Rig shots are striking and produce a great sense of motion. That’s why a lot of automotive photographers use this technique. Unfortunately, this has resulted in over saturation. I challenge you to show me one automotive magazine that doesn’t have at least one rig shot.
This over saturation might be the reason a lot of automotive shooters are weary about sharing the secret to this technique. But the majority of the photogs that are hush hush about this are more than likely threatened by new photographers that are coming into the market, using techniques such as this, and undercutting them. But here’s my take, photography is more than just a camera on a pole, there’s so much more to it. Anyone (especially you after you’ve read this article) can do a rig shot. But that doesn’t mean they have the creativity to make it look good. The ability to do a rig shot doesn’t make you a photographer.
I say to hell with it, show everyone how to do it. Level the playing field. It’ll force photographers to get more creative to stand out. And soon they’ll come out with newer, even better techniques. Ultimately, that’s better for everyone.
Now that that’s off my chest, let me get off my soap box and show you guys how to do this. There’s a couple ways to do it, but I’m going to tell you my way. Basically you mount a pole to the vehicle and the camera to the pole. Then you set a long exposure and push the car during the shot. Because the car and the camera are moving on the same plane and at the same speed, the car stays sharp and the background blurs by. The resulting image looks like it was taken at 100 mph when in truth, you only went a few feet while going less than 1 mph. To maintain some organization in this article I’m going to cover 3 sections: the rig, execution, and post processing.
The Rig
Here’s a list of what my rig consists of. I’ve done my best to attach links to places where you can purchase them:
Extension Pole
Just a regular run of the mill extension pole you would use for painting. I got this one at Home Depot. I grinded down the threads on the end of the pole so I could mount my ball head. Try not to extend it out too far during your rig shot. That causes instability, which in turn causes camera shake, which could result in blurry images. I’ve seen people use bigger aluminum piping for their pole instead which could be a good alternative, but you’ve got to keep in mind portability. I couldn’t find the exact pole I use at homedepot.com but you could shop for it here.
Ball Head
I use a Manfrotto Ball Head which I mount the camera to. I find it very easy to adjust. As another alternative, I’ve heard of people using a Manfrotto Magic Arm in combination with an Imact Super Clamp to mount their cameras to the pole. A little pricier of a setup but probably more flexible in regards to adjustments. If you’re interested in a regular ball head shop for it here.
Rapid Adapter
I use this Rapid Adapter to connect the Ball Head to the pole. Shop for it here
Suction Cup With Super Clamp
Suction cup
Clamp
These are the items that hold the pole and camera to the car. I replaced the stud that comes standard on one of the suction cups with a Super Clamp. I only have one Super Clamp so I use a regular old spring clamp to hold the pole to the second suction cup. It works pretty good but it would probably be more stable with another Super Clamp. Shop for the suction cups here. Shop for the Super Clamp here. Shop for the regular spring clamp here.
Execution
Now that you’ve got a rig, what do you do with it? Well, the first step is to stick it on the car of course. Placement of the rig is very important. Good placement can make life really easy when it comes to post processing. You want to do your best to make sure the pole doesn’t intersect the car because retouching the actual vehicle is harder than retouching background. Take a look at this example:
After you get the camera mounted and the shot composed you have to set the exposure. For a rig shot, you want a slow shutter speed. You’ll want enough time to push the car slowly and smoothly for a short distance (at least a few feet). My shutter speeds vary depending on lighting but I average about 6 seconds. You’ll have to adjust to your liking. If you like more background blur, go for a longer exposure and push it further. If you want less, do the opposite. If you can get your rig solid enough, you can try driving it. There are some people with rigs out there that do just that with great results. I just find I get better results with this rig when I push the vehicle slowly and smoothly. Driving can introduce vibration and I’m not sure I trust the rig enough to hold my gear while driving.
You might have to wait until dusk to be able to get those longer exposures without blowing out your shot. I took the above shot when it was practically dark so my shutterspeed was 20 seconds and my aperture was f/5.6 . 20 seconds might’ve been a bit too much but I didn’t have a choice because it was dark already. One option is to use a neutral density filter to darken things up so you can shoot earlier. One thing to watch out for with that is vignetting. Chances are, if you want to fit the whole car in the shot, you’re using a wide angle lens. When you use filters with wide angle lenses, you run the risk of vignetting. If you do go the filter route, look for the thinner wide angle friendly filters.
To trigger the shot, you can either use a long release cable, or like me, just use the built in timer in the camera. I usually start pushing before the shutter opens to minimize camera shake. The less camera shake you have, the sharper your image. Also, not extending the pole out too long can help stabilize the rig and minimize shake.
Take a couple of exposures to make sure you got the shot. It’s better to take another shot while everything is mounted up as opposed to pulling your hair out later on because the shot you got was blurry. I also like to take a static shot with the camera mounted just to have. It can come in handy in post processing. Also, if you’re shooting alone, take a shot of yourself in the driver seat. You can use it later on to drop your image into the final shot.
Post Processing
This is where it pays to be a perfectionist. The main tool I use is the clone stamp. I like to zoom in pretty close to make sure the post processing work looks as natural as possible. I also like to duplicate the layer I’m working on occasionally and work off of the duplicate. That way, if I make a bunch of changes that I’m not happy with, I can always go back. Kind of like a restore point.
In essence, the clone stamp tool copies and pastes. Put the brush over a section you want to copy, hold the alt key and left click, move the brush over a section you want to paste onto, and left click again but with the alt key released. Now just lather, rinse, and repeat over the whole rig to make it disappear. Sound tedious? It is. But be patient, pay close attention to detail, and you should do fine. The paintbrush tool, when used lightly, can help blend certain areas that look unnatural from use of the clone tool. Experiment with brush hardness and size. I can talk my head off about how to process the image but you won’t learn it till you do it. Take the photo I posted in the Execution section and see if you can photoshop out the rig. If you get stuck or if you have any questions, I’m only a comment away.
So there it is, everything you need to know about rig shots. It can be a lot of work but the results are usually very rewarding. Feel free to email me if you have any questions, suggestions on how to make this article better, or if you have an example of a rig shot you did utilizing this article. Good luck!
Disclaimer: The preceding was an article on how I do a rig shot. Use these instructions at your own risk. Although I’ve never had any issues, I will not be held responsible for any damage caused by the use of this article. This includes damages to vehicles as well as camera equipment.
0 comments:
Post a Comment