Zooming Ahead..

[Vikkki]

This is a composite of two shots.
The camera was mounted on a tripod and placed between the front and the back seats. Manually focussed the camera on the rear view mirror and set the camera on shutter priority.

After multiple attempts, I realized that it is next to impossible to get the reflection of myself sharp while the car was moving. Though I had the camera on a tripod, the tripod itslef was not secured onto the car (one leg of the tripod was on the rear seat!) So, I took a picture of myself in the rear view while the car was stationary. I used a SB600 to light myelf from the left. I decided to use a long shutter speed for the stationary shot also becuase I wanted the light trails to be visible in the rear view mirror too (else the image would look very odd).

Now that I had my face done, I drove the car on the highway and got the picture of the light trails in the windscreen.

Postprocessing: I imported both the pictures into PS and using layers, composited the rear view mirror on the other image. I still think the image is not as sharp as it can be, but I guess it is okay for a first attempt.

I also used Noiseware to reduce the noise a little. Final sharpening was done using unsharp mask in photoshop.

I settled on the square crop because I felt the reflection and the hand complement and cancel each other out.

I am going to give this same technique a try in the day time sometime next week. Let's see how that pans out!

--Vikram

[Bianca.Tarleton]

I like it! I think the hand component could use some work though, it looks a little unreal, it doesn't really match your skin color. But then again, your working off the color coming in through the windsheild too. Maybe add a layer where you're stationary again and get the shot of your hand as well? Just a thought.

I started experimenting with car photography this last weekend with my BMW and got some decent shots. I think I might give your rearview shot a try.

[leonaashlee]

Very neat shot....great work