Chevrolet Corvette ZR1

 I recently did a shoot for Automotive News.  This black Corvette ZR1 was the car that was being featured.

The Chevy Corvette is an iconic car, so it is always fun to have a chance to shoot one.

Orcatek Automotive Photography - Phoenix, Arizona

Lamborghini Murcielago

I had the chance to photograph this beautiful automobile in my studio recently.  I love it when I get the chance to work as an automotive photographer.   Not as many photo shoots with cars it seems, but I still built custom lighting into my studio to create this type of photo.

Orcatek  Automotive Photography - Phoenix, Arizona

37 Ford Hotrod

This week my favorite shoot was this 1937 Ford roadster. It was an amazing car and the owner really has taken care to keep this car a show winner.



Orcatek Automotive and Motorcycle Photography - Phoenix, Arizona

Black Mercedes

This week I faced the challenge of photographing a black Mercedes in the studio. As with all black cars, dealing with reflections was key to success.



It was worth the effort as I really enjoy photographing cars. From classic hotrods to awesome exotic cars, each presents their own challenge for the photographer. Finding the perfect angle to show off the curves of a fender, or just the right light to bring out details hidden in shadows are just a few of the problems I enjoy solving.

I’ve got another car coming in soon that will provide the opportunity to use some new techniques.

Orcatek Automotive and Motorcycle Photography - Phoenix, Arizona

Automobile and Motorcycle Studio Photography

Motorcycle or photography in the studio presents some interesting challenges. For this week I will take a look at some of the many options for dealing with these details.

First of all cars are big and don’t move easily to “adjust their pose”. Motorcycles are a bit simpler to photograph as they can move easier, but cars or trucks are just a whole lot of work. Careful planning is required.

The first thing you need is a studio that has enough space to hold the car and allow you to get far enough away to shoot it. If the photographer is too close you will need to use your wide angle lens leading to shots where the vehicle will have a huge front end for example. Sometimes this look can be what you want, but more often than not, it is problematic. I prefer to be a good 20 or more feet to keep proportions correct.

For moving the car around the studio, car wheel dollies are great. One goes under each tire and you can jack it up then basically push the car in any direction that you want, even spin it in a circle. They are not a cheap tool, but if you shoot a lot of cars, they are well worth the investment.


Lighting is another key. You need a large soft light from above for most automotive work. Since I shoot on white, I have painted my light stands and cords white to hide them in reflections. Nothing more annoying than a beautiful white highlight on a car with a light stand jumping out at you.

The other most difficult thing to deal with is reflections. The whole automobile is one great big mirror. Chrome on motorcycles can be even worse. And of course the classic black hot rod looks great, but shows everything. A very clean studio area is critical. Anything that must remain should be pushed as far away as possible from the car. This includes yourself and your assistants.

I actually have my assistants step off set behind a wall in my studio. I wear black to help hide my reflection. Another reason for keeping the photographer to automobile distance large during the shoot, is that it makes the reflections much smaller and easier to deal with in post.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. And if you are in the Phoenix area, I do rent my studio to other photographers.

Orcatek Automotive and Motorcycle Photography

Motorcyles on the Beach

This week it was off to the beach for to photography a motorcycle. Shooting a motorcycle at a beach is very difficult. The biggest challenge is the motorcycle will sink into the beach.

On a sandy beach I would bury a layer or two of plywood just below the surface of the sand and then smooth it out after placing the bike. In this case the beach had a hard area that was not sandy at all. Being hard and dry the bike could stand on its own.

I was pretty happy with the end result. When things were set and I liked where the sun was, creating a good shadow. Adding in some additional light to fill in the rest of the shot and it came together as I had imagined.


Orcatek Automotive and Motorcycle Photography - Phoenix, Arizona

Shooting cars at The Studio

This week I had the chance to shoot a car in my new studio. Having done a lot of automotive photography, I knew just what I wanted as the new studio was created. As I moved the test car into the studio I could see that everything had come together just as I wanted.

The lighting was everything I had hoped it would be. This shot gave me just what I wanted using the standard configuration.



I plan on doing a lot more automotive photography in future in the studio. Location work falls off so much here in Phoenix during the summer due to the heat. Now I can do the shoots in the studio while I enjoy the air conditioning.

The only thing that I will be adding is some hydraulic car wheel dollies to make positioning the car easier. With them if the photographer needs to rotate the car and inch or two it is a quick job to do as opposed to trying to drive the car back and forth to get it perfect.

The Studio is available for rental to other photographers.

Orcatek Photography

The Studio – Phoenix

Canon 50D does Barrett-Jackson

I love January in Phoenix as it is the time of year when all the car auctions come to town. I enjoy the opportunity to see so many wonderful cars all gathered in one location. Last week I spent some time at Barrett-Jackson with my Canon 50D.

The lighting is all over the board at these auctions – full sun, open shade, tungsten, and mixed. I knew this would give the 50D a good chance to be tested. I had done some shooting with it outdoors and in studio, so I knew it worked well in these environments, but the indoor shots with random lighting seemed like it would be a challenge.

With prior cameras I would just crank up the ISO and shoot in AV mode keeping an eye on the shutter speed vs the focal length, tweaking the ISO where I could get away with it. The 50D now has an auto mode for ISO that I decided to get a test shooting the stage. As the cars move across the stage the lighting varies dramatically, and I wanted to get the cars in the clear, so I there was no one spot that they could be shot.

And not being a bidder, this meant I had to shoot from the cheap seats, so flash was out of the question. So I decided to switch the ISO to auto and see how the camera behaved. The ISO swung from 400 to 1250 depending on where I had the camera pointed and what aperture I selected. It kept the shutter speed within acceptable hand holding for the focal and length and never seemed to falter.

Upon reviewing the shots I was quite pleased with the results. Even though the noise level is acceptable for this type of work at the highest range the camera selected, it was nice to have even cleaner shots available when the light was better. I can really see where this feature can come in handy and why the Nikon users have always spoken so highly about the usefulness of this setting.

Auto-focus is also something I got a chance to test under the poor lighting and the 50D did great. I was very happy to see that it locked quickly and accurately under some tough conditions. The images were focused correctly and the camera only hunted when it faced the toughest targets where there was no contract to be seen. Experience has taught me to just focus on an edge and then recompose to the low contrast area as needed.

I will feel quite comfortable using the Canon 50D for this type of event in the future. Next week I hope to spend some time with my 5DII in the studio.

Orcatek Photograrphy - Phoenix