how to replicate a pic like this: car in motion

p1tse

p1tse

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i always like these, but don't have a clue how it's shot and processed etc.

sample:

856014-1.jpg
 
to me that looks like that was shot from another moving car but I'd like to know how this is done too

i tried a 5sec exposure and tried to keep the car in the center of my viewfinder but obviously i couldn't see the car and ended up with a load of blurry shots

edit. was still typing when leave 1 posted
 
Been quite a few shots like this posted in the transport section, user DeanPhoto springs to mind he always links to this site I believe. It should tell you a fair bit, also check out his threads some awesome shots in them.

Sean
 
You don't need a very short exposure here. I think something like 1/10 or 1/15 sec will give you the blur you need. A 5 second exposure will be impossible to hold still and with the movement of the car you are riding in its not going to happen.

An image stabilised lens and the above shutter speed should give you the kind of blur you are after. Also, the cars don't need to bo going too fast. When I was in college we used to film inside vehicles a lot and there was a rule that if you showed a view out of the front or back windows and the car was doing say 30mph, then the view out of the side windows would be half that at 15mph. The impression of speed from the side (there must be a more technical explanation) is much greater than from the front or back. With the image attached to this thread a relatively sedate speed of 20 or 30mph would be enough to get the blur.
 
This looks to be a rig shot. Basically a suction cup and bar is connected to the beamer, the camera is on the end of the bar, the car is the moved along at a few mph at a low shutter speed, then it is heavily cloned to remove the rig.

Theres a couple people on here that do rig shots (Deanphoto and theres another guy in the M&T section)

Regards, James
 
Jamesbuk said:
This looks to be a rig shot. Basically a suction cup and bar is connected to the beamer, the camera is on the end of the bar, the car is the moved along at a few mph at a low shutter speed, then it is heavily cloned to remove the rig.

Theres a couple people on here that do rig shots (Deanphoto and theres another guy in the M&T section)

Regards, James
Click to expand...

i would agree with that. my guess is that the car is actually travelling very very slowly and that shot was quite a long exposure using a rig.
 
Jamesbuk said:
This looks to be a rig shot. Basically a suction cup and bar is connected to the beamer, the camera is on the end of the bar, the car is the moved along at a few mph at a low shutter speed, then it is heavily cloned to remove the rig.

Theres a couple people on here that do rig shots (Deanphoto and theres another guy in the M&T section)

Regards, James
Click to expand...

Sounds right to me. I've not seen it done here, but I have at POTN. Here's a few examples:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=138789
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=416525
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=541629
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=499434
 
Same way as I've done this really.

porsches_03.jpg


This was handheld out the back of a car. Trick is to get the shutter down as low as possible. That's not as low as I've got, but the first I found...

Using a rig means your hit rate will be much better, you can go a lot slower on the shutter, but it's more work to set up, and then clone the thing out.
 
No way is that a rig shot! subseasniper has got it right. It's just somebody leaning out of a car window.

Use a wide angle lens, start with a shutter speed around 1/15sec (IS is handy), and drive slowly side by side with the cars close together, like 15mph. That will give you a starting point, then try different shutter speeds and road speeds for the best effect.

These shots are usually done at low speed as you can regulate the amount of blur with the shutter speed and going slowly is not only safer (it's actually quite hard to drive close together at identical speeds) but it gives you more time to get several exposures in against the best bit of background.

A rig is only essential if you want to get the actual camera car in the pic which, unless you're perched on the bonnet, is kind of difficult without. But that's a whole different affair, needing lots of gear, skill, trial and error etc etc. Results are spectacular, but you can get something similar using the above technique, which is, relatively speaking, a doddle.

Richard.
 
Definitely stick to low speeds... I did some stuff at Silverstone with some sportscars a few years ago... in a Dodge Viper convertible. The driver certainly wasn't holding back, that was an interesting experience!
 
Definately looks like a rig shot and a very wide lens looking at the distortion.

It's just too perfect for an out of window shot.
 
Scotty B said:
Definately looks like a rig shot and a very wide lens looking at the distortion.

It's just too perfect for an out of window shot.
Click to expand...

Yes, wide lens for sure. Pretty essential for this kind of shot.

But why would you need a rig to shoot that? You only need a rig for very difficult camera positions, like very low (1ft from the ground looks great).

That pic was clearly taken from window level. Sometimes photographers shoot out of the boot but that's mainly because it makes positioning the two cars a bit easier and you can shoot head-on. But that's not the case here.

There's 20p riding on this now!

Richard.
 
subseasniper said:
You don't need a very short exposure here. I think something like 1/10 or 1/15 sec will give you the blur you need. A 5 second exposure will be impossible to hold still and with the movement of the car you are riding in its not going to happen.
Click to expand...

i was stood on the road not in another car but it was still pretty hard to get right

i'll try a much shorter exposure next time, thanks
 
Looks like a rig to me. If you look at the bonnet you can see some sloppy processing.

The chap who took this is a member on here, teshi I believe.
 
10p says the photographer was on a horse, riding side-saddle using a large format camera with bellows.

Dean:)
 
Dino f said:
10p says the photographer was on a horse, riding side-saddle using a large format camera with bellows.

Dean:)
Click to expand...

Good call :D If you look with a squint, you can see some sloppy processing marks where the shadow of the horse has been cloned out :lol:
 
Same way this one was taken. Out of the passanger window, no rig to be seen.

