interesting. Have something in the foreground obscuring the view etc. It doesn't always have to be a clear shot of a perfect car. Also get interesting with your angles. A quarter shot at head height is always safe but getting on the ground is always an easy to make it more interesting. If you are able, shooting from above is also good because it is a view rarely seen. Try to find angles that accentuate the shape and lines of the car.
I would shoot 50mm plus but I tend to steer away of the close up distorted wide angle photography that has been popular with car photos. This is just personal style/preference though.
Wow dude thank you so much! This is exactly what I was hoping to get back from posting this. Solid advice and much appreciated. Also your work is killer. Big fan. Thanks heaps again.
I just had a look at your website, great stuff too, very clean!
Aw cheers hey! That's what I'm trying to achieve so that's good to hear!
I'll also mention I've got an elinchrom Quadra kit with a 70cm deep octa box as well as a reflector for the Quadra. I noticed in some of your auto shots you used the Indra 500 with a reflector. Might try the same with the Quadra. Cheers
No worries man. Let me know how it goes! With the reflector I will normally stick it on a lightstand or monopod and walk around the car taking multiple exposures with the light in different spots and combine later in post. You just need to make sure you overlap each shot/light enough so you have enough information to play with later.
Also with the CPL, if you shoot on a tripod you can take multiple shots with the CPL at different positions and then combine the best of each later. I.e if you have reflections on the hood in one shot and reflections of the ground down the side of the car in the other. Although this info might be a bit late, I assume you are out shooting it already :)
I checked this message just before I started shooting so it was great timing. I did try the trick with the cpl, see how it turns out in post. Was an incredible opportunity like you said, this guy had around 2 million dollars (aus) worth of historic cars in his garage. There were AC cars, Bristol cars, Jaguars, Morris's... Was unreal. Little tough to shoot as they were all covered and parked next to each other. Should have a few good images to work with though. Gosh there are some beautiful cars in there! Will post when I'm done editing. Cheers again for replying man.
So here's my edit of the AC Ace. Can you tell me in your eyes what makes this look unrealistic? i'm thinking the edge on the left of the bonnet, may be too light? I can't pick it still... and i've been staring at it for so long now i'm kind of done with it! ha. Any advice would be tré cool.
For me, it's the color of the lighting on the car versus the ambient light of the building.