Techniques & Processes Archives

Panoramic Photography – The wider view

Posted on May 1, 2014 by mattbristow

Panoramic photography if I’m honest it is my secret pleasure!

Panoramic photography never used to be something I paid any attention though. I always thought that panoramic photography was far too fiddly and time consuming. Add to that that the thought of needing specialist kit like tripods and heads it was something I was pretty keen to avoid!

But, and here it is, its a lesson in not believing everything you read! You don’t need all that stuff, unless of course its your bread and butter and you can justify spending the ££’s then that’s fine. But I’m a press and PR photographer and I cant so I have to make do with what I have and my available subject matter. I increasingly find myself out on an assignment shooting a set of frames specifically thinking about a panoramic.

I mean a good panoramic is just nice to look at, isn’t it?

Dunstanburgh Castle, Northumberland

There just something about the above image that to me is just ‘nice’ and I suppose that’s why I like Panoramic Photography. Some people will say ‘but hey, you can get that effect from a nice frame with a wide angle lens’ and yes you can but you venture into the realms of distortion and absurdly shaped people. However a word to the wise, you can go over board with a panoramic especially if you shoot wide. Below is a great shot which would have been better shooting a little less wide so the balloons are, well round looking!!

World record balloon channel crossing attempt

However sometimes that just the effect your looking for.

GB Mens Basketball V Peurto Rico, Copper Box Arena. August 2013

So here’s how I do it. I always, always shoot upright. Otherwise you’ll end up with such a narrow and wide final image it will be painful to look at it! I find at least 6 frames make for a decent final image. Make sure you keep the exposure even (I’m not going to tell you how to expose a picture) and have a landscape appropriate aperture. Then in post I use PS to stitch it all together. I think its important to have a point of focus, for example:

Richborough Towers the day before they were demolished.

There is also a technique called the Brenizer Method developed by american wedding tog Ryan Brenizer. I think its a missed panoramic technique as you shoot in the same way the only difference is that you use a shallow DOF and shoot more of a grid but the wide effect with a point of focus is still the final target. Yes Ryan has developed it as a portrait thing as you end up with a such a super small DOF but there are a lot of similarities, and the possibilities are endless!

Brenizer Method – Just a different way to shoot a panoramic

In ten years the only panoramic I can remember being published is this one I shot and added as an afterthought for the KM group an assignment on the National Trust property South Foreland Lighthouse and made a very nice 2 page spread in the paper a couple of weeks ago.

If you perfect the technique it is possible to get a group of people into one, which believe me isn’t as easy as it sounds

Anyway that’s enough of my guilty photographic pleasure. I think every photographer both amateur and professional alike ought to have one and now mine is out in the open. Have a go. I’d like to to see the results you might get.

So in finishing here’s a few more of my favorites:

: Car Feature – abandoned factory, Bristol

: Noel Cowards house St Margrates at Cliffe, Kent

: The resevoir at Vinuella southern Spain

: Mallory Park Race Circuit

: Elevated view of the paddock and track of Lyyden Hill Race Circuit during the RallyRX 1 2013

: Volley Ball England Beach Volley Ball Finals. Margate, Kent

: Lydden Hill Race Circuit

: European Class 8 Kite buggy Championships, Hoylake

Car Rig Shot | All you need to know

Posted on August 22, 2013 by mattbristow

So you want to do a car rig shot? Well who wouldn’t?

A Car Rig Shot is very cool! But when I wanted to build my own rig there was little or no information available. It seems that it was shrouded in more secrecy than the magic circle. Other photographers simply didn’t want to divulge their methods.

I have been meaning to write this for a while. Here’s my DIYish way of doing a car rig shot without breaking the bank! Don’t get me wrong there are widely available commercial rigs that you can buy if money is no object. Typically these start at over £1,000! So if money is no object go and check out the guys at https://www.carcamerarig.com their rigs are superb.

