For some time now I’ve wanted to create a composite image of a car using photography strobes and softboxes. A composite image means that you use several pictures and combine them to create one image. The idea is to take several images of the car, without moving the camera but while moving the light to brighten up a different area for each shot. Then you combine all those shots in Photoshop. I’ve attempted this before but they never came out as perfect as I’d wanted.

Well I can tell you that this final image STILL isn’t quite the way I want it to be either but I do like it.

This image has been awhile in the making however. I’d done a mock shoot like this at my house to just test the concept and it worked well enough to proceed with shooting on location.

One of the biggest problems I encountered while creating this image is that I did the whole thing by myself. This might not sound too challenging but you have to think that I had to walk around the car, repositioning the light in between each shot, while also triggering the camera to take the picture. It actually took two trips to this location on two separate days before I was able to get the shots. The first time I went, it turned out that my wireless triggers would allow me to trigger the camera to take a picture and the strobe to fire but they were out of sync. This meant the light was flashing before the camera would be able to capture it.

So attempt #1 on-location = bust.

I ended up having to purchase a separate camera wireless trigger. This would allow me to wirelessly trigger the camera to fire, then the camera would be the one sending the single to the strobe to fire when it was ready for it. Ok, now I can finally do this shoot. Keep in mind also that I have to wait for a good day each time I want to do this; decent weather, get my car washed on the way to the location, and last but not least, Sarah being home so she can watch Lilah.

During attempt #2 I was able to get the images I wanted but I was fighting a very bright sun. This required me to use a variable neutral density filter on my lens to cut down on the light coming in but this also required my strobe to work overtime to throw out enough light so the camera would see.

***Photography nerd stuff*** Here’s the setup: Canon 5DmkII with 35mm f/1.4L lens, on a tripod with a wireless receiver attached to trigger the camera remotely, a wireless transmitter to let it through the signal to the strobe to fire. I was carrying an Alienbee B1600 on full power attached to the Vagabond Mini portable battery using it both without a modifier as well as a 24″x36″ Westcott softbox. I fired shots while moving all the way around the care, separate shots for the wheels, shots for the columns in the background, shots for the ground, and shots for the rim/glancing light streak along the middle and top of the car. That last part is the most difficult. You have to hold the light perfectly in the same spot while moving down the car to make the reflection match up across the multiple images. This was one of the worst things about working alone. I couldn’t check the camera after each shot so I just took a picture, moved, took a picture, moved, etc. Well of course it didn’t match up in post and after much work, I scrapped the images of the streak and created them from scratch inside Photoshop.

Here’s an iPhone pic on-location:

Here’s another thorn in my side from this shoot. SOMEHOW, part way through the shoot, the camera shifted ever so slightly on the tripod. This must have happened when I was reviewing some images. It doesn’t sound like a big deal but now every picture after that had to be manually lined up in post production. Grrrrr.

There’s a reason why professional automotive photography is done in huge studios, with heavy equipment, and a softbox that is 10’x30′ (yes you’re reading those marks right, that’s 10 FEET by 30 FEET!).

The actual retouching took probably 5 hours. I took a video the whole time I was editing it and then sped it up (a lot). See below.

Like I said, I still didn’t come away with exactly what I wanted, but it’ll have to do for now.