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I am a professional photographer shooting to my clients needs, but for personal photography projects I love photographing cars. An ongoing project is to photograph our son with as many cars as possible through the years, with the final objective to present him with a printed Graphistudio photo book as a momento. It will show him growing up of course but also be a record of how much car design will have changed from the first shoot that I did with him in 2010, to when I will complete the project in 2024 when he is 18 years old. Each photograph must portray a stage or interest in his life as well, so in 2017 it was very much about his new dog, Pippa, a miniature Schnauzer who is the love of his life, after his mother of course.
My parents live in Southport on the north west coast of England, famous for its long sandy beaches. I had an idea for this shoot of including a section of the Southport beach with the western skyline forming a strong element of the final image. Unfortunately on the day the access onto the sands for motor vehicles was closed due to adverse weather and ground conditions, but determined to at least get something we did find a small car park that at least had a relatively unhindered view of the sky, and the rough ground was fitting for the 4x4 attributes of the Q3.
The main issue with car photography is managing reflections in the body work, and making the most of the design elements of the vehicle. The Audi was finished in glorious Hainan Blue, so it was certainly going to pop out from the background, but to lift this further I placed a Canon 600 EX RT speedlite on a lighting stand off to camera right, with the beam facing the rear left quarter of the car. It was triggered wirelessly by a Canon ST-E3 transmitter and set to high speed synch and ETTL with zero exposure compensation.
My camera was a Canon 5D MK4 capturing Camera RAW files, with a Canon 24-70 2.8L MK2 lens set to 50mm. Settings were 125 ISO, 1/400th sec at f5.6. As you can see from the before and after editing versions these camera settings underexposed the car and the rear hatch area where my son and Pippa were located, however this underexposure was intentional as it enabled me to hold the details in the reflected sky in the bodywork, as it was really important for the final image that I had sky detail. Bracketed exposures would not be practical as I did not have my tripod with me. We were shooting at 3pm in the afternoon at the end of October so the sun was low in the sky, but this served as a wonderfully strong key light for the side of the vehicle and by careful positions of both myself and the car we were able to avoid getting a direct reflection of the sun's orbe in the cars panels.
Finally the editing of the RAW file was started using Adobe Lightroom, you can see an out of camera RAW image, but by pulling down the highlights, brightening the shadows and increasing the whites and decreasing the blacks, key tools in effecting the image, with some clarity, vibrance and saturation added and a graduated blue filter for the sky the final result is hugely different. I know it has brightened the paint finish beyond the natural colour, but it not for an Audi brochure and I just love the punch it gives. Finally Adobe Photoshop was used to remove all our untidy travelling luggage from the boot area with the use of the selection tool and a black fill and that was it in photoshop.
I hope that you like the results after editing, watch out for more photographing cars blogs coming soon.
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They have great lines and colours so cars make a really interesting and emotive subject matter for photography, so on top of my full time job as a professional photographer covering, weddings, press and events I have been documenting the growing years of our youngest son in a personal photographic project, pairing him with cars through time with the overall objective of presenting him with a book chronicling this journey of his development along side that of the motor car. As of January 2017 there have been 21 cars as I have been doing this for six years since he was 4 years old, when he reaches eighteen in eight years time it should make a pretty interesting record of how he and the cars will have changed over time.
When I first began this journey six years ago the photographs were taken outside my house and often in a bit of a hurry, but as time has passed I have tried to make more effort, so we go to a location in or around Milton Keynes and create photographs that not only show the growth of our son, but also tell a story.
My wife works in the motor industry so getting hold of new cars on a regular basis is not a problem, and this particular car the Skoda Octavia VRs 220PS Estate looked magnificent in Race Green, we called it Kermit Green, making it stand out against the urban decay backdrop of this shoot. Skoda's philosophy is 'forward thinking' and I thought that the juxtaposition of the derelict petrol station and a young boy yearning to being able drive such a modern and eco friendly car in the future made for good story telling.
I wanted the final shot to have a grungy finish in the editing process and you can see below before and after examples, the test image on the left is shot just with natural light and standard editing.
The final image on the right was created using an off camera Canon 600 EX RT flash to camera right, this flash which was fired wirelessly by a Canon ST E3 remote trigger, and you can see that this adding of artificial light is what gives the lines of the car their clarity and definition and makes the paintwork sparkle and stand out from the background. The final high dynamic range effect was created by editing the camera RAW image using Adobe Lightroom, I applied settings that darkened the highlights such as in the sky, and brightened the shadows and colour of the car to really make it pop.
