Subie

[Loose Canon]

This Subaru Outback is my Beloved Bride’s new ride and I’ve been wanting to get it in front of my camera!

So I did!

The shoot:

I shot it in my driveway and I waited until it was dark enough that shooting at 1/200th, f/11, ISO 100, 50mm FL gave me a dark frame with no lights fired. Meaning no ambient light was affecting the shot and all light would come from me.

I lit the Subie with two studio strobes wearing a 50” softbox and 38” octabox (since that’s what I have available) as key lights on either side of the camera about 10’ away from the car and as close together as I could get them and still be out of the frame. They were about 15 feet high and aiming down.

Two more wearing strip boxes on the front and back feathered down the front and sides of the car to accent the front and rear ends. This was the base shot.

I then used a light in a strip box and handheld to to further accent the front and rear end lower black panels, the wheels, the tires, the lower side black panel, rearview mirror, and inside the car for the steering wheel.

I then did three more long exposures for the front running lights, rear running lights with me inside pushing the brake pedal to light the brake lights, and the side view mirror turn indicator lights.

Post Production:

All shots composited and hand blended in post production.

The Subie was then clipped and background, spot light, and shadow CG’d in Photoshop.

It was a very labor intensive and very fun shoot to set up and process. Not to mention getting the Subie shined up and sparkling like a new penny which earned me points with Wifey-Poo!

I really had no firm direction in mind to take in post. I was focused primarily on what I had in mind for lighting it. Once I got that happening I can put it anywhere in post that is suitable. But this’ll do for now!

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Manfred M]

Another impeccable shot, Terry.

That being said, I find the lighting a bit strange. The light shining under the car is the brightest area of the shot. I wonder if this image might look even better if you toned that down and darkened that up a bit?

[Brownbear]

Stunning image! Sounds exceptionally complicated to photograph but it truly looks like it belongs on the front page of a car magazine.

Aside... Now that Manfred mentions the light beneath the car I wonder about it. Love the shadow.

[Wavelength]

Excellent; do you have shots from other angles?

[IzzieK]

Shot from your driveway???Hmmm....that says something about the inside of your garage being used for your other wet project? Just a thought...

Anyway, joke aside, it is a beautiful shot and very clean...love it...

[mugge]

Just great. Echo Manfred's thoughts about the light under the car. Just a tad down.
Cheers Ole

[TonyW]

That is a fine shot - well thought out and executed. I don't mind the light underneath. It gives the car a sort of glow which is perhaps artificial but nice.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Terry,

I find the (real) lighting to be good, it is the (fake) lighting on the (fake) ground and the (fake) shadow that lets this down. Sorry to be blunt, but I'm sure you appreciate it is mentioned constructively.

For such a bright pool of light and associated shadow as that to fall there, we'd see a lot of top light on the car, which isn't there (of course).

I'm sure you've got a version saved of just the processed car exposures, or can re-work the background layer to achieve something more realistic. That said, I appreciate you're not trying to be ultra-realistic, we see images of cars in brochures and on websites over matte backgrounds with text surrounding them all the time, so I think it is perhaps a case of toning down the light pool brightness and shadow contrast.

You obviously put a lot of work into lighting and shooting this and the result is excellent.

Hope that helps and pass on my congrats to your good lady on her new set of wheels, Dave

[NorthernFocus]

Wow, that's a lot of set-up. The overall result came out well. Subaru wagons are probably the most common vehicle around here. Definitely the favorite of soccer moms for hauling the kiddos around on icy roads.

[rpcrowe]

I absolutely LOVE my Subaru Forester BUT the back up camera screen and general infotainment system of the Outback is far nicer than on my Forester. Kind of a Windows/DOS comparison...

[Loose Canon]

Thanks for taking the time to comment on this everyone! Interesting stuff being said.

Clipping a product and reframing it is very common. That way, if you are the art/media/creative director/client you can say what you want changed and it can be done right before your eyes to see how you like it!

Personally, I like the spot as is and I’ll explain why but I’m always open to other ideas. The shot is put together such that changing it up is a piece of cake! The (fake) lighting on the (fake) ground can be changed because it is a color and the value can be easily reduced. The (fake) shadow layer’s opacity can be reduced which will then reduce the contrast. All very easy and quick to do!

Maybe for clarity’s sake and for the sake of discussion I should offer a (million) word(s) of explanation of some of my thought process for this shot!

What I really wanted was a Chimera 30’ lightbank to suspend over the car for top lighting! I didn’t have an extra $17,500 laying around not to mention enough lights to fill it or any way to suspend it’s 300 lbs. in the driveway! Fortunately, I didn’t need it to get the top lighting I wanted.

Before the shoot when I was considering how I wanted to light the car the following are but a few of my considerations.

The Subie’s body has a shoulder that I wanted highlighted (but not blown) and that means to give it the depth it needs a shadow would need to be present under that shoulder, which there is. The doors would naturally be a shade darker because they are a bit more vertical with less flare. Same with the side molding on the doors. Highlight on top of them, shadow below. Door handle recesses should show some shadow because they are recessed. The wheel wells flare slightly before they lead straight down. Shadow there and slight highlight on top of the flare from the top lighting.

Top lighting is a must here to get those shadows that define these features but I don’t have a softbox big enough to cover the car so directly overhead wasn’t an option unless I wanted to do a lot more shots to composite. That’s why I raised the light boxes so high and used two in either side of the frame. Without elevated lighting these features wouldn’t show as I originally defined. I also figured without additional light accenting certain areas/features I was going to lose a lot of the car. And for once I was right!

