Sample Edit 10/17/2012

HONDA INTEGRA TYPE R + K20 (iTR)

"K20 Powered"

So for those of you unfamiliar with off camera flash or just flash in general. This sample edit will show you guys what you can do with a few strobe shots and a bit of photoshop.

First things first... the setup. I couldn't find the best location (last minute, again), so i improvised and went with 2 flashes (YN-560) and a pair of radio triggers. For the setup, i had my Canon 40D + 24mm f/2.8 on a manfrotto tripod. Keep in mind, you WILL need a tripod if you chose to do it this way. Layout the shot and frame it before you even attempt shooting. Adjust your power for the flashes and light up parts of the car as we go along.

First portion to light up is the front end. The first frame was meant to light up the front and rims. Doesn't seem like much for now. Continue to shoot until you've got the whole car lit up (through multiple pictures of course).

1st shot - Front end and rims

2nd shot - interior

3rd shot - rims readjusted and shot again

From each shot i also was able to compile the wing as well.. one thing i forgot to do was to light the back. Make a shot with a rim light showing more details for the roof line and of course the wing.

NOTE - One thing that'll make shots better is the use of an umbrella. Yeah i know.. you're probably saying "duh" but it does soften the light quite a bit. As cheap and flimsy my own umbrella may be (for those of you that know) it does a damn good job!

Second step.. compile the layers in photoshop. Take what you need mask out what you don't need. From each photo i was able to stitch together the entire car. Make sure you align each picture up perfectly or else you're gonna have details popping out of somewhere it shouldn't be..

Red depicts the areas removed via masking - i know it looks terrible..

You can also get photoshop to do it for you (if your version is up to date that is).

FILE > SCRIPTS > LOAD FILES INTO STACK...

Doing it this way, photoshop will automatically stack them all up for you and mask them out too if you so desire.

The lazy way..

Now that we've got the whole car lit up as a whole.. the next part is to do subject isolation. I opt'ed to remove the background and just go pure black. To accomplish, i simply made a black layer and then masked out what i didn't need.

Blacked out

Now that we've finished fixing the picture, next is to edit and finalize. For editing.. the only real corrections i made were done to the tone/contrast/color via auto tone, auto contrast, and auto color. In addition, minor color desaturation and that's it!

The look i'm going to go for is simple and clean with a strobe flash going off in the background. In order to add a pseudo flash into the mix, i made a duplicate layer and cropped to make the picture larger than it's original size. Fill with black and use the FILTER > RENDER > LENS FLARE > 105mm PRIME tool and get a flare that looks relatively decent. Doing it this way doesn't make the flare an over bearing eye sore. Crop it back down to size when you're satisfied and tone down the intensity through either layer style or opacity. 

NOTE - I know doing it this way will lead to loss of data, but it's a risk you're going to have to take.

Faux.. i know. Relax.

Alternately you can always leave out the flare which is why i've done it in a separate layer labelled "flare". If in the future.. the client doesn't like that added touch, then the layer can be hidden and the flare disappears.

Check it out on flickr!

See! Not so bad, right? Any questions? Feel free to comment!