Any advice to shoot an event with 40 of the same car?

virginie24jb

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Hi,

I don't know if it's the right place for that post. If it's not, sorry. Please move the subject to another section of the forum.

So car photography is not my strong point. But I kinda like it. My brother owns a Toyota GT86. He signed up on a message board where he chats and meets with other owners and each year they organize a festival where 40 car owners participate.
This year, the festival will take place in our region (in June) and we've had a meeting yesterday with the admin of the forum who is the main organizer and a few other owners who'll help organize. We discussed ideas such as activities, itineraries, etc. I know them from different times I've hanged with them on other outings. They liked my pictures and they officially named me photographer for that weekend. They said I don't have a choice. I'm flattered and... anxious. :icon_redface: It's not paid, it's just for fun but I'm looking at it as a learning experience. I'm looking for advice in terms of logistics, gear and ideas of shoots.

Here's how the weekend will go:
On Saturday we'll likely meet at a Toyota dealer (just waiting for their approval but it should be okay). So most of my work there will be to capture the people interacting with one another and the details of each car since most of them are modified in a way or another. I think the 50mm will be the lens to use. And maybe a little wider for more general scenes? So either I walk around with two cameras or one and switch lenses... Any advice?

Then we will all drive for more than an hour to go to a restaurant and we'll take interesting mountain roads. We've decided to divide the convoy into four groups of 10 cars (+ organizers.; probably one at the beginning and one at the end of the group). One way for me to do it would be to be at the end of the first group (shoot some pictures of the group from there), then they leave me on the side of the road somewhere. I wait for the second group, take pictures as they drive by. I get back into the last car of the second group that will drop me off somewhere else, etc. Does that seem doable?
Maybe I could also be in the first car of the group and shoot from the trunk while on little roads so that I can have pictures of the cars from the front...
So far I've used the 70-300 for shots taken from the interior of the car while we were driving. But when on the side of the road, I guess I'll need something like my 24-105. What would be your advice on carrying that gear (two cameras, with two or three different lens). I have a backpack but I doubt it will be very efficient if I need to change cameras quickly, etc. get out of a car, go back in another... That logistic scares me a little. :icon_confused:

We'll have dinner together that evening (photos or not?) and then everybody goes to their respective lodging for the night (home, hotel, etc.).

On Sunday, we'll have a tourist rally where we think three cars will leave every 2-3 minutes. I think I'll be somewhere on the itinerary to shoot every car as they go by. Still thinking about that.

Others ideas : there will be a huge parking lot for midday on Sunday. And it's sloping. I'm thinking about parking the cars according to their colors (every red, every orange, etc. together) and I would be at the bottom of the parking lot. I need to be a little higher so I could use a ladder or something in order to have the 40+ cars on the picture.
Any advice or ideas?
 
OK, here's some things to consider. When shooting individual cars, GET LOW to the ground. Shoot at headlight level, maybe a smidge higher. I like your idea organizing all 40 according to color on the hill. A ladder is DEFINITELY a necessity for that. You'll need your 24-105 more than your 70-300, and when you're shooting individual cars, you'll be on the 24 side more than the 105.
 
I actually did something very similar this past summer, but with motor-cycles instead of cars. I had planned something very similar to your get out and shoot them as they go by (I was on the back of a bike driven by a fellow who had apparently not got all the way to the end of his 'Ten-step anti-suicide' program...) and that part of the plan went to hell immediately because getting ahead of that many vehicles to get off and then get back on, just wasn't feasible. What I did was get the fellow just to ride through the pack and I shot from them as we passed. If you can get someone to drive a car not in the event, then what you can do (assuming local laws, geography, etc permit) is start at the head of the pack and gradually drop back, so over the course of a few miles, you wind up as 'Tail-end Charlie'. If you have time, try and do this twice; you want at least two shots of every vehicle. Shooting from the trunk is a good idea photographically, not so much from a safety PoV; do you know anyone with a pick-up truck?

I think your 'sort by colour' idea is great; will there be any problem keeping the parking lot clear? The ladder will be essential, and also make sure that the light will work. Since this is going to be an all-ambient shot, make sure you know where the sun will be.

One thing I did that helped at least somewhat was to brief everyone before the ride started. I'm assuming that the organizers will hold a quick pre-departure brief going over the route, safety, etc. I took two minutes and told people what bike I was going to be on, and when they saw me coming, move over so I could pass, don't mug for the camera, etc. It will also help a LOT if you can drive the route beforehand. shooting at the bottom of a long downgrade, especially if it's got a curve is great for getting lots of vehicles in one shot.

Good luck!
 
Thank you very much for those advice. I don't know what is better: going from one car to another or staying in the same car that takes me where I want. Problem is the groups will be separated so I can't really catch up the previous group, etc. Since they will be separated by several minutes I thought going from one group to the other (waiting on the next group) would be easier than trying to catch up.

Pick-ups are not common here and I'm not sure the law allows that anyway. :icon_confused: I think this is an idea I'll have to forget.

I think your 'sort by colour' idea is great; will there be any problem keeping the parking lot clear? The ladder will be essential, and also make sure that the light will work. Since this is going to be an all-ambient shot, make sure you know where the sun will be.
Well... I hadn't thought of that. I've just checked and it turns out the sun will be almost directly behind the cars (top of the hill) so I'm not sure it's gonna work out the way I wanted...
The parking is huge (very long) so it should be fine to find the space we need.
 
This is a social gathering, so be sure to get the owners/navigators in the photos with their cars.

I doubt very much if you will get a good shot of all cars at once.

I recommend that you do primarily photography, watching the light, the backgrounds, to composition, etc. Don't try to do anything fancy. Just good photography.

If anybody complains, tell them to hire a team of photographers next time.
 
Move cars to unique location with clean background or just enjoy the show.

using tapatalk.
 
You're in luck! Conveniently it's 40 of the SAME car. Just shoot one car and photoshop it into all the other colors you need! :eyebrows:
 
Thank you for your suggestions.

You're in luck! Conveniently it's 40 of the SAME car. Just shoot one car and photoshop it into all the other colors you need! :eyebrows:
Nice try but as I said most of the cars have been modified one way or another. I doubt we'll have two cars that are exactly the same. ;)
 
Everybody will want their car pictured and you can't go to them all so worry first about setting up somewhere where they come to you. Then worry about other pictures you may want.
 
We thought maybe we could find a place on the itinerary where I could take a picture of each car with their driver. But it's gonna take time...

Something like that :
10339504_1491007721112408_8799747760008700108_o.jpg
 

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