Wheels In Motion

Alright, back to photography. Recently I've been intrigued by several 'motion' car posts on a couple of BMW forums and thought it might be interesting to try my hand at getting images like these.  The images in question have the car tack-sharp, yet the background and wheels are completely blurred (hence a sense of speed).   Normally this kind of photography (if done by the amateur/semi-pro photographer) is handled car-to-car...meaning that usually there is a second car driving just along side (or in front/back of subject vehicle) to give the sense of speed yet maintaing a sharp overall image.

There are several downfalls to this style of shooting.  First is you need a couple of buddies to drive the camera car and the subject vehicle.  Second, (depending on what type of camera car/van used) it can be difficult to get a good position for the camera (or the photographer) to obtain an 'eyeball' perspective of the subject vehicle (unless the photographer is on a trailer).  Third (and probably most important) is that this style of photography has a very high-miss ratio with regards to obtaining sharp images as both vehicles are in motion, not to mention road surface, etc.

I did a little research and discovered that though there is some information on the web pertaining to how to do this 'car-to-car,' the best method is the use of a boom.   Hollywood and professional grip folks know all about using booms on cars...this is how we see actors actually driving the cars instead of being on a staged set.  If it works for the movies, why not photography?

Again, a little online research showed several websites devoted to boom-style automotive photography...the absolute best online resource is a Cannon forum...so in I went with both feet.  I read, and read, and read some more...eventually I wrote down a small parts list and began collecting the tools of the trade.  The essential ingredients include a way to mount the boom, the boom itself, and how to mount the camera.  A boom-style setup can be quite expensive depending on how exotic you want to make your system.  There are folks out there using all kinds of systems, from cantilevered booms made from paint-poles all the way to the ultra-slick carbon fiber tubes.  The majority of the folks use thin-walled aluminum tubing as the strength-to-weight ratio is great and the price is fairly cheap (at least compared to the carbon-fiber poles...a rig setup made from that stuff is almost the price of a professional lens).   Now how do you mount the boom to the car? There are really two methods, the first involves suction cups whereas the other uses magnets and/or "pinch bolts"to secure the boom to the vehicle...it all boils down to  how you plan to shoot the car. The suction mounts are by far the popular option on the web; these 'suction cups' attach to either the window (preferred) or to the smooth hood/trunk of the subject vehicle. You'd be surprised at how strong these are when properly attached, you have to be careful to keep the surface of the car and the surface of the suction cups ultra-clean as any debris could lead to a scratch. The magnets and/or pinch-bolts secure the rig under the car...this is much harder to set up but the post-production work is generally much easier.

So, this first image of just the wheel is using one Avenger suction cup, a Manfrotto Super Clamp and a Manfrotto Magic Arm (I didn't have a second suction cup and/or two additional Super Clamps...this was all the equipment I had to "test" out my on-vehicle shooting rig).  The Magic Arm is one of the neatest inventions out there for photography...it enables you to position something in a very precise angle/location and lock it all down using one knob.  My location of choice was a parking garage down by Ron Jon's Surf Shop adjacent to the beach...this enabled me to shoot the scene in a 'darker' environment than the blazing sun (this was taken around mid-afternoon).  I needed the location to be as dark as possible to force the camera into a long exposure (we're talking seconds...which in bright sun just doesn't happen unless you have some serious filters).  I ended up having to use a 3-stop neutral density filter to lengthen my exposure to 2-3 seconds to allow for the blur...even in the garage it was still bright.  I unpacked my stuff, took some static photos while waiting for a few of the scattered clouds to roll around (and decrease the amount of ambient light outside).   Eventually on the camera went, my heart rate was certainly elevated (expensive camera hanging off the side of a car with only one suction cup (stuck to the front window) and a magic arm would tend to do that...yeah, not only was I nervous about the camera, but the damage to my car if the suction cup decided to let go).  I set the remote timer for 10 seconds, jumped in the car (pushed it down the incline of the parking garage before closing the door), turned the wheel and listened for the 'click' of the shutter.  I bet you thought I mounted the camera and drove the car around...because that's exactly what it looks like.  The real secret to getting this kind of shot is a) long exposure, b) steady boom/platform, c) no vibrations from surface imperfections and/or engine.  The shutter is only open for a few seconds so there is no real need for a lot of speed (sorry Top Gun fans).  I did this a few times and most of them turned out pretty good. I was completely surprised at how cool this looked.

One of the dominant factors for these images is lens focal length.  Generally you want to shoot a lens that is wide enough to clearly show the car front-to-back (if this is the look you're going for) and some environment.  Normally I'm not a wide-angle lens shooter, but this style of photography can't use anything else. So, during my leave a few weeks ago I rented the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 lens (a real gem) and knew that this is one of the images I absolutely had to get with it. So after a little pre-planning I decided to do the shot in downtown Cocoa Village. I love this area both during the day and at night.  At nighttime it's really cool because all the trees have blue Christmas lights up (all year round) which just adds a little ambiance to the area. There's just something about the village that sings to me...so much so that I go out of my way to drive through it on my way home from work each day.

 Anyway, I dragged Andree out of bed at 0130 to assist me in making this image (bless her heart, it was Veteran's Day and instead of sleeping in, I had her up helping me).  Unlike last time where I was limited by a wide-angle choice of 35mm, or my 28-70mm piece of junk,  this time I was armed with that gem of a rental lens, a second suction cup and a 4-ft aluminum pole from my floor jack (the same one that killed the raccoon in an earlier post).  Since this was taken at night I knew that a long shutter speed wasn't going to be an issue...even with this fast f/2.8 lens.  So, after scouting the area a few times we did some fine-tuning of car placement and mounted the rig on the trunk of the car.  Earlier I stated that normally you don't have the engine running...the reason is that any vibration is translated/magnified through the rig setup and shows big-time on the final image.  Here I didn't have any choice...I needed Andree behind the wheel as I walked along the side of the car making sure the camera didn't fall (that's about $5k worth of equipment dangling off the end of a pole...a REALLY bad day if it fell).   I composed the shot, checked my exposure (about 3 seconds to get that nice blur effect) and had Andree ever so lightly move the car forward.  The first few shots were somewhat hot in the front due to the HID lights...I had Andree turn them off and turn on the Angel-Eye/Fog Lamps...which gave a much more pleasing front lighting effect for the car (you can still make out the white stripe in the road whereas with the headlights on it was totally blown out).

Overall I'm quite pleased with the results of the two sessions, especially given the limited amount of gear I was using to accomplish it.  Eventually I'm going to have to get a full boom setup in order to do this style of photography "right," along with a few other odds and ends (not to mention a proper wide angle lens).    I'm hoping that in the future it might be possible to shoot a few exotics using this method (cars mind you...I'm certainly not opposed to the other 'exotics' either...Andree might have a say about that one though).  Who knows, maybe this is a way for me to generate some business/revenue with the local car clubs and dealers and eventually get my name out there.  Things to think about.

Cheers!