What my first car show taught me

irenelucier

I was invited to shoot an charity car show. The organizers allowed me to charge for the images as a thanks for a donation from my business. Decided I'd make free low res images available to the attendees as a way saying of thanks for supporting a good cause.

So I came away with a few decent images mixed into a greater number of so-so of images, available here. But maybe even more importanly, I got insight into doing better next year.

You would think the most significant aspect of a summer car show would be the most prepared for, but then you'd underestimate my ability to overlook the obvious. Summer car shows, maybe not all, but probably most, take place on pavement under open sun. I would have gotten so many more photos if I had prepared for the heat. Next year's plan: wear a hat & bring lots of water, to last longer, and better avoid sunburn & heatstroke.

Headbands might save stinging, blurring eyes from going gummy mid morning to crusty by mid-afternoon. I definitely won't be fashionable, but next year I'm gonna sport a headband, a water drenched canvas or cotton hat and one of those hydration backpacks you see on bicyclists.

Some of the body positions required to get a shot while being very certain that no part of your body or equipment touches the car require strength and stamina. Rest in the shade, eat when you need to. Some of those those lower light situations, like under the hood, are going to use muscles you don't know you have until you overwork them. Particularly since these are also the shots that may require some experimentation to get the exposure you are looking for. The longer I held an awkward position the more energy I used, I really should have given myself a break. Repeat; Rest in the shade, eat when you need to.

Don't wear white, unless you actually want every photo to be a self portrait in chrome, paint & glass. Look for angles that keep you out of the most important parts of the car surfaces. I thought it'd probably be bad form to move other people and things out of these angles too, so do the best you can with what you have.

Pace yourself, figure out a plan. This I guess, is something I didn't think of because I had never shot cars or a car show before.

It took me two cars to warm up to the kind of photography this is... most of these cars have a lot of beautiful details. You can spend a lot of time on a car that impresses you. This is what nearly undid me... I started out thinking I could photograph each and every car, no understanding of the engery & time involved (at least from me, someone with greater skills/experience could have accomplished more with less time).

I think I made it though only a quarter of the entries. And by giving each car such detailed coverage, I excluded to many worthy of inclusion in at least a group shot.

Next year I plan to provide better coverage, telling the story in broader strokes to start with, then narrowing down to groups and finally choosing a few entries that are outstanding for their character or beauty for truly detailed coverage.

The plan for next year is to include at least a few shots of each "ally", from both ends, and from each side of the alley for perspective. Get the registration desk, highlight the wonderful vendors and volunteers, and get details like the food served, the prizes raffled, the plaques or trphies awarded and the general atmosphere of fun in the sun. This provides the organizers valuable images with which to promote next year's version of the event.

While offering free images may be well intended, I couldn't be as brutal in rejecting images as I would prefer, as an obligation to the participants to provide a greater number of images made me want to let them choose for themselves. Of course the only way around this problem is to work hard as ever to improve the ratio of keepers. I came away with a handful of shots I am proud of. The rest are there for the people who would want them anyway becuse they own or otherwise find an emotional connection to a photograph.

Bracketing iexposure s good (particularly since I rely on my in-camera meter), but bring three times as much memory cards as you'll normally need. This year, I ran out of energy before card space, but next year I'm planning on needing the extra storage.

One handy discovery, if you find yourself shooting a white car in open sunlight, the dusty, old, pavement makes for a decent medium gray.


That about wraps it up, the best of what I learned, I hope it is of some service to others out there.

Here are a few of the images I really liked:

California Special
http://www.irenelucier.com/photos/188111839-S-2.jpg



Meeting Ortha
http://www.irenelucier.com/photos/188136545-S-2.jpg



Spoke Reflections
http://www.irenelucier.com/photos/188144177-S-2.jpg

RevLinePhoto

Well this might be better off in the Other cool shots section. Some great shots in there though nice and crisp with plenty of good color. The lack of people around the cars is well done also. I find that as one of the hardest things about auto shows and it kind of forces you to do more of macros especialy on the realy popular cars. One thing I would say is to try and find the point of viewing of the car that gives it its true characteristics. The point of were the designer drew a picture and said this is what I want it to look like. Although very tough at car shows.

Ryan

irenelucier

Papy wrote:

Well this might be better off in the Other cool shots section... try and find the point of viewing of the car that gives it its true characteristics. The point of were the designer drew a picture and said this is what I want it to look like.

Ryan

Yeah, it was the word street that made me think this was the place to post, but the mods are welcome to move this.
That is a good way to describe what to look for, the idea of finding what the designer had in mind. Much of the perspective used in these shots was an attempt to reduce distractions from the frame or manage specular highlights.
Thanks taking the time to comment, the good suggestion and the kind words.

HiSPL

Don't forget your circular polarizer. It let's you "dial in" the reflections you like or exclude distractions like blue sky and clouds from a paint job.

Unfortunately it still doesn't get rid of reflections in chrome....

irenelucier

HiSPL wrote:

Don't forget your circular polarizer. It let's you "dial in" the reflections you like or exclude distractions like blue sky and clouds from a paint job.

Unfortunately it still doesn't get rid of reflections in chrome....

You know, I only thought to use the polarizer to stop down the light when photographing the white Stingray, but you are right, paint & glass are more likely to produce a diffuse reflection. I could have experimented with it to see how much it would have reduced the appearance of my reflection in the those surfaces.

HiSPL

This hood had so many cloud reflections in it you couldn't see the paint job at all. Fortunately I was able to blend together the clouds and the paint by using a CP filter. I thought it was pretty cool looking with the cloud reflections around the outside of the flames like that...

D.Rodgers

Cars and polizers go hand and hand espcialy if you have glass in the shot.
Just had to comment on your california special looks good.. looks alot like one I grabbed this year.