cars

Location Photography

Detroit location PhotographerUnexpected things are a constant when shooting on location. Some of those things are good, or great, but, there are also the unwelcome surprises too. The trick is to roll with the moment. Accept the positive, and roll the not so positive things over to the positive side. As it happens, this shoot went quite smoothly. I am always interested in your thoughts.Location People Photography Detroit Photographer Tom Kirby

Car Parts Photography

Tiny Car Parts PhotographyIt takes a lot of parts to make a car and some of them are pretty small. The smallest of the parts above - seals for electrical connectors -  is about a 1/2 long. Water and air add up to corrosion and failure, and these little guys keep it out. Photographing small products can be difficult because the parts are often displayed larger than they are in reality. For products that were never meant for display in the first place, making them this big exposes ALL of their flaws. It’s fun to photograph cars, but it’s fun to shoot the tiny little car parts that make them too. As always, I'm interested in your thoughts.

Automotive Parts Photography

Automotive Parts PhotographyMost automotive parts are destined never to be visible. You can only see a battery if you pop the hood. While many things have changed dramatically in the construction of cars, most batteries are still acid and lead, same as they were 60 years ago. A123 Systems is making a lithium car battery for cars that use a “start-stop system” – mostly in cars overseas. We needed to show that this is not an ordinary battery, and showing the inside seems to do the trick. As always, let me know what you think.

Photography for Digital Illustration

;Automotive imaging in metro DetroitThis image for Goodyear was created in the studio and with stock photography from Medioimages/Photodisc. The process of shooting for strip or input photography as I heard a colleague call it, can be quite involved. For this illustration, we carefully matched the angle and perspective. To do this, you must first decide where you are going to place the image within the background. If it’s up close, you need to be closer to the product with a wider lens. In other words, you need to match the actual distance that it would have been had it been there when the background was shot. Moving the camera right or left just a few inches can make a huge difference. Camera height is crucial as well.Next there is the lighting. In this case, I tried to keep the contrast a little lower than normal to match the relatively low contrast scene. We added artificial snow and ice too! On the windshield, after scattering the snow and ice, we ran the wipers to create the clear area on the windshield. We even captured the wipers in a few different positions, but they were not used because it got in the way of the people inside. We put snow and ice on the grill, bumper, hood and roof of the car. We also shot with the headlights on and off so that decision could be made later. Then Dave took a turn, and lit then shot the models. No easy feat with that many people in such a tiny space. The retoucher, hired by the agency, put it all together with a few touches of his own. As always, let me know what you think.