The Canon Magazine 47
DRIVEWAY COMPOSITES
PROJECT 1
VIDEO ALSO ONLINE
http://bit.ly/pp_160_101 TRIPOD
We need to take several shots of the car
while moving our flash and reflective board
into different spots, and the camera needs
to stay static throughout. So a tripod is a
must. With everything aligned, piecing the
frames together in Photoshop is easier.02 BLACK BACKDROP
It’s a combination of exposure settings
and lighting that keeps the surroundings
dark, but still a dark pop-up sheet placed
behind the car helps keep the background
clear. We move the backdrop over several
frames to cover the length of the car.03 REFLECTIVE BOARD
A subtle reflection helps to ground the car,
but most of us don’t have a huge piece of
Perspex to sit our car on. So instead
we’ve used a reflective board, created by
sandwiching a piece of black card behind
the clear Perspex of an old clip frame.06 REMOTE RELEASE
A remote release is useful so the camera is
not disturbed between shots, and it frees
you to position the flash. We used an
interval timer to take several shots each
time, so we could move the flash into
different positions then review the shots.05 STUDIO FLASHES
We used two mains-powered flash units
from a home studio kit. These kick out
enough light to overpower the sun on an
overcast day. Each was set to optical slave,
then triggered with a separate Speedlite,
which was linked to the camera.04 CLASSIC CAR
This project is ideal for capturing a classic
car like the 1969 TVR Tuscan V6. Only 101
were produced, of which around 50 have
survived. It makes for a grand subject, but
you can use the same technique for all
kinds of vehicles – or any large object!THE SETUP DRIVE-BY SHOOTING
Transform a suburban driveway into a high-end studio in a flash
020304010506VIEW^ TH
E^ VIDEO