I strobed a Nissan GT-R and BMW M3

I strobed a Nissan GT-R and BMW M3 · 09:27 PM

Well, the plan was to capture the cruise ship Aurora leaving St. John's port but good ol' dad ended up appearing at Burger King the same time as me so we stayed and had a chat for 2 hours. Just found out the Crown Princess is canceled to dock Today also, lost photo op there...

Anyway, the Newfoundland Targa event ended Friday and I made a trip to the water front to see if by chance the Aurora was still in port, noper. Instead I had my own mini car show lined dockside up while the drivers were at the Keg eating!

Just 2 of the best cars I managed to capture:

Shot as a single photo 13sec, f/8. iso 200, Metz 48 hand held 1/2 or 1/1 power popped off 3 times left right and nearly horizontal to hood with white bounce card extended

5 shots blended, all 13sec, f/8 iso 200. Metz popped off left, right, straight, top down on hood and Stillen logo on glass

netuser · 09-20-2009, 03:52 AM

Hi

First I do enjoy your images. Well captured.
Did you take some from the side/corner of the cars ? I would like to see how they turn out if you did.

Second, I never did something like that and I'm thinking on giving it a try even if it's on my own car

. Care to explain better how you shoot and then blended the frames ? like basics to noob so I can give it a try ?

Thanks

F-Stop · 09-20-2009, 09:06 AM

Originally posted by netuser

Hi

First I do enjoy your images. Well captured.
Did you take some from the side/corner of the cars ? I would like to see how they turn out if you did.

Second, I never did something like that and I'm thinking on giving it a try even if it's on my own car

. Care to explain better how you shoot and then blended the frames ? like basics to noob so I can give it a try ?

Thanks

Hey! Thanks for the comments!

I do have 1 from the side but it didn't turn out as well, I have yet to blend it together.

I'd have to start off and say this is EASY despite myself not having a clue at the time what the end result would be. My off camera flash experience is limited so I'm no advanced strobist by any means. I tried it on my own car last week https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/73602-i-strobed-my-car.html with decent results as a first attempt.

Setup:

Manfrotto 055 tripod and Joystick grip set center to front
K100D shutter 13seconds, f/8.0, iso 200 on all shots
Metz 48 hand held and manually fired at 1/2 and full power. I had the white bounce card on the flash extended so that I could have the flash glance the car at more of a 60° angle to avoid hotspots plus to spread some light on the ground when shooting the right and left side.

- 1st shot taken front on with the flash parallel to the hood raised about 1' above
- 2nd and 3rd popped on the left and right side about 1' out from the front bumper and about 3-4' out of the corners/side, full power on flash held about 60° to the car with a rotational axis of 30-45° off perpendicular to the ground.
- 4th flash held full arms length above the hood at ~60° downward angle to wash down toward the ground to give a shadow effect from the bumper on the ground (this eliminates stray shadows from other shots or lack there of so you can erase those layered sections).
- 5th taken from the left side I think on the Stillen glass solar logo. From the pic it looks like the right, not sure really. Would have bee nice to pop one off inside the car but oh well, you take when you can get.

Blending was easy also and my layered skills in GIMP are non-existent. I just made the background layer with the front shot, layered the other 4 on top. Used a large soft eraser brush and removed parts I didn't want on each layer. Eg. with the right head light highlight shot layering the left I would erase sections of the right headlight shot to reveal the left light below. You could do this with masks as well as the result is non-destructive but the end result is the same . You continue to do this with all layers until you get the image you want.

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09-20-2009, 03:52 AM	#2
netuser Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Azores Islands, Portugal Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,236	Hi First I do enjoy your images. Well captured. Did you take some from the side/corner of the cars ? I would like to see how they turn out if you did. Second, I never did something like that and I'm thinking on giving it a try even if it's on my own car . Care to explain better how you shoot and then blended the frames ? like basics to noob so I can give it a try ? Thanks

09-20-2009, 09:06 AM	#3
F-Stop Veteran Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: Paradise, Newfoundland, Canada Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 303 Original Poster	Originally posted by netuser Hi First I do enjoy your images. Well captured. Did you take some from the side/corner of the cars ? I would like to see how they turn out if you did. Second, I never did something like that and I'm thinking on giving it a try even if it's on my own car . Care to explain better how you shoot and then blended the frames ? like basics to noob so I can give it a try ? Thanks Hey! Thanks for the comments! I do have 1 from the side but it didn't turn out as well, I have yet to blend it together. I'd have to start off and say this is EASY despite myself not having a clue at the time what the end result would be. My off camera flash experience is limited so I'm no advanced strobist by any means. I tried it on my own car last week https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/post-your-photos/73602-i-strobed-my-car.html with decent results as a first attempt. Setup: Manfrotto 055 tripod and Joystick grip set center to front K100D shutter 13seconds, f/8.0, iso 200 on all shots Metz 48 hand held and manually fired at 1/2 and full power. I had the white bounce card on the flash extended so that I could have the flash glance the car at more of a 60° angle to avoid hotspots plus to spread some light on the ground when shooting the right and left side. - 1st shot taken front on with the flash parallel to the hood raised about 1' above - 2nd and 3rd popped on the left and right side about 1' out from the front bumper and about 3-4' out of the corners/side, full power on flash held about 60° to the car with a rotational axis of 30-45° off perpendicular to the ground. - 4th flash held full arms length above the hood at ~60° downward angle to wash down toward the ground to give a shadow effect from the bumper on the ground (this eliminates stray shadows from other shots or lack there of so you can erase those layered sections). - 5th taken from the left side I think on the Stillen glass solar logo. From the pic it looks like the right, not sure really. Would have bee nice to pop one off inside the car but oh well, you take when you can get. Blending was easy also and my layered skills in GIMP are non-existent. I just made the background layer with the front shot, layered the other 4 on top. Used a large soft eraser brush and removed parts I didn't want on each layer. Eg. with the right head light highlight shot layering the left I would erase sections of the right headlight shot to reveal the left light below. You could do this with masks as well as the result is non-destructive but the end result is the same . You continue to do this with all layers until you get the image you want.