Camera Canon 5D MK3 with Canon 24-70mm 2.8L MK2 lens and Canon 600 EX RT flash, 1/125th sec at f6.3 ISO 100
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Although they live in Towcester, Northamptonshire, Amanda and Austin chose the beautiful location of Stoke Place, near Slough, Buckinghamshire for their wedding. Stoke Place is a country house hotel with beautiful grounds, it is a pretty period building, and has plenty of accommodation for you and many of your guests to stay overnight before and after the wedding.
Our wedding photography coverage mainly covers the Milton Keynes area but it was no problem for myself and my assistant to drive down to Stoke Place for this wedding, being less than an hours drive from Milton Keynes.
Amanda and Austin chose to stay the night before as well as many of their guests, which gave everyone a relaxed and convenient start to the day, although there was plenty of black coffee being consumed by the groomsmen when we arrived mid morning for the bridal and grooms party preparation photography.
The bridal parties room for getting ready had a lovely Georgian style bay window that overlooked the gardens, and this made the room light and airy, and with enough space for the hairdresser, makeup artist and all the ladies to get ready.
Amandas attention to detail was amazing and the wedding ceremony room which is part of the hotel, was transformed beyond imagination by the use of emotive spot lighting, candles, flowers everywhere and seating for the 80 guests that was finished off with cream ribbons to match the wedding theme. The mood lighting in the ceremony room created a warm and cosy atmosphere.
A brief rain shower did not stop Amanda from looking amazing as she took the short walk to the ceremony room with her Dad and the three bridesmaids.
After the ceremony there was about an hour for canapés and champagne in the garden, and as this was July the weather was nice and warm. Giant garden chess and live music for this period kept everyone entertained whilst the room was made ready for the wedding breakfast, and the wedding photography for the formal shots was taking place in the gardens.
Whilst my assistant photographed the guests and the general socialising, I worked though the couples formal photography list for family group shots, and took some couple portraits.
The wedding breakfast was back in the same room as the wedding, being magically transformed by the Stoke Place staff into a set up for the 80 guests with round guest tables with a straight top table for the wedding party.
After the speeches the proceedings continued into the late hours with live music from the impressive band "Down for the count swing orchestra"
Amanda and Austin received all the edited photographs within a few weeks of their wedding but also decided to ask me to design a bespoke Graphistudio wedding book so that the images could be preserved in print for austerity. They have just taken delivery of their Graphistudio wedding album, which included their selection of the photographs, and an absolutely gorgeous Nappa leather cover with the images displayed on glossy rigid pages.
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You have access to the gardens from your private wedding venue and it is easy to forget about the hustle and bustle of the outside world for a few hours and enjoy the ambience of the sculpture gallery with its fine paintings and sculptures.
Kate played for England in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, gaining a silver medal in the mixed team event.
I arrived with my camera after Channel 5 stepped in to help by employing professional and safe builders and contractors to finish the job off to a high standard. Melinda was a delight to photography, and was more than happy to climb up onto the scaffolding for a photo.
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I love seeing the reaction of the subjects when they first see these images as it is always nothing like what they expected.
The shot above of Alex on the disused rail platform was shot at Swanbourne station near Winslow. Of course if there really was a train coming then perhaps you would not be dangling your legs over the track, but to get Alex's head height down so that I could include both the platform, the flowers and the track, it was the pose that worked best for me.
As you can see from the test shot on the left under normal daylight the track merges into the gravel without very much definition and the sky and fields take your attention away from the part of the image I wanted the viewer to see, which for me was the platform, track and Alex.
