They Shoot Cars Don’t They?

I love my work, but some days its just “extra” special!  I was asked to shoot this image for the upcoming Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance.    

I arrived early Monday morning to find a line of beautiful classic cars (yes, the 60’s Corvair is a collectors classic!)  and had great fun working with art and marketing director Steve Kittrell of Sports Car Magazine.  We both had a hand in lining up the cars, which given the room I had to shoot in was quite a challenge!  I must admit I whispered directions in Steve’s ear and let him and the drivers park these cars so close (the value of these cars is easily twice the cost of my first house)

I am standing in the planter box, holding a $$ DLSR and Lens high above my head on a painters pole (no assistants can help with this ~ if Idrop it its all on me!)   The camera (D700 and Nikor 17-35 f2.8 at 17mm) is tilted down to catch the scene, and I am as far back as I can go and keep all cars in the frame.  This caused a heck-of-a-lot of converging lines which I planned for, but still had to leave the building tilted a bit so as not to loose the tail end of the near cars in the crop.   I shot 9 shot brackets at 1/2 stop just to keep from raising and lowering the camera to tweak exposure. I blended the middle 5 exposures in Lightroom Enfuse, which helped tame the shadows and highlights.

I tried to park my 2002 Prius in the driveway , , , , the answer was NO (but with a smile!)

Ciao!

Steve