Car photography rig

[steve1975l]

I am building a rig to take those blurry background shots you see in magazines that manage to keep the car tack sharp without the use of another car.

I have a the camera mounted to a flexible lighting stand and a grip around the headrest for the test shot below. I have a couple of 5 foot poles to get the camera further away from the car and will use a wider lens and drag the shutter a bit more. I am awaiting some strong magnets so I can attach them to the pole that comes out from underneath the car. The second pole will come away from the car at an adjustable angle. The lighting stand then mounts to the pole giving me plenty of adjustment.

More to follow when magnets come in.

Test shot

Something like this would be good

 

[Olly_K]

looks cool !

 

[SamDude]

Something like this would be good

Nice!

How did you did that??!

 

[Defratos]

Don't think he did the second pic. I don't understand how you'll manage to take a pic like that without another car??

 

[steve1975l]

Not my pic. A 5 foot pole + about 2 foot from the horizontal pole and a wide angle lens should do the trick.

 

[batwad]

Those sort of photos are taken from a chase car. The rig's to give you stability and avoid blurring due to camera shake.

 

[SamDude]

Speaking of which - when Top Gear does its challenges where JC is blasting through Europe he is usually flooring it.

Is there another car flooring it ahead of him with a camera or what? How do they do the 'stop' shots by the roadside and then catch up, pass and set up again for the next shot??

 

[nivagh]

I understand that pro photographers use a tripod with three sucker attachments and then just photoshop the rig out afterwards.

And the Top Gear shoot, I think that the numerous 'stop' shots follow the filming with JC et al. They're done separately by the crew.

 

[Shades]

Speaking of which - when Top Gear does its challenges where JC is blasting through Europe he is usually flooring it.

Is there another car flooring it ahead of him with a camera or what? How do they do the 'stop' shots by the roadside and then catch up, pass and set up again for the next shot??

The challenges through Europe are usually shot over 3/4 days. JC (and/or JM and/or RH) does the challenge first with a chase car for all the passing/overtaking/stopping at petrol stations shots, then the car (or cars) are handed over to others (who often have to go back to the start point of the challenge and re-drive it) so the director can get all his 'arty' roadside passing shots/multiple arial shots and such.

 

[steve1975l]

I understand that pro photographers use a tripod with three sucker attachments and then just photoshop the rig out afterwards.

QUOTE]

Why would you photoshop a rig on the bodywork...much easier to clone on the rig on the floor.

 

[Caesium]

I assume that the shutter speed is set to slow?

 

[steve1975l]

It was 0.4 sec but should have been longer but it was a bright day and I had the lowest apperture set. I have since got a nd filter so I can go slower.

 

[nivagh]

An 81B will give you an extra 0.5 stop as well.