The lighting solution I went for was to isolate Alex and the area within 10ft of her with a soft feather of artificial lighting 1 stop brighter than the surrounding ambient (daylight) level. To achieve this with the camera set to manual I under exposed the daylight by 1 f-stop, this has the effect of darkening the whole shot but in particular the sky and the open fields in the distance. The amount of under exposure varies depending on the look you want, so don't be afraid to experiment, but I wanted most of the daylight to still be evident and 1 stop was enough on this overcast day. Wireless flash synch is limited on most DSLR's to around 1/160th sec, so your ISO and aperture are restricted slightly by this. Camera manufacturers flash systems such as the Canon 430EX, 580EX and 600EX ranges can shoot in high speed synch mode giving unrestricted shutter speed, however because the light has to stay on for much longer HS synch absolutely kills the batteries, but for occasional shots it is a way round the issue of max synch speeds of big flash systems with DSLR blind type shutters
The next stage is the tricky bit, as I wanted to add the artificial light to make Alex and the track 'pop' from the rest of the scene. As a pro photographer I have £2000 worth of Elinchrom 1100 WS battery power pack with a large strobe flash light wirelessly triggered by Elinchrom's Skyport system, which if required has enough power to light a football pitch, but on this occasion was set to its lowest setting as I did not want to blast too much light at Alex, and make the final image unbelievable.
Don't worry you can achieve the same look with a cheap batty powered flash gun which can be purchased from a company like Yongnuo for around £40, and its wireless triggers for about another £30 and finally a shoot through brolly kit for around £50 from ebay, demonstrating you don't need a pro budget to achieve this, just a basic DSLR camera and a cheap flash gun and brolly.
The strobes normally hard light was modified with the white shoot through 90cm brolly mounted to a heavy stand held down with a sandbag on the rail track to stage left of the image, and slightly upstage of Alex and pointed back at her. It was raised to around 8ft above ground level and pointed slightly downwards to feather light onto the track and Alex's face. My shoot through brolly has an enclosed back to reflect all of the light forwards, but a standard open brolly would still work you just need a bit more power as some of the light goes away from the subject. It has a soft featherered characteristic to its light. Don't worry if you have not got a stand just take along a friend to hold the light high above their head, and ignore there moaning about all the blood rushing from their hands.
And thats it for the shooting. Post production from a RAW image file created with a Canon 5D MK2 was processed using Adobe Lightroom and some pop and sharpness added, thats all as the rest of the effect was created in camera.
]]>They commissioned me to shoot GB and England stars and doubles partners, Heather Olver and Chris Langridge. The brief was to keep the theme sporty but not to show the players in a court environment.
The National Badminton Centre has the Fusion Health Club Gym next door and a section of attractive Milton Keynes parkland managed by the Parks Trust just over the road, so in the two hours I was allowed to complete the shoot we had a variety of locations and a chance for Heather and Chris to get out of their badminton kit, and into something more casual.
Samantha is an Event Manager and she and fiancee Richard chose the Sculpture Gallery for exactly the above reasons, and once through the gates we were all treated to a stress free and delightful wedding day and party afterwards.
Their wedding day in July was to be at the Mercure Parkside Hotel at Woughton on the Green. Another great Milton Keynes destination where couples and their guests can enjoy the freedom of the hotel and its grounds. You are away from the hustle of the Milton Keynes city centre which is just 2 miles away but you would never know.
Images from Theresia and Daves wedding day will appear in another post soon.
The nearby town of Woburn could not be overlooked either, so we stopped here on the way to the Abbey to have a look round the shops and the historical buildings before driving through the deer park to the Sculpture Gallery.
Richard and Samantha protested that they had never liked having their photographs taken, but once we started they forgot about the camera and we all had an enjoyable few hours looking around the house and gardens.
Their wedding later in the year in September at the Sculpture Gallery was a roaring success and some photographs from this event will appear in a separate post
Notley Abbey is a Bijou Weddings location which can be hired exclusively by couples for their weddings, with some of the guests able to stay on site and the Abbey not being open to the public, it makes for a very secluded and special place to hold a wedding.
On the day we went to Notley for the engagement shoot in April there was an open day to prospective couples, but the friendly and helpful staff were more than happy to give us freedom to use the house and gardens for the shoot.
The history of the house is very interesting to lovers of Hollywood movies from the 50's and 60's being the home of Vivien Leigh and Sir Laurence Olivier, and famously Marilyn Monroe stayed here on her tour of the UK.
Notley has to be one of the nicest places I have ever photographed a wedding, and the unobtrusive but supremely efficient staff make you feel like a real movie star.
Vicki and Wills engagement shoot was held last year on a wonderfully warm evening using the backdrops of Great Linford Village followed Milton Keynes city centre and the Hub district. It was the first time that I had photographed them, but within minutes we were all at ease helping me to capture some romantic as well as fun photographs for their memory drawer.
