cars

Photographing Cars with Jay Leno

Every so often, a photo shoot comes along, and in the middle of it, you find yourself taking a step back and mentally trying to reckon with the idea that you should be paying just to be there. Sometimes, it is the subject, and sometimes, it is the experience; the photo shoot I’m talking about today was a bit of both.

How (Not) To Photograph Car Meetups

I’m a native of Las Vegas, having lived here my entire life, and I have been a professional photographer here for over 25 years. With Formula One coming here soon we’re we’re about to be thrust onto the world stage of motorsports but many don’t realize the city is no stranger to car enthusiasts.

The Mercedes C1000 car photographed by automotive photographer Blair Bunting in Phoenix, Arizona.

Photographing the One-of-a-Kind Mercedes C1000

Some cars exist in myths and legends. They can be so rare that even a car enthusiast might only see them by the good graces of another. The Mercedes C1000 exemplifies this.

Behind the Scenes: Shooting a Bugatti Chiron Going from 0 to 250mph

Back in 2017, automotive filmmaker Al Clark and his team at OUTRUN filmed an impressive "0-400-0 km/h" commercial for Bugatti's latest and greatest supercar: the 1500bhp Bugatti Chiron. Now, after years of online speculation, Clark is finally revealing how exactly they did it.

The Art of Lighting Porsche Racecars

Photographing a Porsche is a special experience for me, as I am a racing fan, and Porsche is racing. They are the essence of speed on the curving tracks they have graced around the world, and on a photo shoot, they are just as incredible sitting still. It is for this and many other reasons that I count myself lucky to stand behind the camera while photographing the art pieces that are Porsche racecars.

This Photo Manipulation Timelapse Shows Off Some Mad Photoshop Skills

Last week, 25-year-old Danish automotive photographer Sebastian Pichard grabbed an old photo from his archives, opened up Photoshop CC, hit record, and started editing without any idea what exactly he would end up with. The resulting editing timelapse shows off his mad Photoshop skills... and a bit of image theft.

Fashion Photographer Imagines Cars as Supermodels

What if a spell turned some of the world's most famous car models into real women? What would they look like? That's what photographer Viktorija Pashuta decided to explore with her latest portrait project, titled "What if Cars Were SUPERMODELS?"

She gathered 12 top supermodels and gave them looks that reflected cars that range from Kia Optima to the Rolls Royce Phantom.

Land Rover Uses Cameras to Make Trailers Disappear in a Rear View ‘Mirror’

British car manufacturer Land Rover has introduced an interesting new technology that uses multiple cameras to make trailers “disappear” from an LCD rearview mirror while you're driving. By combining video feeds from both the existing rear view and side view cameras with a digital wireless camera mounted on the back of the trailer, the system creates the impressive illusion of transparency.

Them and Theirs: A Cinematic Look at People and the Cars They Drive

Los Angeles-based photographer Ryan Schude started a a fun little photo project while attending San Francisco Art Institute a number of years ago. He would travel around and capture portraits of people who had vanity plates on their vehicle.

Upon graduating, his project carried on, becoming a bit more broad as time went on and his style become more refined. And once again, he’s revisiting the project, bringing the eclectic cars and owners to life in an ongoing series.

GoPro Teams Up with BMW, In-Car GoPro Control Coming to a Bimmer Near You

In a very strange partnership, it’s been announced that GoPro and BMW have teamed up to add the ability to control GoPro cameras right from within the dashboard of BMW vehicles. Starting in July, this partnership will allow any owners of 2012 or later BMW or Mini vehicles to take control of the WiFi-enabled action cameras without ever leaving the driver's seat.

Two Shooters, One Race: Photographing Sebring

Different approaches for different generations. Spectacular results all the same.

If you want my respect, show me an amazing racing photo. Show me that you can make art with a bunch of people telling you where you can and can’t go. Show me that you broke your back under the Florida sun, lugging 30 lbs of camera equipment while you walked the course all day long. Try it when you know that there are 120 people with exactly the same credentials and access who are just dying to take your job.

Show me that you can shoot amazing racing images, and you’ll have my respect.
Because I’ve tried it, and it crushed me.

How to Photograph an Affordable Car Like a Supercar

If there are two things I love in life it’s cars and photography, and the thought of putting those two together sounds better to me than getting chocolate in my peanut butter! Now I don’t claim to be an amazing photographer nor hold any hopes of one day having my own photography tutorial DVD. However, I do like to talk about photography and more so, I like to get other people talking about it.

Fear and Self-Loathing in Photography

About twelve months ago, PetaPixel very kindly published my article "The Vital Link Between Emotions and Creativity in Photography." Well, it's one year later and I’m back to tell you how I over came my "Photographers block" and share a few key lessons that I have learned along the way.

Kickstarter Campaign at the Center of a Controversy Over Stolen Images

The wildly successful Kickstarter campaign Blackprints is currently at the center of a heated controversy over stolen images that has already involved one copyright dispute. It seems that the campaign's creator, Sabrina Chun, might have taken to acquiring photos of cars off of the Internet, changing them to black and white minimalist versions, and selling them as part of this campaign. (See Update)

Humor: Photographs of Cars with Their Namesakes

Art director Jim Lasser and his friend, photographer Ray Gordon, have a humorous ongoing photo project titled Namesake Motors. They observed that car makes and models often have names inspired by (or similar to) famous people or people groups, so they decided to shoot a series of images that play on words by pairing the cars with their namesakes (using the term very loosely).

The photograph above is titled, "Homer’s Odyssey."

Portraits of Strangers in Cars Illuminated by Off-Camera Lighting

Shooting portraits of strangers in cars isn't uncommon, but have you ever tried using off-camera lighting to illuminate their faces? That's what photographer Jonathan Castillo is doing for his ongoing series called Car Culture.

Castillo, an undergraduate BFA student at CSU Long Beach, shoots candid, artificially-lit photos of people driving around on the roads of Los Angeles. While the photos are captured from a car directly in front of the subjects, Castillo lights the scenes using a second specially-rigged vehicle driving to the side.

Time-Lapse Shows What San Francisco Looks Like Without Any Humans

Two years ago, director Ross Ching created a viral hit by showing Los Angeles in a time-lapse video in which every trace of cars and people was removed. That project was such a success that Ching tells us he's now planning to create an entire series based on the same idea, showing what iconic cities around America would look like if the humans within them suddenly vanished. The first stop in his "Empty America" tour was San Francisco, captured beautifully in the haunting video above.

A Glimpse of Google’s Fleet of Camera-Equipped Street View Cars

Ever wonder how Google manages to capture street-level photographs of entire cities for its Street View? It's done using a giant fleet of camera-equipped cars. Google employee Masrur Odinaev recently shared this photograph -- taken by a Street View car -- showing one of Google's Street View car parking lots. We see a large fleet of Subaru Imprezas that have panoramic cameras mounted to the tops.

Cars in Clouds: Photos of Burnouts

At first glance, some of Simon Davidson's photographs look like Harry Potter stills showing flying cars floating in the clouds. They're actually a glimpse into the burnout subculture that's growing in Australia. These are competitions in which drivers try to create as much smoke as they can by spinning their tires in place.

Photos of Dogs Staring Out Car Windows

Photographer Martin Usborne shot a series of photographs of dogs patiently waiting in cars for their owners for his project "MUTE: the silence of dogs in cars". He managed to capture their longing expressions quite well.