The Ultimate Car Rig Photography Thread!

yesterday I shot a JDM Civic Type R and did a few rig shots.

Again the sun was out blazing so put the ND8 filter on and decided to try reduced shutter speeds. These were taken at 0.8 second exposures.

Seemed to do the trick and I had many more sharp images compared to when I use longer speeds...

brucecivic25_zps1c1cfc19.jpg


brucecivic24_zps89790588.jpg


brucecivic23_zpsfd35b0dd.jpg


brucecivic26_zpsbd1be403.jpg
 
another day another car to shoot! Today I had a go with even shorted shutter speeds to try and improve the sharpness of the images.

These were shot at 0.6 second exposures. Made a huge difference to the shots, nearly every shot I took was a lot sharper and could have been used.

Here were my favourite three....


1.
mikeysRS25.jpg


2.
mikeysRS26.jpg


3.
mikeysRS27.jpg
 
3rd one is really good. The multi spokes allow for really cool brake photos.

What are you going to use to tension the wire? I looked into changing to wire and using an "eye" piece to run it through but couldnt see any way of tightening it as easily as my strap does.
Click to expand...

I'm going to use areial guy wire and turnbuckles to tighten them. Not as easy as your straps but a proven method. For the uprights i have found some clamps that have a m10 attachent on them. Will get a m10 threaded bar and then put an eye ontop. I may just hook the turn buckles on the end of the tube or get 2 more clamps with shorter eyes on.
Hope that makes sence.
 
Great thread; actually made me finally get round to registering on the forum!
 
Like the re-edit.
I'll add a few more pics next time i use my rig. Just waiting on a few bits for my tension wire.
 
this morning at 8am I braved the cold to shoot a retro Nova, during which took these rig shots...

pertynova27.jpg


pertynova28.jpg


pertynova29.jpg


pertynova30.jpg


Can see the improvement as I keep practicing. A lot more sharp shots :D

Sammy
 
sduk said:
Thanks mate. Get involved with the thread and post some pics up. Was hoping everyone would post their rig stuff in it but its mainly just me lol.
Click to expand...

I wish I had a rig! going to look into getting one made now though after seeing these; cars are the only thing really I take pictures of.
 
sduk said:
Been doing loads of shoots recently and really trying to get as much practice with the rig as I can.

Today I was shooting a Vauxhall Astra (full shoot here... https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.379156252160622.89734.157206347688948&type=1)
Click to expand...


Some nice shots there Sammy, I noticed from the Facebook link for the Astra above that it was done in Dundee ? I think you did some shots for my neighbour - Scott Davie.

If you are local, would love to come along to a shoot sometime, just to see the whole process in action - maybe bring the P1 along.
Chris
 
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yeah I know Scott :) I stay in Dundee too. Small world!

You'd be welcome to pop along anytime, I often go out with the rig for practice shots, we could do some on the P1?

Are you on facebook mate? Have you "liked" the facebook page? I put up on there when I am going out and usually ask for volunteer cars :)
 
sduk said:
yeah I know Scott :) I stay in Dundee too. Small world!

You'd be welcome to pop along anytime, I often go out with the rig for practice shots, we could do some on the P1?

Are you on facebook mate? Have you "liked" the facebook page? I put up on there when I am going out and usually ask for volunteer cars :)
Click to expand...

Very small world !! It only clicked who you were when I saw the Facebook page and the name and then put two and two together.

Liked the FB page, so will keep a look out for when your out about. Some pics of P1 would be nice, hoping to take it off the road for Winter at the end of the month.

I do some photography, but very amateur stuff so any hints and tips would be welcome.

Hope to meet up with you soon, if you ever up at Scotts Im only a couple of doors away, so feel free to pop in past and say hi.

Chris.
 
Some amazing shots in here!

Are car rigs available to buy from a company?

If not could some list the parts i need,

Many thanks.
 
The astra ones are your best so far.
Shutter bug as Sammy says have a read through this thread. It may seem daunting but they are not that difficult to build.

Finally got my tension wire made so gave it a go tonight. It has made a huge difference to my hit rate of sharp photos not to mention using longer shutter speeds. I have enough parts so may had a horizontal support at a later date.


BTS rig shot - tension wire by Micky Photography, on Flickr
Full size on my flickr so you can get a close up.


BTS rig shot - tension wire by Micky Photography, on Flickr

The car was driven as i did these on my own.

Sunset rig shot by Micky Photography, on Flickr
Not to keen on the stretched look but will work on it.

