1976 Corvette - A Challenging Shoot for an Iconic Sports Car

The Corvette, America's iconic sports car has survived the test of time. From beginning's in 1953 it grew in favor and reputation until today where the newest cars are so filled with technology those of us who remember the good old days can hardly fathom the engineering used to create these marvelous machines. The first one I remember seeing and knowing it was a Corvette was a black 1963 Stingray. I was 11 years old and a neighbor down the street parked his new sportscar in his driveway. It took about three minutes before every person in the neighborhood hovered around this beauty. I've been fascinated with them ever since and even today as I am able to work parttime at the National Corvette Museum, I find their styling and mystique as endearing as ever.

A friend of mine, an ex-Navy guy and former co-worker Jim Rhea, some years ago discovered an early model icon sitting in disrepair with weeds growing out of the engine compartment and vines wrapping themselves around the body and inside the cab . The floor was rotted, windows busted, upholstery torn and frayed, and the wiring in disrepair. Even so, he saw not a ruined derelict, but a great project full of potential, one that would eventually take him over 18 months to restore. When he was finished, a 1976 Corvette was raised from the ash heap of forgotten dreams and restored to its former glory.

We met up again recently to spend a couple of hours photographing his re-creation using another symbol of this beautiful car as a backdrop; The National Corvette Museum (NCM) in Bowling Green, Kentucky. This is the story of how we pulled off a challenging photographic session.

My goal on this shoot was to capture a single exciting photograph of this beautifully restored vehicle. One that captured not only the car's styling but the car's muscle and pedigree. Photographing a white car against a dark background is not an easy task when using speedlights. The risk is over exposing the white and underexposing the darker areas.

The first problem was to identify the basic process. I decided on using four speedlights, wished I had five, one with a softbox positioned so as to capture the lines and aesthetic values of the car. The idea was to position the car in front of the Sky Dome at the NCM and shoot around the dusk hour so we could capture not only the car but the dynamic flavor of the cone-shaped Sky Dome as the backdrop. I decided to once again use the flash sync process known as Rear Sync, where the flash does not fire until the end of the shutter cycle. This would allow for burning in the background and then filling in the car with light at the last moment.

We also needed to figure out how to best position the car in relation to the Sky Dome which took some trial and error. Once we had the basic configuartion figured out, it was a matter of positioning the lights to illuminate the car while we also captured the background in the same shot.

The basic exposure values were ISO 400 - f/8.0 @ 2.5 seconds with the lens set at 20mm and secured on a tripod. I used manual focus to make sure the car was the primary focal point Once the exposure was set, the camera was not touched and was fired using a remote cable.

The lights were setup in this manner: The main light with a softbox was positioned about 6 feet in front of and slightly to one side of the car somewhat above eye level with the softbox rotated to the horizontal position. It was also set to about 1/4 power initially. This was my key light. One speed light, set to 1/16th power and zoomed in tight, sat on the ground slightly pointing toward the front tire. This not only brought life to the tire, it created a seam along the front curve of the body fender. A third light, also set to 1/32nd power, was pointed toward the rear tire well which rounded out the side lighting on the body. The fourth light, set to 1/64th power was positioned so it would shoot into the cab area thus illuminating the inside of the car.

My camera was positioned at about 45 degrees from the front and was positoned above eye level. With this as a starting point, we made several exposures and checked the results, then tweaked the lights as needed moving them in and out or to one side to even out the light on the car. We eventually had Jim hold the key light and angle it down so as to illuminate the top of the car with more light.

Although not bad for a first attempt, there are a few things I would do differently next time. Even so, the shot came off pretty well. Thanks to Jim for allowing me to capture his iconic car in front of an iconic museum.

The Night Train Portrait: Applying Rear Sync Flash as Part of the Photographic Equation

Shooting with off-camera lighting is possibly one of the most misunderstood elements of photography. Many photographers shy away from using them simply because they do not understand how. I know because I was for many years one of those photographers who relied on the excuse, "I prefer to use available light," which really meant I had no clue how to use speedlights. Yet, after studying the results of other photographers who did use speedlights, I became convinced of the value and creative power off camera flash can generate. The principles behind their use are actually quite simple, however, learning how to apply their power to my photographic desires has been an uplifting challenge I continue to develop.

One of the most creative ways to use speedlights is to apply what is known as Rear Sync Flash. Rear Sync is fundamentally quite simple. It is best used in low-light situations where it allows you to apply a slow shutter speed to pickup more of the ambient light, then freeze your subject with the flash which fires at the end of the shutter cycle. In other words, the shutter opens and remains open for an extended period of time before the flash fires just before the shutter closes. This also allows the camera to pickup some movement before freezing the subject. Used creatively, you can obtain some amazing results.

Trial and error, and applying visual compositional equations that work allowed me over time to build confidence in using off camera lighting. The Night Train Portrait shown here is one of my first portraits using speedlights where I stretched the imaginative realm beyond what I would ordinarily do. It was a moment when the use of artificial light became a larger part of the equation and was blended with a wonderful nostalgic setting along with appealing ambient light. It became a moment where the creative impact of off camera lighting was applied fully to create an exciting photographic moment.

Lets look at how this image was set up. The background, the Bowling Green Historic Railpark and Train Museum, was a key element in the design of this image. I wanted something classic and nostalgic as a background, yet interesting. Bold, yet simple. A place where design and simplicity of character were present. The bold incandescent lighting in front of the building provided a contrasting warm tone that worked well against the dark blue of the sky at dusk.

The model, the lovely Dallas, provided a delicate strength to blend with the contrasts of the background. By shooting from a low perspective, I was able to partially isolate her against the smooth texture of the sky. Although I knew pretty much how I wanted to setup the shot, applying the lighting took a bit of planning as well. On most location shoots I will use one light, sometimes two. For this image I wanted to take it to an entirely new level. To concentrate on creating one photograph, and one look. To experiment with Rear Sync creative lighting.

Two lights were required for this shot. One Key Light and one Kicker Backlight. The backlight was placed to create a halo around the model and the trailing train of material. All lights were fired remotely using a camera mounted transmitter. The train consisted of 3 yards of thin cotton material in a Burgundy color because burgundy will work with almost any color...white, blue, black, red....My model was wearing a delicately styled patterned dress which added a measure of elegance to the composition.

The Key light, set initially to about 1/8th power was on a stand set to be slightly higher than and about 4 feet in front of my model, just out of the line of sight of the camera lens.  The kicker light was placed on a stand behind the model. Its power setting was initially around 1/32 power, about 2 stops lower than the key light...just enough to provide a rim light effect. My camera, as always when using speedlights, was set to manual and the flash mode was set to Rear Sync. I used a wide angle lens and needed a bit of depth of field to keep the background somewhat in focus so I used an aperture of f/6.3. I also needed more light gathering ability so I bumped the ISO to 800 which allowed me to use a shutter speed of 1/6th of a second.

The beauty of using flash is that it freezes your subject so even with a slow shutter, my model was still sharp and clear, yet the ghost-like movement of the material was captured during the non-flash portion of the exposure. To keep the background sharp I set the camera on a tripod collapsed all the way down to its lowest level and made the shot from a low angle.

At that point it was simply a matter of choreographing an interesting look with the model which took some trial and error, but the results turned out better than I hoped for.