373_7334.jpg
 
When I first looked at the photo I though the building was familar - then I noticed the registration of the car.

The road that this was taken at is very long, wide and straight. ( queens road, belfast ) and fairly quiet outside of rush hour traffic so it would've been perfectly safe to do take this from another car.
 
pureculchie said:
When I first looked at the photo I though the building was familar - then I noticed the registration of the car.

The road that this was taken at is very long, wide and straight. ( queens road, belfast ) and fairly quiet outside of rush hour traffic so it would've been perfectly safe to do take this from another car.
Click to expand...


or a rig :D
 
DeanPhoto said:
Looks like a rig to me. If you look at the bonnet you can see some sloppy processing.

The chap who took this is a member on here, teshi I believe.
Click to expand...



I can see a reflection of the sky reflected in the windows reflecting off the bonnet but no sloppy processing. Also can't see any obvious cloning done on the road where I would expect a rig to have obscured it (had a rig been used...).

Maybe Teshi (if it's one of his) could tell us how he did it - my 20p is on a car to car shot.
 
Stepping away from the debate about whether this was shot from a rig or not for a second. I think the OP is looking for a way to replicate this shot. Presumably he doesn't want to melt his credit card with complicated rig set-ups.

I would say that it is totally possible to shoot this kind of image from another vehicle, whether the example pic is done that way or not I don't know. But it can be done, and quite easily.

Back in my college days we often used to film from the back of slow moving estate cars with the boot door open. Don't tell the H and S guys but we would sit in the boot with our cameras and hunker down to film a following vehicle. The footage was smooth and totally usable as long as you picked a reasonably smooth road and the lead vehicle wasn't driven by someone with lead in their right shoe.

Translating this into stills it is well possible. Get into a car, if your worried about the law or the safety aspects please don't sit in the boot. Get on a rear seat, belt up and open the window. Put your SLR onto shutter speed priority and burst mode. Pick a shutter speed of 1/15 for starters and get the vehicles to go slowly down the street about 15-20mph. If you want to get a bit more pro about it get a cheap set of walkie talkies so instructions can be passed between the vehicles. Remember background as well, don't shoot against something plain as it won't read as blur on the image. Something with texture and nice but not overwhelming colour.

Sounds like a fun project if you can get a couple of cars and some mates together. Good luck.
 
Done it loads. Mostly on race tracks, but have with a Lambo and Ferrari on a public road in Germany. It's interesting when you or they are on the wrong side of the road to get a side on...
 
thanks

been an interesting read, because of the photo i just accidentally found.

i've seen these rig things, and not an option on cost and would scare me loads, with the only dslr i have hanging off the car!!

will try to get a couple of mates together and see (but wait for better weather and think of location)
 
My 20p is in the pot, its a rig shot.
 
p1tse said:
i always like these, but don't have a clue how it's shot and processed etc.

sample:

856014-1.jpg
Click to expand...

To be honest, the lighting on the car doesnt match the lighting in the street in the slightest, I wonder if they were even in the same shot?
The second giveaway is the (lack of) texture in the road surface - this doesnt match the change in focus and increase in texture in the buildings in the distance
The third thing is the focussing distance in the street and building doesnt appear to match the car
 
The increase in texture of the buildings in the distance is probably down to the fact that the speed at which they are moving across the frame is different in relative terms to the part of the building on the right which is closer and I think at the far end there just isn't any texture in the road to see.
 
if you drop the image in PS and push the levels arround you will see reflections in the windows of the building, including cranes and lamp posts that just are not on the car anywhere
 
Wow! Talk about over analysis!

The original question was how to replicate a picture like this, and we gave some solutions - whether this particular one was done that way is irrelevant now.
 
whether it is a rig shot or shot from another car the answear to the OP is exactly that, to replicate it try that, and TBH you don't need to worry about your one and only SLR being attached to a car to do a rig shot as the car is not likely to be moving any more than 5MPH and you'll br right along side it. i'm planning on building a rig in the not to distant future, shopping list is complete but i have the small matter of getting my grubby mits on a 5D fits lol
 
Richard King said:
To be honest, the lighting on the car doesnt match the lighting in the street in the slightest, I wonder if they were even in the same shot?
Click to expand...
Actually, it does. The lighting in both instances is fairly flat, and the reflection across the windscreen nicely goes with the building behind.
The second giveaway is the (lack of) texture in the road surface - this doesnt match the change in focus and increase in texture in the buildings in the distance
Click to expand...
Not really possible to determine textures and a small portion of a 37k jpeg that.
The third thing is the focussing distance in the street and building doesnt appear to match the car
Click to expand...
I don't see this as a giveaway - I see it as the effect of using a wideangle lens then cropping the frame because the car was over to the right a bit.
You also mention reflections - again due to the wideangle lens there are some very different angles between the car where reflections would appear and the building.

Overall I think the photo is pretty genuine, as to how? Who knows. Gut feel due to distance is from another vehicle, although looking at some of the rigs out there it may be a good rig.
 
A well built car rig would have been the culprit for these shots. Less margin of error if applied correctly.

Looking at the distorsion on #1, would have been a UWA BUT the motion only seems to hit the photo after the first quarter which seems to me that it might have been on a drive by and a slight pan was needed.
 
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