Behind The Scenes>> Nzpc Mag Photoshoot

 

My first shoot for 2011 was with the legendary HKS CT230R. It had made the journey down under for the annual 4 and Rotary Nationals event and while it will only be on display, it is very rare that we get a car of this status on our shores. Because of this I thought it would be a good prop to use for a behind the scenes look at how we shoot a car here at NZPC.

 

NZPC Editor Peter “Pedey” Kelly and I arrived at the Redline Performance HQ at around 5pm. First to greet us was the familiar face of Mad Mike Whiddett. Working his day job as a sign writer he was applying a few last minute stickers to the car in preparation for the shoot.

 

Because this shoot was going to be both at night and indoors, I took my full studio setup with me. For shooting a feature car my camera bag will usually contain two 5D bodies, 70-200mm lens, 17-40mm lens, 50mm lens, 100mm macro lens, a couple of 580 flashes, and an infrared sender.

 

My studio gear consists of three of these Hensel Contra E 1000 flash heads, two soft boxes, two umbrellas, and a bunch of assorted snoots. Unfortunately this gear is not portable so if I take it on a shoot I need to have mains power. I am usually pretty big on just using what the day gives me to shoot with, but working with the lights can be hugely advantageous for getting the prefect light or a cool effect. Especially in tricky conditions…

 

Which is the hand I was dealt on this particular occasion. We were unable to move the car from Redline Performance’s showroom where it was parked, which meant we had virtually no space to get around the car or position it. Pedey can be seen in the background taking notes about the CT230R – these will be turned into a full length article over the next few days.

 

Not wanting to let my glass get half empty, I devised a plan to try and shoot the majority of the exterior shots from outside the building looking back in.

 

Shooting for a magazine is a lot different to shooting for the web. You need to take into account room for text, headings and other images etc. Shooting from outside gave me the ability to create large areas of negative space that could easily be filled in the design stages.

 

Like I have previously mentioned, I like to let the environment dictate the majority of how the shots will look, but I have a list of shots that I always make sure I get for every car I shoot. Full front, side, and rear are always good angles. They best show the stance and attitude of a car in my opinion. Overall engine and interior are essential and usually take up a large amount of space in our spreads. From there it's an assortment of front and rear three quarter angles.

 

Due to the lack of space I was working with, I decided to go with shooting from high up instead of my preferred low down for the wide angle shots.

 

Capturing the finer details on a car like this is almost more important than the overall images. Noticeably absent from the dash cluster was a rev counter. You will also notice the first stages of male pattern baldness.

 

Turning the car for the rear shots reminded me a lot of Austin Powers and took about 20 minutes.

 

Here Leon from Redline plugs in the tank for a detail shot of the air jacks. A lot of work probably, but air jacks are rarely seen on cars in NZ so it was worth it to get the shot.

 

Every so often I stop to check my exposure, composition and to look for reflections that I cant see on the back of the camera.

 

My angle for side profile.


 
Possibly my favorite shot from the night. It can be tough coming up with different angles and looks when you shoot as many cars as I do. NZPC is one of three car mags I work for full time.

 

I thought I would also take a brief look at what happens after the shoot is done, and the process of getting the images to print. On average I will walk away with around 150 photos from a shoot. This means that I have about another hour or so going through the images to pull out the good ones and the ones that I think will make the most interesting spread. I very rarely photoshop any of my images.

 

From me the images go to our designer. Cam has been designing NZPC for ten years now and has won plenty of awards for his work. He has grown up in the NZ car scene and I really couldn't ask for a better person to work on my images. It takes Cam around four hours to put the basis of a spread together depending on how much Photoshop is involved and how important the spread is in the layout of the magazine.

 O

nce the design is done a “proof” printout is made and the article goes through several stages of proofing by both editors and the sub-editor. Checks are made for spelling and grammar, correctness of information, and image placement.

 

From there the entire magazine is laid out onto a wall for everyone to pass judgement and be checked for a final time before the files are sent to the printers.

 

Unfortunately due to time constraints I can't show you the finished magazine so I will leave you with a sneak preview of the cover. Its looking pretty damn sharp I must confess.

- Adam Croy

Photos by Peter Kelly and Adam Croy

NZPC Magazine

ADVERTISEMENT

Comments



Comments are closed.

29 comments

by Oldest
by Best by Newest by Oldest
1

As a fellow photographer, it's nice to see the steps taken before the arrival at a final product.



Nice shots, and excellent behind the scenes writeup.

2

Any chance we can get a desktop of one of the shots? :)

3

I would really like it if i never see anything that has to do with camera's and equipment, i would rather see a half eaten sandwich than camera's.

4

Awesome article Adam

5

it's.... so beautiful.... *tear

6

A million setup and no one good picture. Put this monster in a wet asphalt, sunny day and a 35mm and you have what you need, the rest is tec-bullshit.

7

Very interesting article and fantastic of you to share all your gear and setup details with us.

Even in the tight confines of that workshop you have come away with amazing results.

8

Just 1 word... HKS!!!

9

I'm loving these "Behind the scenes" articles! I do have a question Adam: so you almost never use your RAW files, just stick with the jpegs your camera take out?

Thanks in advance, cheers! ^^

10

is that a Nismo gearknob on that car?

11

Certainly one of the most interesting articles Ive seen on SH for a good while, I feel that many so called photographers could learn from it greatly

12

Great behind the scene! It's truly a challenge to shoot on tight spaces, especially if he car can't be driven.

Thanks!

13

The time taken truly shows, photos are great. Its cool to see what goes on behind the behind scene. Lucky to be up close and personal with what most have only had the opportunity to see in Forza and GT5. Sweet post

14

awesome pic !

15

awsome shots, the high interior shot is simply brilliant!

16

damn alot of work but pays of big time beautiful pics

17

This thing is crazy!!! /want!

18

Amazing article Adam, props to you!

19

Thank god you said you rarely photoshop a photo, its so nice to see photos being taken and used in a magazine without photoshopping and fakeness. Although it would be nice to read a more technical coverage of the lenses and settings used and the results of each for those wanting to learn more how to take these high level of photos without just "snapping off then photoshopping it" like the majority of professional "photographers" seem to do these days.

20

hey as*holes ,

if you dont want all the tech & camera stuff . Dont read an article that is a behind the seens of a photo shoot .

Sometimes the stupidity of some of the post on this site are worldleaders .



if you dont like the story or pics stop reading and go look are something else ,or even better get off your ass and go do some work on a car (if you really have one and are not just a kid with no idea )

.no-one wants to hear your Bitching .



21

I love reading these articles and getting a behind the scenes look at the amount of time and effort put in to a photo shoot.

22

Damn the CT230R :O There's a beast in the engine ;D xD

23

Great photography. The colors look vivid and the angles you took are not too common to see.

24

I have photographer envy. Great write up.

25

Great article Adam! You are an excellent photographer and I found this really interesting - thanks!

26

"Not wanting to let my glass get half empty, I devised a plan to try and shoot the majority of the exterior shots from outside the building looking back in."

that makes one epic desk top!

27

Cool article, thanks for sharing.

28

Great article and pics Adam. Nice to see how it all come together

29

AC you're my hero!

OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS