 Photographing cars
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We have seen thousand of product images that look all the same: white background,
studio light, and no personality at all.
 We decided to create a set of photographs from a collection of die
cast toys from Pixar's Cars(TM)
Movie, but we wanted something different.
Photography is, in many ways, about taking out of context a detail from a scene.
What about if we add some context to
obtain a much better photograph?
The first step was to create some backgrounds. It was not that easy because it's
almost impossible to get any adequate image, so we decided to photograph some
parts of the toys, boxes, etcetera.
 We
made a composition in Photoshop and made three different settings. It was important
for us that the background theme would match the foreground image. So, we ended
with four sets:
> Flo's Café
> Tow Mater's headquarters
> Casa della Tire
> Generic desert
We also made a floor with desertic texture. None of the sets were highly detailed,
but since we looked for a nice bokeh, it didn't matter.
With the background we made an improvised studio. Over a large table we used
an acrylic stand (the classical "take one" stand), a white flexible cardboard
as a base, a Lowell Ego lamp and a plastic screen as
a fill lighter.
  
The
toys were pretty tiny, as you can see.
 We chose as our main camera
a Canon S5 IS for several reasons:
- It has a vari-angle LCD, so our backs would thank us at the end of
the sessions
- It has a full manual mode
- The S5 has a hot-shoe just in case we needed an auxiliary flash (that we didn't
used)
- The S5 has a great macro and super-macro modes that would be helpful
- The 8 megapixels of this camera would be useful if we needed to crop
the images
- Because it is a very fun to use camera!
You can also use the S3 that works as good as the S5, yet the S3's 6 megapixels
will suffer if you crop your images a lot.
We don't like from the S5 that it's noisy at high ISO numbers, but since we decided
to use a tripod all the time. We set the
ISO at 80 (the lowest possible) and turned off the Image
Stabilization.
We also made a set of photos with the new Canon 40D and the wonderful EF 50mm
f1.2L lens. Check the gallery for buttery bokeh at the end of the article, as well
as some notes regarding the experience of using this semi-pro
camera.
Little details
are everything
 Here's
the secret for photographing this kind of subject: pay attention to little details.
We will repeat it, because it is so very important. PAY ATTENTION TO THE LITTLE
DETAILS.
We knew it, but we didn't and we spent half a day making wonderful photographs
with a typo on all of our custom-made backgrounds. Also, we didn't check the
resolution of the S5 so we ended with a beautiful set of photographs with the
smallest and worst resolution from the camera.
We had to re-shot the entire set, build again the backgrounds (which we didn't
save, by the way). We repeated the whole thing. One great advantage was that
we already knew the best angles and we had more experience for the second set.
BUT we could have saved 4 hours of work if we've paid attention to little details.
So lets repeat it: pay...
ok, enough is enough. The point is clear.
Checklist
> Typos if any text is going to be included
> Camera resolution
> Quality setting
> ISO setting
> Clean every thing that will be photographed. Clean again. At the middle
of the session, clean again. Use a micro-fiber chamois and a
blower.
Eye level
 With this tiny cars we set the camera at the lowest possible angle
as if you would be at the same scale of the cars. We
only shot from top for the "poster like" photo. All the time we were
low & slow, like cruisin' Flo & Ramone style.
Hey ma, this
is fun!
Since we were photographing toys, the game began, and the "what if..." situation
brought one great idea: mix different cars but with the same style. At the end
of Pixar's movies, in the classic credits cut, many characters from Pixar's movies
appear as "car-acters"
In our little collection we have most of this not-cars-cars characters. So, we
mixed them: Buzzlightyear, meet Mr. Wingo; Sully, meet Bessy; Guido, this green
little monster looks a lot like you, and finally Mater and Woody made a terrific
pair. You can also join Luigi's most glorious day with the Michael Schumacher's
Ferrari. Check the gallery
for the full size, but here it is a little preview.
   
So, adding a little creativity
to your photos is always a great thing to do.
Design & Composition
Composing the scene was tricky. We wanted every character to show its trademarks.
Having different cars in the same scene made us move many times the cars, so
the viewer can always see the eyes.
Camera issues
The S5 did a terrific job. Here are some quick tips for this kind of
situation:
> Use a clutterless setting for your LCD monitor, without grid lines or the
whole enchilada of camera settings.
> The S5 was pretty accurate and exposure was correct most of the time,
but check if you want to under expose or over expose a
particular scene
> Set the auto focus properly and avoid manual focus, the camera takes good
decisions if you tell it how.
> We used the custom self timer at 3 seconds to avoid any camera shake. 2
seconds self timer is a good setting too.
It looks great
The results are here, open the galleries and have some fun with us. Taking photos
of tiny cars is easy. A great photographic situation, and
one fun "Situation Room" feature.
Car's
Photo Galleries
40D vs Cars
Well, it looks like the new 40D is having issues with cars. It was the Formula
1 R27, and now a bunch of little cars. The experience was great thanks to the
Live View mode. This kind of sessions are what Live View feature is for. We
used it all the time (and the battery didn't seem to suffer too much). Using
the EF 50mm f1.2L lens was great for this kind of photography. We tried a couple
of shots below f4.0 and the bokeh was so intense that all the background
was lost. So we chose smaller apertures (around f8.0 most of the time). The
auto ISO chose ISO 400 and there were some luminance and chroma noise. We shot
in RAW and manual mode.
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