Heres what you’ll need to take a Car Rig Shot

A couple of Manfrotto F1000 pump cups (I only use Manfrotto as all my other stuff like this is Manfrotto so I know they are interchangable!) these can be picked up for around £60 from places like Wex Photographic

I never leave home without at least half a dozen Manfrotto Super Clamps in the bag, just because they are so usefull on any shoot, but for this you will only need three.

You’ll then need a way of attaching your camera. I use a Manfrotto Magic Arm. I have seen all sorts of other methods used to save on weight but I use my Canon 1D’s with this without any issues. These retail at over £100 but I picked mine up from E-Bay for £20!

I also normally have with me a couple of Manfrotto Umbrella Swival adaptors. With an array of male/female siggot adaptors. These aren’t always needed but if the car your rigging has odd curves these are usefull to make up extra height.

Finally you will need something pole like. I first used steel conduit that simply screwed together. But they proved too heavy and created lots of wobble due to their weight. Infact the Cosworth shot below was shot using these. I actually use aluminium scaffolding poles. I was lucky enough to find a 5m length in my garage I didn’t know I had!

I have it in three pieces and attach them like this.

Put it all together and it should look a bit like this.

Depending on where you shoot and what surface you might want to add some sort of tension cable. I just use some fine metal wire and a piece of carbon kite rod. You can see this in the shot above.

Taking the shot

I always aim for a 3-6 second exposure dependant on time of day and weather conditions. Anything longer doesn’t really add much infact I think it actually takes away, as if you blur the background too much the car simply looks like a cut out.

To take the shot its always easier to simply push the car, thats the trick, rig shots are taken with the car barely moving! Having said that I have done it with the car under power.

Theres a myriad of ways to trigger the exposure anything from setting the self timer on your camera to using a wireless trigger like Pocket Wizards. The choice is up to you.

Once you have taken the shot you should have something that looks a bit like this.

All thats left is to photoshop out the rig and voila you have your rig shot.

Caterham rig shot for Car Throttle

Here are a couple of my favorites that I have been commissioned to shoot over the past 18 months or so.

Rallycross Super car | Rig Shot for Japanese Performance

Ford Cosworth RS | Rig Shot for private client

Ford Prefect | Rig Shot for Performance Ford

Ford Prefect | Rig Shot for Unity Media

One last word of warning from me on rig shots. Yes, they are cool and look awesome. But they don’t show much about the detail of the vehicle. A feature shoot is just that its all about features and detail. So don’t use a rig shot just because you can it has to be in context with the brief.

If theres anything thats not clear or you want more information add a comment below and I’ll try my best to answer it.

You can see more of my automotive work at www.rubberduckdoes.com

Dark Field Lighting Technique

Posted on August 6, 2013 by mattbristow

Dark Field Lighting Technique. Its not some evil Star Wars hocus pokus. Its a lesser known method for dramatically lighting glass and liquids.

I first blogged about Dark Field Lighting way back in 2010. Since then I have had the conversation with so many people that I thought I’d repost it again, with a few edits here and there.

Have you ever tried to photograph something thats made of glass? If you have you’ll know the problems with reflections, it usually results in your mugshot in one of the reflections possibly grining, or the window with the number 7 bus driving by! Not wholly professional and certainly it wont be of a standard that a client is willing to pay for.

Your solution therefore is the dark field method, before I get flamed by those in the know, yes there is an opposite technique called, yes you’ve guessed it Light Field Photography. Its a bit like the Ying and Yang of product photography lighting!

Firstly and most surprisingly theres no direct light and only one strobe used here, you could use a second snooted strobe camera left or right to pick out any detail if you felt like it.

The glass subject sat on something black I used foam core with glass ontop for that shiney look. A further piece of foamcore just big enough to fill the frame.So here’s the set up and its really simple.

The strobe is set below the table pointing directly at a white wall immediately behind all this. The room needs to be very dark to eliminate any reflections. In a small room you will have problems with reflections from the walls etc.

My product studio is small so to get round this I used reflective umbrellas black side out to both left and right nice and close in any other black ‘flag type’ props will do the job.

Heres a less styled shot with a bit more colour.

That is all there is to it, give it a go. I would be interested in hearing how any of you get on.