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Today’s post comes from Patrick Lehmann a photographer from Switzerland. See more of his work on his website, and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
I was given the opportunity to test-drive the new Porsche Macan Turbo for a five day road trip through Switzerland. 3.6-litre twin-turbo V6 engine, 400 hp and 406 feet of torque. What a great weekend! The final images will be published in Christopherus – a Porsche magazine.
Gear List
The pictures were taken with three different cameras: a Phase One IQ260 with three Schneider Kreuznach (55, 80 and 110 mm), a Canon 5D Mark III with the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM, and a Sony Alpha 7R with a Sony Zeiss Sonnar T* FE 35mm f2.8 ZA. As lightning, I used a Elinchrom Ranger Quadra RX and a Elinchrom Ranger. For the interior shots I used a DIY-Kino Flo light.
The Night Shot
This shot was taken with the Canon 5D Mark III and the Canon 16-35mm at its widest end. To match the different intensities, I took eight pictures for this final image, but only used five of them: the sky, the mountains in the background, the meadow in the foreground, the lights of the car and the car itself. The exposure time were all between 10s and 240s, which I varied with different focal apertures between 2.8 and 8, to get as much light as possible for the sky and as much sharpness as possible for the car and the foreground.
The Moving Shot
This shot was taken with the Phase One. Everything is natural light. It was shot at f 9.0 and 1/15 sec. My first shot was the beautiful landscape, without the car. My assistant then drove the car in place and another shot was taken. In order to get an exceptional result of the rims, my assistant had to drive very slowly. A great side effect of taking pictures of a moving car, always focusing on the car, is a blurred background. Always take as many shots as possible and select the best later – I shot about 50, but only used eight of them.
In the end everything was composed in Photoshop. To boost the speed in the image and to modify a part of the landscape, I used Virtual Rig Studio.
The Interior Shot
This shot was taken with the Phase One. I placed a DIY Kino Flow Light on the outside of the car. Continuous light is best to illuminate any kind of interior for several reasons: On the one hand, you see what you are doing and on the other, the light is shaping the object. Use a tripod at night in order not to limit the exposure time, for one.
Remove every dust particle with Photoshop to render the high quality work of the car. Do some dodging and burning in Photoshop to enhance contrast. As you can see – the biggest and most important work for this image was done directly with the camera!
To see more images from this shoot, check out the entire gallery HERE.
About the “How to Shoot It” Series
This educational series highlights amazing images from our writers as well as our community. The goal is to not only feature inspirational work but to provide valuable education for our photography community. If you would like to submit your work, please click here for more info on writing for SLR Lounge.
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