Category Archives: Vehicles

Cherry tree and Mercedes

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Mercedes Convertible

Mercedes Convertible

Special thanks to my brother-in-law Doug for allowing me to practice on his little convertible (And for supplying a pretty nice cherry tree). Lesson learned from this venture … If you’re going to paint with light, make sure you have ample space around the subject to work. The car looked nice snuggled under the tree branches, but when it came time to paint the hood, I realized that I couldn’t get the distance needed for the effect I wanted. Plus, my light bounced off of the shiny surface and lit the cherry blossoms, which in turn were reflected back onto the hood. A polarizer took care of most of the reflections and I did the best I could with lighting in a cramped space. Lesson learned … I hope.

Black Audi Revised

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Audi SUV

Audi SUV

With composite lighting there are so many ways to go. I ended up with probably a hundred different lighting segments, many of them useless, but in the end you just have to decide what to include or mask away. A problem with black is that adding too many highlights and it doesn’t look like a black car … too few and it has no contours or shape. So I toned down the highlights on the side and added a little to the hood and mirror. I’m not completely sold on the final result, but it will do until I find another black beauty.

Black is a Beautiful …

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Audi

Audi

… unless you have to light it! If you throw light on red, it’ll become a brighter shade of red. Same with any other color in the spectrum. The color will become brighter. And then there’s black. Throw more light on black (Shiny black, that is) and it’s … well, black. So, to bring out any sense of a cars shape you have to photograph reflections, either the sky or your light source. This is why giant 20′ overhead light boxes are often used in car photography. My goal is to replicate that effect by painting the sheet metal with my small 8″x24″ strip light. In theory, keeping the light moving, in total darkness, during a long exposure will create the same smooth, shapely highlights. To say the least, it’s a challenge. The light needs to move smoothly, at a constant distance from the surface or the result will be uneven. It’s also difficult to know exactly where your placing the highlights. All of this complaining aside … I like cars and trucks and love photographing them, so I’ll keep borrowing black cars, like this beauty, to practice on until I get it right.

First Response Team of America II

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Generator, Skid Loader, and Pumps

Generator, Skid Loader, and Pumps

The second shot from yesterdays posting. No flash on this one. The main exposure is from just before sunset and then the painting (Small softbox with a 150 watt CF bulb on a pole) took place after dark. Painting the pump on the trailer was more than a little tricky as there was only about 12 inches of the trailer deck to walk on … backwards, in the dark.

First Response Team of America

Posted by LefeverPhoto.com on
Team plus Grapple Truck and Light Towers

Team plus Grapple Truck and Light Towers

First Response Team of America, created by Tad Agoglia, is quite simply one amazing project of ‘Paying it Forward’. These guys move in to areas hit by natural disasters before the dust settles and clear the way for recovery. Everything from clearing downed trees with heavy equipment to powering up shelter facilities with enormous generators to flood rescues with hovercraft. And they ask nothing in return … no payment … nothing. If you want to be truly inspired, check them out. http://firstresponseteam.org/

About a week ago I got a call from my good friend and photographer extraordinaire Jeremy Hess, http://www.jeremyhessphotographers.com/ , asking if I would be interested in partnering to photograph the team and some of their equipment. Jeremy’s specialty is photographing people, mine … not so much. But, I do enjoy shooting big things that don’t move, so I immediately said, “When!!”. The shoot was last Thursday evening, with perfect weather and despite the challenges of doing two dusk shots (One with people) simultaneously, everything went off without a hitch.

We staged both setups beside each other and I shot some frames for both with the evening light. Jeremy, myself, and another good friend, Josh, then set up lights for the team members (See production shot below). Jeremy shot the guys, we removed the lights from the set, and while I ‘painted’ the light towers and truck, Jeremy grabbed some shots of the team on the other set. I painted this shot with flash because there was still twilight and by the time I finished, it was dark enough to paint the second truck with my little 150 watt CF bulb on a stick (That shot will post tomorrow).

Now, up until noon on the day of the shoot, I had the fool-hardy idea that I could (With Jeremy’s help, of course) handle the lighting and my part of the shooting myself. Better judgement along with a dose of panic prevailed and a last minute call to my friend Josh Slaymaker saved both the shoot and my back. The painting part is a one person show. But setting up lights for the team members, while not terribly complex, does involve some heavy lifting (The light-stands alone are steel, extend to over 15′, and weigh 25 lbs) , not to mention gelling the lights, rigging radio controls, and fine tuning the positioning. So, a very big thanks to Josh for volunteering only a few hours before the shoot.

And thanks to Jeremy for his talented direction of the team members and above all, thanks to Tad Agoglia and his team, not just for helping to pull off a challenging shoot, but for everything they do to help those in need.

First Response Crew production shot

First Response Crew production shot