Two Sunpak 383 Super left and right... shot mostly at 175mm+. Flashes at 1/16 power, used long(ish) exposure to get more color in the background... 1/3sec to 1/2sec.

Jorge, OK, got your PM. Give me a night off to work on it. BTW, here's the new parts.

 

Thanks Erwin. Last night after shoot, I went home and checked out the engine bay dress up thread. That intake is flawless!!!

 

nice work jorge!

 

Carlos, thanks man, always enjoy looking at your pics also... and reading your blog.

Here's the specifics of the shot.

Find a city backdrop, or one with lights in the background.

I was looking through the shots again tonight, and found this came out better... shot at 250mm. I also processed this a bit better also.

250mm


187mm


You get bigger light halos with a longer focal length.

Wait 'till just as the lights start to appear in the city, as there will be just enough ambient light to give some detail as to not black out the surroundings.

You must use a wide aperture. The larger, the better. The 55-250mm lens I used will only go to ƒ/5.6 at 250mm, but I can imagine what a 70-200 can do at ƒ/2.8. I can imagine. If you stop down, you'll get stars instead of circular highlights for the background.

Also, use a longer shutter speed than used with normal flash shots, this will require you use low power for your flashes. Using a longer shutter again, will help with exposing the background, otherwise, you'll get this:

shot at 1/160sec:


The mistake I made was putting the flash too close to the car. Again, I just used 2 cheap Sunpak 383 Super. Angle the flashes to illuminate the wheels so that both wheels, even the back wheel gets light without getting reflected light on one of the wheels. Otherwise, you get something like this.



In summary, full manual mode must be used. Set the aperture to the widest setting. Use a long focal length. Play with a longer shutter speed until the background is exposed to your liking as it'll be dark when all the lights go on in the city... longer than the normal 1/250-1/120 sync speeds usually used for flash. Use low power for flash because of the longer shutter speeds. Don't wait 'till late at night as there will be almost no ambient light and be fully dark, unless that's the look you're going for.

 

Great guide C22, thanks for posting this!

I have a shoot soon and this is really helpful.

 

Hawaii is beautiful! Nice Z!

 

Jorge, much props to you Brother! She is looking great as always. Really wish I could have taken a ride in her while I was there. What not a better photographer than ctwentytwo to capture an awesome machine with an unbelieveable backdrop. Looking forward to meeting up at one of the meets, will be there in Hawaii in May/June timeframe to visit. Oh yea, the only thing I would change is puting a TEXAS flag on that rear view mirror! Take it easy Bro and look forward to catching up soon enough.

 

The PR flag on the rear view mirror adds 10 hp..... But thanks for the props and Erwin (ctwentytwo) is one of the best photographers here.... His skills really does make my car look a lot better than what it really is. Bro I wish I got to see the finished product of your car before it was shipped. I mean after seeing it up on a lift for months, it would have been nice to see the final product. Bro be easy, and see when you come back to visit the islands.