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JoshG

Member
Jun 23, 2011
440
443
Roadster & Model S

I managed to get both cars clean and up into the hills at sunset for a few pictures earlier this week.

Tesla-Saratoga 4.jpg


I don't like this second one as much because I messed up my polarizing filter angle (NEEDED for shooting a black car) which caused a weird rainbow effect on the back corner of the Model S. Pissed I didn't notice it at the time as this could have been a good shot.

Tesla-Saratoga 5.jpg


For those in the SF Bay Area, this is shot at the uppermost parking lot (employee lot) at Mountain Winery in Saratoga. Great place to go at sunset for views over the bay.

--josh

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One of the Model S alone:

Tesla-Saratoga 2.jpg


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... and one of the Model S after sunset, with some nice city lights. (20 second exposure)

Tesla-Saratoga 1.jpg
 
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thanks. I learned the secret of good car photography: In addition to a quality coat of wax, the best thing you can do is to use a circular polarizing filter... you can dial in the reflectivity of various surfaces and it takes away the harsh reflections, just like it does on beach/water pictures. You spin it to the setting you want while looking through the viewfinder, seeing the effect in real time before snapping the pic. Oh, and there IS some post-processing also on these photos... pushed some a bit warmer in white balance, some contrast boost, some exposure adjustments, and a couple of distracting things on the blacktop and a light pole in the background were removed.
 
> I managed to get both cars . . up into the hills [JoshG]

Ok, drive S 1000 ft, then walk back to Roadster and drive it 2000 ft, then walk back to S and drive it 2000 ft, hmmm, need to rethink this. Oh, ok, put bicycle in S and drive it to hilltop. Then coast down to Roadster on bike. Then drive Roadster up with all the camera gear and do the shoot. Then return home in S with all the gear and process all the photos and post to TMC. Job well done!

Oh no!! :eek:
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How on earth can anyone get their cars THAT clean???? :scared:

Even the tires look brand new, without any dust.
Did you clean the cars up there on the parking lot? If not, how did you manage to get them there without even getting the tires dirty/dusty???

Great pics anyway. Three thumbs up!
 
How on earth can anyone get their cars THAT clean???? :scared: Even the tires look brand new, without any dust. Did you clean the cars up there on the parking lot? If not, how did you manage to get them there without even getting the tires dirty/dusty???
It's called photoshop!! Great for touching up photos, removing skin imperfections from portraits, making fat people look skinnier in magazines, and removing dirt from cars! lol The Model S is sooo big it makes the Roadster look like a matchbox toy car in that second shot.
 
where's "the cup"?

j/k... those are astounding photographs. if i could make one suggestion, it would be to have the daytime running lights on in the last pic at dusk. that woulda been awesome.

There would have been just two completely white areas where the headlights are (20 sec. exposure).

These photos are amazingly well done! I'm something of a photo afficinado my self and I've already scouted locations, thought about lighting, flashes etc. when my S comes :)
 
Really nice work, Josh!

You could do the after-sunset-with-the-DRLs-on shot as two frames, one exposed for the car (as you did it, with the lights off) and one exposed for the driving lights. A little layers work in Photoshop, and Bob's your uncle.
 
where's "the cup"?
:biggrin:
j/k... those are astounding photographs. if i could make one suggestion, it would be to have the daytime running lights on in the last pic at dusk. that woulda been awesome.
Johan is right... I tried a few shots with lights on but couldn't get the combination of the background, car, and headlights to all be exposed properly. I could/should have shot a sequence of bracketed shots and combined them into an HDR, but I ran out of time.

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You could do the after-sunset-with-the-DRLs-on shot as two frames, one exposed for the car (as you did it, with the lights off) and one exposed for the driving lights. A little layers work in Photoshop, and Bob's your uncle.
yes, my camera has a built-in HDR function and I tried it but it didn't work well at all. But you're right, I should have at least shot a series of bracketed shots and figured out best HDR technique later.

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I'm wondering if the heavy air pollution we had last week has contributed to the rainbow effect? Nice photos.
No, that effect was entirely due to the polarizing filter. I had seen it on other shots and just twisted the filter a bit to remove it, but hadn't noticed it in camera for that shot. I'm not good enough with Photoshop to fix it in post.
 
How on earth can anyone get their cars THAT clean???? :scared:

Even the tires look brand new, without any dust.
Did you clean the cars up there on the parking lot? If not, how did you manage to get them there without even getting the tires dirty/dusty???

Great pics anyway. Three thumbs up!

It's called photoshop!! Great for touching up photos, removing skin imperfections from portraits, making fat people look skinnier in magazines, and removing dirt from cars! lol The Model S is sooo big it makes the Roadster look like a matchbox toy car in that second shot.
Well, the cars were very clean before going up, hand-washed, then polish layer, then wax layer. I brought a couple of microfiber cloths, Meguires quick detail, and Armor All and gave the cars a quick detail spray in the parking lot only where I saw something that needed it. Armor-all on the tires once there also. I didn't really need to photoshop "clean" the cars, but the contrast function does make the tires darker. Cars shot in gentle, late/early light, shot NOT from super-close up but from 10-30 feet away, with a polarizing filter come out looking extremely clean. Only time I had to touch up the car in photoshop was to take out a hot spot from a reflection of the fill flash in one or two shots.

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> I managed to get both cars . . up into the hills [JoshG]

Ok, drive S 1000 ft, then walk back to Roadster and drive it 2000 ft, then walk back to S and drive it 2000 ft, hmmm, need to rethink this. Oh, ok, put bicycle in S and drive it to hilltop. Then coast down to Roadster on bike. Then drive Roadster up with all the camera gear and do the shoot. Then return home in S with all the gear and process all the photos and post to TMC. Job well done!

Oh no!! :eek:
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Ha... not quite. But since my wife was never going to put up with my hours of shooting pictures of my cars, my 16-yr old son got a VERY RARE treat in driving the roadster following me up to the winery and becoming my camera assistant.

Tesla-Saratoga.jpg