Breaking In

     Exciting times are afoot with my photography business.  I recently took the opportunity to share space with a couple of friends in a building that I could alter to my heart's content.  I have been searching for a long time to find a space suitable to use as a studio and affordable enough that I could get it off the ground without selling any of the children.

     When I was contacted by my good friend Adam and told there was a warehouse attached to the office that he would be leasing, I could sense the excitement in his voice at the chance that I might be interested in utilizing it as a studio to shoot cars and whatever else I felt appropriate.

     After a good couple of weeks transforming the space into something usable, it was time to shoot the first car.  Adam was holding something special in reserves for this inaugural event.  I could hardly contain myself as he said there would be a 2007 Porsche 997 Carrera 4S with every conceivable factory option on it (minus the chrono and nav) available in his list of consignment vehicles.  He and I were nearly giddy as we rolled it into the new studio to begin work.

This 2007 Porsche 997 Carrera 4S sold new

at $121,000.00 and is still as perfect as it

was the day it rolled out of the factory

     Working in a new environment always has its issues.  This new space would be no different.  I spent the majority of the first hour of the shoot experimenting with how the light would work with the walls that I had so painstakingly smoothed out and painted in a flat white.  After taking nearly two weeks to get them right, I was at a loss as to how to shoot with them to create the high key look I was after in the photos.  After a bit of frustration it came to me: 'Point your studio lights at the walls and use them as big bounces, ya ding-dong!'  Brilliant idea!  All of you experienced studio photo-magicians out there are probably rolling your eyes right about now.  Forgive my naiveté.  I aimed the lights toward the walls and I was off and running.

The white walls of the studio create a perfect
reflection in the bodywork of the car, highlighting
any imperfections or door-dings.  As you can
clearly see, there are NONE! 

The interior of a car is always a challenge when
on location somewhere outside.  I was a little nervous
as I shot these interiors, not knowing how the lighting
would work out.  All my fears subsided as I saw
these results on my camera's preview screen.

The light balance in this picture is as close to perfect
as anything I have shot.  Even the instrument cluster
is properly exposed.

The interior of this car was as important as its exterior.
Finding the right balance of light to highlight both was
absolutely crucial.  I placed a remote strobe inside
the car and triggered it with my camera's built-in
flash.  I had to be very careful not to over-expose either
element of the car to creat a balanced image.

     A conversation that occurs on a regular basis between Adam and I is one regarding the quality of the images I produce for his marketing purposes.  He regularly asks me if I would please not make them look like brochure images so that he doesn't have to keep explaining that 'Yes... It's the real car I have for sale'.  It's hard for me to build what I would consider flaws into my images so that they appear more "realistic" to his clients.  I would argue in return that if he would stop supplying me with so many incredible vehicles I might lay my standards aside for a moment.  But when faced with such magnificent works of pure art it's hard not to give them the due respect I feel each one of them deserves.
     In the end, it's going to be an adventure pursuing the perfect lighting scenarios for this new space.  As long as I have such fabulous subjects, it's sure to be an enjoyable one!