In post, I was just thinking about a clean BG/surface with maybe a spot. One reason was that with my lighting there was a definite shadow on the driveway and a spot of light the car was bathed in. On a white surface this light would of course be more brightly reflected and the shadow even darker showing more contrast. So the (fake) lighting of the (fake) BG/surface in the finished shot is relatively true to the scene’s original key lighting and that’s what led to this version.

Here is an un-retouched BTS (kind of) illustrating this. This is from the queue of base shots and there are four lights being fired at the Subie.



Of course, this may not be obvious just by looking and I consider that a good thing. Further, and this is an important point, I’m not sure where the idea that the white “light spot” shouldn’t be the brightest part of the image is coming from, though it certainly doesn’t have to be if personal preference dictates. But in fact, a white subject shot on white should be a tad darker than the surrounding or background to be perceived as white on white. Opposite will be perceived as white on gray. That is just basic lighting knowledge.

And further still, the light spot on the “white floor” could possibly cause a lot more top light on the car. But there are a myriad of reasons why it also might not. One that comes immediately to mind is if a gobo (flag, diffusion panel, etc.) was placed between the light and the top of the car to keep it from blowing out but allowing enough light for other areas including the floor spot.

But if the art/media/creative director/client (you guys) wants the spot turned down, then the spot will be turned down! But in reality I think it is simply a matter of personal choice rather than a hard, fast reason why it should be!

[Loose Canon]

PS-

Nandkumar, I don’t have any other angles as this was my first shoot with the Subie. I would love to get some and hope to. While it’s a lot of fun, it’s also a lot work for a shoot like this and it takes a while to shoot and process in post. With this one I felt I needed to shoot then process to see where I was with it. I wasn’t ready to shoot it, change the angles/lighting and shoot it a lot more before taking it to post. Maybe now I will be!

Izzie, there wasn’t room in the garage for both the car and the Big Red Tub! I have priorities you know!

Dave, I’ll tell Wifey-Poo you approve of her new ride! She loves it and I scored a lot of points this time! (All of which I have already used up naturally!)

[Manfred M]

Love the "studio" you used for your shot!

Very creative approach, even without the red tub.

[Rider in the Sky]

Hi Terry,

I'd suggest an additional version. A diagonal one with the cam a little above looking down.

Cheers....

[Loose Canon]

Thanks Manfred!

I was able to set it up such that the camera, the tethered laptop, and myself sitting in the BRT filled with liquid from my last wet work was in the garage! I’m just glad there was no wind that night with those soft boxes up so high and I’m now sorry I didn’t empty the BRT from whatever I was splashing last!

The neighbs panicked and I got visited by the FAA to shut me down because the flash pops were distracting passing aircraft!

Next time I’m going to set up the bar right next to the BRT!

No one slept but its whatever it takes to get the shot!

Hi Vic, thank you for having a look.

I chose this composition as a kind of “starter” and its my first one with this vehicle. Thank you for the suggestion. I have a lot of angles/PoV’s in mind and yours is one of them. This Subie has a moon roof and that is a feature that is absent with this PoV. I would like to do an angle that would include that feature and what you are suggesting is just the ticket! But they will all require custom lighting schemes and it takes a lot of time and work for me to shoot a vehicle! Not to mention its starting to get cold here for outdoor work! The bar will come in handy for that!

Any tips you might be willing to offer to expedite that and help me out here would be gratefully accepted! I’m open to suggestion. Do you do this kind of work Vic?

[Rider in the Sky]

Hi Terry,

Just remembered some observations from commercial fotog friends some time ago. I thought some angles might help you display your Subie's most notable features. As far as I can see , you're doing a great job on your own.
[Usually, the marketing/creative dudes would come up with selling points, for instance, your Subie. Then, they would consult their in-house fotog/graphic artist and/or ad agency on how they can produce eye-catching awesome images that will sell their product.]

Maybe, our other members here who are currently in product photography can add tips/advice to your Subie project.

Cheers....

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Terry,

This is a very educational thread of product photography on a scale most of us wouldn't imagine to be possible in our own homes, just goes to show what we know!

I also want to emphasis to members how much we can learn by switching between the finished and SOOC shots in LyteBox here; the removal of reflections, the enhanced contours visible, etc. this shows your PP skills.

As I said, the result is (real) excellence - and that's not fake praise.

Dave

[bnnrcn]

Great !

[Loose Canon]

Wow Dave. Very nice things to say! Thank you! (the non-fake check is in the mail with a little something extra in it buddy!)

This is a very educational thread of product photography on a scale most of us wouldn't imagine to be possible in our own homes

I wanted to say something about this because I’m being inspired by KimC in her thread here and I think it’s relevant. I can only speak for myself but I hope it applies to everyone here.

There have been (IMO) some great points raised and discussed in this thread regarding lighting and post-production. Stuff I would (and do) consider pretty important. But this could be the most important thing…

No one ever told me I couldn’t shoot this car at home in the driveway and get acceptable results. I must’ve missed the memo on that! And believe me, I’m not smart enough to know better even if someone ever did. But until I know for myself I’ll never be sure what I can or can’t do. No one else can make that call for me. So there was only one way to find out.

I think Kim got that memo but she is a helluva lot smarter than me! She knows that no one else can or should make that call for her and because of that I hope she gets to walk a road that she has not been down before. I envy her that walk and it is inspiring.

(Sigh) Now as for the real estate interiors, I’m beginning to wish some one had told me I couldn’t do it and I’d been smart enough to listen!