I made some color adjustments to the clouds by giving them a purple hue to set the mood. I then created a copy layer and desaturated it. From there I just whipped out the eraser tool and started erasing the b&w layer where I wanted color - in this case the clouds & car.

Here I created a copy layer and desaturated it. Then I used the eraser tool, again, to erase the b&w layer where I wanted color - the car. To get the orange sky I created a transparent layer and used the linear gradient tool. I used the eyedropper tool to select the orange on the car so the sky would match, setting the foreground orange and background white. I set the opacity of this layer to ~70% and used the eraser tool bottom up.

Transparent Hood

I’ve heard that some photographers actually remove the hood to get this effect. This is not necessary. Grab a tripod. Take one shot with the hood closed and another with the hood open. Open both images in Photoshop and copy the picture with the hood closed and paste it on top of the picture with the hood open. Grab the eraser tool and set it to its softest setting. Start erasing the part of the hood that you want to be transparent.

Getting “gritty”

This technique was introduced to me by a photographer named Don Nguyen. You can read about how to do it on his site: www.stokedphoto.com Just type “gritty” into the search field and it will come up.

More w/ Rigs

Just had to throw this in here…:]

Going into the shoot, I knew that helping the model with her poses would be one of my greatest challenges. With that said, I did a bit of research prior to the photo shoots. That is, I studied poses and saved them on my iPhone. This proved to be very helpful to both the models and myself. Hopefully, as I and the models gain more experience this will get easier.

Facial expressions are key. Without a good & strong face, you’ve got nothing. I insisted that each bring an unobtrusive escort/friend in the hopes that they would make them feel more comfortable and less stiff. This also proved to be very beneficial.

On another note, I recently purchased the Ray Flash Ring Flash adapter. I had been patiently waiting for the Orbis ring flash adapter to be released, but it has been pushed back again and again. I just could not wait. The Orbis ring flash does not, however, block the AF assist beam as it is a hand held unit. A fitting kit will be released in early 2009 that will fix the ring flash adapter to the camera for longer shoots. I can only imagine how tiring it would be to have to hand hold the ring flash in a separate hand. Holding my 40D with either my 24-70 2.8L or 70-200 2.8L IS has proven to be tiring enough in both hands. But I digress. The Ray Flash, while a bit over priced, is a lightweight plastic unit that does a good job of providing even light. Many users complain that the unit is cheaply made because of the plastic material, but anything more would add unnecessary weight.

All of the pictures below were taken with my:
40D
24-70 2.8L OR 70-200 2.8L IS
580EX II
Ray Flash Ring Flash adapter

I used Photomatix to generate and tone map an HDRI using the above three images (albeit I used three RAW files exposed at -2 0 +2 rather than three jpegs). Below is the final product out of Photomatix.

I then threw the HDRI into Camera Raw in CS3 to make a few adjustments (exposure, clarity, vibrance, and saturation) to get the following.

Onto the lightning. I created a new file (make it as big/small as you need/want). Make sure black is in your foreground and white is in your background. Select the Linear Gradient tool. Start the gradient midway down/up and from about 1/4 from the left and end at 1/4 from the right. It should look like this when you’re done.

Go to Filters > Render > Difference Clouds. The black line should resemble lightning.

If you are not happy with the shape of your lighting, try re-doing your gradient. If you are happy, then go to Image > Adjustments > Invert. Now the lightning strike should be white.

Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels and set the black marker ~75% to the right. Now slide the gray marker toward the white marker until you are happy with the lightning strike. Here is mine.

Now simply copy and paste.

Make sure that your lightning layer is selected and set it to Screen. That will get rid of the black.

Press cntrl + t to rearrange the lightning to your liking.

Use the eraser tool at 50% opacity to blend the top and bottom of the lightning strike into the image.

Voila! You’re done! The lightning as I’ve done it is rather subtle. I didn’t want it to “steal” the picture. ;]

Be sure to check out my Gallery to view the rest of the photos from this shoot!

Thanks for reading!

PS - Photobucket must have compressed the images when I uploaded them. The dirt looks to be more burnt in some images. Anyway, not a big deal. Just thought I’d make a note of that. :]

So last night Ryan dragged me out to take snap some pictures at his new “secret location.” I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be a pretty nice spot. Although, Ryan initially planned on using headlights for lighting since the dirt lot was pitch black. That didn’t turn out so well. So I decided to take this opportunity to practice some off-camera flash work.

My setup was relatively simple. I only have one 580EX II and no Pocket Wizards or the like to work with, so I dragged the shutter anywhere from 15 to 30 seconds and ran around the cars manually firing the 580 at various powers.

Anyway, here are a few of the results.

I think I posted a couple more in the gallery.

Last night Grant and I were able to test out the rig on a few rides. We even tried it on a Yaris! I found out the pole I’m using (~10′) isn’t long enough to mount on the roof of a g and get the entire car in the frame the way i want it to. The Yaris seemed consierably smaller, so we tested it on JJ’s.

I’m not too fond of how it came out, although I was happy that not much processing was needed to lose the rig - LOL!

I learned tonight that black cars and rig shots don’t get along so well. There’s just no “pop” to it. I’m sure there’s something I can do or maybe I’m doing something wrong. I’ll figure it out, I hope…

Then we tested it on Glenn’s CL. Before I go any further, let me just comment on how refreshing it is to shoot cars other than the G35. Don’t get me wrong, the G35 is a beautiful car and I love to shoot it, but it seems like that’s all I ever shoot. Anyway, back on track. Here is a shot of Glenn’s CL, WITH THE RIG!

All the shots posted above were taken with the car on with someone driving it. This introduced more camera shake than expected. The first night I had the rig we did the same thing - car on, driver driving in circles - with minimal camera shake. I guess we’ll experiment more next time with pushing the car, engine off, instead. Another lesson I learned: don’t make circles around a tree - LOL! Yes, that’s what the green blotch in the pics is. I didn’t really think about it at the time. It was a convenient marker to tell the drivers to drive around, hah! Oh well.

To see a couple more pics in higher res, please visit my gallery!

PS - Yes, I know there are a lot of front 3/4 shots. I have shots from other angles, but I’m just too lazy to resize/upload those. :] I’ll resize/upload them later this week…

zzZZzZZzZzzzZ

Goodnight.

I thought about picking up the ABR800, but I don’t like the idea of having to lug around a Vagabond for portable power. The Ray Flash Ring Flash adapter looks nice because it’s a unit that converts the 580EX II into a ring flash. Because it relies on the 580EX II as a light source, it requires no power. This makes it very convenient. Plus is got a nice little review on Strobist. However, I also came across the Orbis Ring Flash adapter. It comes out in September and is $100 less than the Ray Flash. I’m going to wait for a Strobist review before I make any purchases. This Orbis may be worth waiting for.

Canon Telephoto EF 85mm f/1.8 USM Autofocus Lens - $355

I miss having a fast prime lens. I sold my 50 1.4 because it just didn’t have enough reach. The 85 1.8 would make a great portrait lens for me.

Canon E1 Hand Strap for EOS Cameras with Boosters or Vertical Battery Grips - $25

I actually already bought this a couple weeks ago. And I must say that I really prefer this over necks traps overall. It just makes holding the camera so much easier and more comfortable. I wish I bought it sooner.