THE SETUP: DRIVE-BY SHOOTING
1 TRIPOD
We need to take several
shots of the car while
moving our flash and
reflective board around,
so the camera needs to
stay static throughout,
making a tripod a must. With
everything in alignment,
piecing the frames
together later is easier.
4 CLASSIC CAR
This project is ideal for
capturing a classic car like
the 1969 TVR Tuscan V6.
It makes for a very grand
subject, but may not be
attainable for most folk...
But you can use the same
technique for all kinds
of vehicles – or any large
object for that matter!2 BLACK BACKDROP
It’s a combination of
exposure settings and
lighting that keeps the
surroundings dark, but 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.5 STUDIO FLASHES
We used two mains-
powered studio flash units
from a home studio starter
kit. These give out enough
light to overpower the
daylight on an overcast
day. Each was set to optical
slave, then triggered with
a separate flashgun, which
was linked to the camera.3 REFLECTIVE BOARD
A subtle reflection helps
to ground the car in the
final shot, 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.6 REMOTE RELEASE
A remote release is useful
so that 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 that we
could move a flash head into
different positions, then
review the shots.Transform a suburban driveway into a high-end studio