EXIF
Canon 450d with a 10-20mm sigma
Exposure 3.2
Aperture f/14.0
Focal Length 11 mm
ISO Speed 200


Driving into the sun by Micky Photography, on Flickr
EXIF
Exposure 3.2
Aperture f/11.0
Focal Length 12 mm
ISO Speed 200
 
woohoo good to see someone else on the thread :D

I like the shots mate, amazing what a difference the cable makes, how did you find tightening it? Did it work okay?

Really like the first one, is it slightly underexposed though?

Keep sharing :D
 
Last night I went out with my mate after a warehouse photoshoot and had half an hour with the rig!

With the temperature being only 1 degree we didnt stay long though!

These were taken with my new cable to pull the car. Dont have any pictures yet but basically its a 20ft cable with a handle that I attach to the tow hooks on the car.

Makes the pulling much smoother and easier.

So these taken over 8 second exposures :)

rig1-1.jpg


rig2-1.jpg


Sammy
 
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They are really sharp Sammy. Getting ideas from rigpro with the pulling wire?

Tightening the cable was no issue at all. My turnbuckles fit through the eye in the middle. Thread them through and hook one end. To get the other end in bend the pole slightly to hook the turnbuckle on. Then just turn the turnbuckle to required tension. Took maybe 10 mins for me to get the rig on the car. I spent about an hour to hobble around and get the two shots.

It is underexposed because i didn't want to totally loose the sky. It's better than sooc though. I could pull a bit more light onto the car but noise was becoming an issue.

SOOC rigshot by Micky Photography, on Flickr
 
did you shoot it in RAW? If so, use a graduated filter to adjust the exposure from the bottom of the photo and you could also you one from the top to adjust the sky. Thats what I do in mine.

if you have the RAW file fancy emailing it to me so I can have a play with it? :D if you dont mind :)
 
Always shoot in RAW :)
pm me your email address and i'll get it over to you. There is alot more info in the raw file but that was about as much noise as i could put up with. Will make sense when you see the file.
 
had an edit, I am by no means an expert though, just tried to edit it as I would my own shots :)

so your processed shot.....

originalcopy.jpg



My edit...

resizededit.jpg



let me know what you think Micky :)
 
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I like :clap:
I think yours with the brighter car has a bit more punch. Can see you have noise creaping in which is the drawback becuase i underexposed so much.
Did you just add more fill light, graduated filter, more contrast, clarity and a change of wb?

How come you hate cars Rob?
 
yeah adjusted the exposure using several gradiented filters, used one to lower the sky exposure and another to adjust the car exposure, then tweeked the white balance and sharpness :)

a great shot though, just a slightly longer exposure of the initial shot and it would be perfect :)
 
Will make sure i get to that location next time the light is good and give it another go.
I gave it another edit to expose the car correctly. Did a slightly different route by making another layer of a brighter car and then merging them in photoshop. I prefer the warmer background in mine but thats personal preference.

Front rig reeditflickr by Micky Photography, on Flickr

The second shot of the Sabb is an interesting angle.
Well done on braving the cold.
 
so yesterday I did an epic 4 car shoot! At the end I did some rig shots of the MG ZS.

Think these are maybe my best yet, I used my puller and found that the car movement was much smoother and that contributed a lot to the sharp shots...

kev19.jpg

kev27.jpg





kev20.jpg

kev28.jpg
 
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Nice to see some of the uneditted versions, your shots are coming along, certainly your best yet!

I've just taken the plunge after reading threads for months and have purchased my first few pieces of kit!

Is the editting quite difficult? I can see me becoming quite frustrated with it........
 
Thanks mate. Appreciate the feedback. Glad my thread has helped. Be great to get more people involved and posting.

Feel free to edit the rig out of the shots I posted if it helps? The content aware fill is very useful and also the patch and clone stamp is what I use.
 
Really good editing on the mg shots.
I don't know how other people carry their poles but since adding my tension wire they don't fit in the cardboard tube my poles came in.
Bit of a search but ski bags seem to be the perfect size.
This is a double which has plenty of space inside. You could possibly get away with a single.
Sorry about the phone quality pic

Untitled by Micky Photography, on Flickr

Bag dimensions
Size: 178cm x 27cm x 16cm

My poles are 170cm each
 
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It was only a cheap one off ebay. It was £23
Seen a few 2nd hand ones go for £5 but they didn't have dimensions on them so played it safe and bought new.
 
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