Road Ready
I had just finished an engagement shoot at the beach and the guy asked for a few shots of his first love - the BMW :-) Had a great sunset as a back drop as well...
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I had just finished an engagement shoot at the beach and the guy asked for a few shots of his first love - the BMW :-) Had a great sunset as a back drop as well as a few smoke bombs still in my camera bag.
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NIKON D750
Aperture f/10 ISO 200 Shutter 10/1250 Focal Length 400/10 
Sardinia Bay, Eastern Cape, ZA
Jan, 2019Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
Taken at Sardinia Bay Beach, just outside Port Elizabeth, South AfricaTime
At the end of day. Sunset was almost over but there was still quite a bit of light about.Lighting
At this time of day, the light is changing rapidly is you have to be aware of that as you shoot. In situations like this, I am constantly looking at the viewfinder to see the results. My general advice is to just keep shooting until there is no light left. One of those shots is going to stand out. The highlights on the car, are from two speedlights and two torches held by the engagement couple and two children.Equipment
Nikon D750, Tamron 14-70 f2.8, Godox TT675 Speedlight. Two camping flashlights. Cheap little smoke bombs - not so evident on this shot but worked really well in others.Inspiration
I had just finished an engagement shoot with a couple down on the beach. The husband to be asked if I would mind taking a few shots of his second love - the BMW. I immediately could picture the car against the darkened sunset sky and so we went for it. Selected the bushes in the background rather than pure sunset sky so I could get a partial black backdrop. Parked the car at the angle I wanted and began to shoot. Had the couple and their kids hold the lights and we ended up having a lot of fun.Editing
I had processed a sepia version of the shot which I did not like but still wanted similar tones so just adjusted the colour balance somewhat to get these tones - not a lot if I remember correctly. Some dodge and burn on the highlights and a very small curves adjustment to get the bushes and ground to black.In my camera bag
Nikon D750. Nikon 50mm and 85mm f1.8. Tamron 24-70 and 70-200 f2.8. Godox TT685 Speedlights. Cokin square filter set. Vanguard Tripod.Flask of coffee.Feedback
This was not planned at all - so be ready at all times. I have a thousand shots in my head which I have not done yet. I have seen something, been inspired and done some planning - mentally. If I encounter the possibility, I simply go to my mental pre-planning and go with it. For this shot I referred to a vintage car shot I had seen, that was done in the Namib desert. To get the dark moody feel you will want 1) Fast shutter speed to cut out the ambient light 2) Light directed to exactly the parts you want highlighted - in this case the sleek lines and 3) An aperture setting that picks up the flash lighting without exposing too much of the rest of the car.
