Here’s my unusual car image for this week. A BMW M4 Coupe, in Austin Yellow! Not one you’d miss on the road!
Photographed for a client.
Car of the Week 8th Jan 2021
Category Archives: Cars and Vehicles
THe Beauty of Machinery?
Volvo Mechanical Shovel.
There’s no doubt that an image like this will never be considered ‘beauutiful.’ It’s the inside of the cab of a huge mechanical shovel, the end used in quarries to lift tons of stone and gravel and load it into lorries.
I made the image, along with others, interior and exterior, as part of a commission for a commercial client, so it won’t ever be hanging on anyone’s wall!
Yet beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and photography, unlike some other disciplines is entirely subjective. What one person thinks is attractive and beautiful, will be repulsive to another. When I’d finished the commission, and sent off the completed images, this one still stuck out as interesting, if not exactly pretty. I like the almost ‘three dimensional’ aspect of the image, created by the juxtaposition of the levers and the screen, leading the eye in a convergence toward the starter key. The depth of field that blurs the image of other vehicles outside helps to keep the eye from straying outside the cab.
Fujifilm X-T4, F=55mm, f/5 @ 1/60th on ISO1600.
BMW X5 Dream SUV
BMW X5, photographed for a client for the ultimate on-line sales impact. Every business needs professional imagery.
For more information click https://bobmcevoy.co.uk/commercial/vehicle-photography-asset-inspections/
Grey is the New Green!
When is a Gray Car Green?
When it’s the BMW 330e Hybrid Petrol / Electric Vehicle!
This BMW 330i I photographed for a client today reminded me of Boris Johnston’s recent attempt at creating a new cuddly green image!
Unlike Boris, this sleek stylish beauty really is efficient and fast paced, 138mpg, 0-62 in 5.9 seconds, and buying it new will set you back a mere £40K or thereabouts.
BMW 520d Touring
Photographed today…
Truly sleek, with classic lines and superb comfort, the BMW520 estate is a family car with executive class. I photographed it today with the Fujifilm X-T3, indoors, against a white background, so that my client’s website marketing stands out from the competition.
They are MILES AHEAD!
NIR Engineering Car
Unplanned Trackside Serendipity
I was sitting in the passenger seat of Janette’s car, crossing the M3 bridge in Belfast, with the Fujifilm X-T4 in my lap, when this track maintenance vehicle crossed the railway bridge which runs parallel to the road. A quick adjustment or two, and thanks to the X-T4’s in-body image stabilisation and continual autofocus, and I got this shot from that rare angle, a shot that would be impossible on foot!
So the only thing planned about this shot was the readiness of the camera!
F=55mm, f/5.6 @ 1/150th sec on ISO800
Slaght Crossing
Old Trackside Railway Hut
Around 2.30pm this afternoon, I was about to cross the Slaght Level Crossing, outside Ballymema, when this old trackside hut caught my eye, and I thought, “Ah ha! There’s an old trackside hut! Time to get the camera out.” I parked the car, and walked to a gate with a view of the track, and fitted a medium length zoom on the Fujifilm X-T4. (No, I wasn’t trespassing on the tracks.)
Fujifilm X-T4, F=200mm, f/4.8 @ 1/250th sec on ISO 1600.
I needed the faster shutter speed to steady the lens in the wind, – I should really have got the monopod out, lowered the shutter speed to 1/60th and the ISO to 400.
But then hindsight’s a wonderful thing!
Actually, a few days down the track (see what I did there) and I decided to take away that ugly sign in Photoshp. It probably improves the image significantly!
Car of the Week. W/c 16th Nov 20
Car of the Week.
So many nice cars to photograph last week that that it was hard to choose one for ‘Car of the Week.’ But for sheer class it had to be this beautiful Porsche 911 Speedster.
Photographed for a client using the Fujifilm X-T3.
Other contenders for the coveted award were:
The ‘On The Move’ Project’
Adjusting to retirement, or just a new obsession?
‘The Car in Photography’
I’ve this thing about cars. I’m not by any means a ‘petrolhead’ – after all, I drive a Skoda! But I’ve been photographing cars commercially for about 15 years, but I’ve always been glad to get those jobs done and get away home, or back to the studio for some real photography! But there is no studio anymore, and I’ve been reading a book called ‘Autofocus – The Car in Photography.’ It’s pretty inspiring! I’ve taken an interest in getting car images just for fun, my ‘On the Move Project.’ Ive been sitting in the passenger seat, with the camera, on continuous focus, and looking for interesting vehicles out and about. I’ll share more of these images from time to time.
Get it at Amazon:
Anyway, I found this Mini One sitting at traffic lights in Belfast. I underexposed by two stops, darkening the background significantly and keeping the brake lights looking realistic. Normal exposure would have rendered the red lights unrealistically bright. In photoshop I duplicated the layer and raised the exposure in the bottom layer by 2stops, added a layer mask to the upper layer and then painted the car in at normal exposure. Except the lights of course!
THe VW and the ibis…
In-Body Image Stabilisation on the Fujifilm X-T4
One of the great advantages of the Fujifilm X-T4, and the unique selling point, as far as I was concerned, was the IBIS feature. It works a treat! So, to combine it with the continuous focus mode, I sat in the passenger seat, with the camera, while Janette was driving.
Ok, so there’s some of our roads here that no amount of digital technology could cope with! Bumps, potholes, bends, (and sharp gear shifts… LOL) all take their toll on the image stability! So, when we got onto a reasonably straight road, I fixed the focus on a few other vehicles on the road, and made some images!
