The Ultimate Car Rig Photography Thread!

So after about 2 weeks of not having a chance to rig (and being annoyed one of my cups wouldn't stick) I decided to get back out there now the evenings are getting lighter!

First proper try with my stabiliser and strap which takes a lot of the bend out the poles and makes everything a little safer!
I've bought a manfrotto friction arm and camera bracket but honestly finding them useless, I'm sticking a ballhead straight to a super clamp and then to the pole and it's working fine! Too much weight with the manfrotto arm and makes the shots super low. If I can't find a use for it i'll be selling soon!

Anyway onto some shots! Quite happy with these 2, both done in one take more to test the rig stability than to create amazing shots! By the time I moved to the RS light was falling so it's a pretty rough shot!

VW Lupo by MattSmithh, on Flickr
Clio 200 by MattSmithh, on Flickr
 
upgraded my rig a little. replaced the ali with carbon fibre. did a few measurements and the carbon fibre actually flexes more than the ali. Going to improve it a little more by filling it with expanding foam.
here's a couple of shots

10919398_10155192437925032_769371019821488210_o.jpg


10960032_10155192181115032_4891324172590318863_o.jpg


hosted on facebook so forgive the quality
 
nice shots! I like them both. think the foam will make much difference? do you have a stabiliser? I don't host on facebook as the quality reduction is huge. Flickr is much better.

Sammy
 
I wouldn't bother with foam, and don't really see how it would help to be honest. Get a stabiliser to preload the boom in the opposite direction.

Nice contextual location.
 
with 2m overhang the foam reduced the flex by about 10cm.. an improvement, but not enough. So i've had to do what i didnt want to do and put the centre support back on.
the centre pole scares me in case it rotates round and hits the car
 
Just a quick question, what methods does everyone use for putting people in the cars? Obviously you can put them in the car while it's pushed but if they move on a long exposure you're stuffed! I'd have though most do 2 shots but for the person in the car do it static at say 1/50th and bumping iso to expose the same as the rolling shot and then layer in photoshop?
 
yeah always a second shot for me. Usually drop the shutter speed to as short as I can before the exposure is too dark to see the person. I think its usually about 2 or 3 seconds I would use. Long enough for a sharp shot of the driver. I always try and remember to adjust the polariser to ensure the highest reduction of glare off the windscreen.

Then just layer the shot in photoshop, sometimes I add just the driver, sometimes the entire windscreen, depending on the shot.

In saying all that there have been a few times I have taken the rig down after the rolling shots and realised I didn't take the driver. I have an epic shot of a kit car I did and don't have a driver haha
 
Thanks Sammy, that's what I thought most would be doing! And yeah that's why I asked did a shot the other day and thought DAMN forgot to get the driver in because he was pushing! (see below) I wasn't actually going to use this shot because I mounted a cup on the windscreen which was hard to clone out because it covered the sticker so it's messy but he wanted it for instagram!

IMG_9201-Edit by MattSmithh, on Flickr

Decided to try some at night as well! Just experimenting really getting practice on mounting the rig and cloning it out etc.

IMG_9299-Edit by MattSmithh, on Flickr


Got a shoot with an E55 AMG merc this weekend hopefully, just happen to always shoot my best mates clio because he's down to help experiment!
 
Digitalize said:
Watch for rig shadow [emoji6]
Click to expand...

Yeah it's bad in the second one because the road was fully floodlit, SOOC it's not as bad as it looks my poor cloning it it makes it look more dramatic that it is but I was fully aware it was there haha! I was just testing how efficient shots at night could be! Needs more work
 
shootthefuture said:
Just a quick question, what methods does everyone use for putting people in the cars? Obviously you can put them in the car while it's pushed but if they move on a long exposure you're stuffed! I'd have though most do 2 shots but for the person in the car do it static at say 1/50th and bumping iso to expose the same as the rolling shot and then layer in photoshop?
Click to expand...

im lazy, so all my rig shots are driven by the driver.
 
Mikehamilton said:
im lazy, so all my rig shots are driven by the driver.
Click to expand...
I've done this a few times with pretty good hit rates but some get touchy with the brakes and I like a spare pare of hands outside should anything go wrong, but it doesn't really solve the issue of blur on say a 4 sec exposure, are you still doing 2 shots?
 
Mikehamilton said:
Nice, however the second shot confuses me as to why the motion blur on the left suddenly veres off to the left as if the car was on lock on a straight bit of road..
Click to expand...

yeah i saw this and couldn't figure it out. The steering didn't actually lock on the car for some reason so we just had to keep an eye on it. We werent aware of it veering to the left massively though. Oh well :)
 
Hi all,

I am newbie of rig/on board shots I was hoping/looking to get a picture like this (one with the same car and one with a very similar formula car), what sort of setup should I be using?

A believe a Manfrotto suction cup and a magic arm would not be enough to do the work. (unless the car is pushed I guess)

Any help/suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

2014-FIA-F3-08-TSuer-0021_tonemapped.jpg
 
Last edited:
that shot wouldn't be hard to do at all. If it were me I would use one suction cup with a superclamp and camera bracket to mount the camera. You could use a magic arm but it would be better without it as there would be less movement.

Then just set up the camera and push the race car very slowly for a long exposure (around 30 seconds) and you have your shot :)
 
sduk said:
that shot wouldn't be hard to do at all. If it were me I would use one suction cup with a superclamp and camera bracket to mount the camera. You could use a magic arm but it would be better without it as there would be less movement.

Then just set up the camera and push the race car very slowly for a long exposure (around 30 seconds) and you have your shot :)
Click to expand...

sduk said:
Further to that, you would then take a second shot and add the driver in whilst the vehicle was stationary and merge the shots in photoshop.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for that, it doesn't look way to complicated as I expected, just need to know what to buy now :sneaky:
 
A couple of my last ones. First one of the Boxter never started or left the driveway :)

p726942467-4.jpg



p971869650-4.jpg


Upgrading my rig completely so I have my current set up in the Classifieds if anyone is interested in giving this a go.

Good fun :).
 
Last edited:
Fascinating thread guys, thanks a bunch for all the info/effort /and especially taking the time to share what you are doing.
Great advert for yourselves and talk photography, great work all round.

cheers
tony
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top