How to...

This summer I plan on shooting my car in a proper setting. However, I really want to get some practise ahead of time as well as some knowledge.

http://farm6.static.fl​ickr.com …38618233_aee1f7​0339_b.jpg
ADV.1 Mercedes S550 by ADV1WHEELS, on Flickr

I really love this guy's work and am wondering how to achieve this look when shooting cars. Is an external (off camera) flash necessary or is it strictly nailing the settings in manual mode? Any tips and advice would be very welcomed

First, you're not allowed to post someone else's work without their permission. Secondly, this should be in Transportation Talk as you aren't sharing images.

Now that that's said, in this image, there's no additional lighting other than natural light and the headlights. The easiest thing to do, is to have an aperture large enough to have the car in focus, and to shoot from a different angle than what we normally see. In this photo, the shooter was crouched down, with the camera at the same level or slightly lower than the headlights.

The rest is all processing. Looks like multiple curves layers, and adjustment brushes to bring the sky back from being blown out in the RAW adjustment.

JMartel wrote in post #12056994
First, you're not allowed to post someone else's work without their permission. Secondly, this should be in Transportation Talk as you aren't sharing images.

Now that that's said, in this image, there's no additional lighting other than natural light and the headlights. The easiest thing to do, is to have an aperture large enough to have the car in focus, and to shoot from a different angle than what we normally see. In this photo, the shooter was crouched down, with the camera at the same level or slightly lower than the headlights.

The rest is all processing. Looks like multiple curves layers, and adjustment brushes to bring the sky back from being blown out in the RAW adjustment.

My apologies, but thank you for the info.

Just by guesses i want to say a zoom lens probably 85mm or more was his setting for the zoom. About 1/50 or 1/80 as shutter speed and.... apature of 8-ish. Only thing that bothers me is the car in the background putting up dust.
I think using maybe a flash with a warm gel would look slightly better. Just to get rid of the shadow on the ground but its an awesome photo. Sunset it beautiful. Looks to be morning as well.

JMarel is right as well.

Good luck.

TauntDevil wrote in post #12057689
Just by guesses i want to say a zoom lens probably 85mm or more was his setting for the zoom. About 1/50 or 1/80 as shutter speed and.... apature of 8-ish. Only thing that bothers me is the car in the background putting up dust.
I think using maybe a flash with a warm gel would look slightly better. Just to get rid of the shadow on the ground but its an awesome photo. Sunset it beautiful. Looks to be morning as well.

JMarel is right as well.

Good luck.

EXIF:
Camera Nikon D300S
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 42 mm
ISO Speed 200

So, not quite on your assumptions. I'm not quite sure if a flash would make it better or worse in this situation. You could also just use the dodge tool to bring the shadows up a tad.

So in this case he did the shot, then the final result was achieved in PP?

as jmartel said, it was all natural light. looks like the sky was masked off with some simple curves adjustments and some high pass sharpening on the car. final result (both the car and the sky exposed) was achieved in post.

Tony_Stark wrote in post #12058226
So in this case he did the shot, then the final result was achieved in PP?

First, he waited for the light to be "right".

Again, you're not allowed to post someone else's work without their permission. I removed the {IMG} tags.

JMartel wrote in post #12058158
EXIF:
Camera Nikon D300S
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/2000)
Aperture f/2.8
Focal Length 42 mm
ISO Speed 200

So, not quite on your assumptions. I'm not quite sure if a flash would make it better or worse in this situation. You could also just use the dodge tool to bring the shadows up a tad.

haha i was far off.

TauntDevil wrote in post #12074786
haha i was far off.

A little different framing so the sun isn't included makes the difference. The EXIF#2 in 2011 Chevy Cruze Sedan LS is:
Focal Length: 34mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 0.020 s (1/50)
ISO equiv: 100