The new (& awesome) Audi A8 4.2 TDi
One of the pleasures of the job is that we get to spend a good amount of time test driving, reviewing and photographing some of the best cars around. In this case it is the impressive Audi A8 4.2 TDi … with this model just being released with a list price of around £66,000 it is one of the world’s most advanced luxury saloon cars. We loved the car and loved writing the review but whilst it was with us we got the opportunity to take some great photos of it. The images were shot with a variety of lighting including a broncolor ring flash, bowens heads fitted with a large Octbox and also plain old natural light. As always we like to do something a little different so here are a few of the shots which accompanies the road test in the magazine.
One of the methods we often employ is making the most of the natural light around you. This is especially important when photographing large objects such as cars. Although we can correct some lighting issues with the addition of flash, for most outdoor editorial shots we have time and cost limits to bear in mind. We have used as many as 10 heads before shooting cars for advertising however generally we are making do with 2 or 3 heads and portable lighting. Getting the car into the right type of light and positioning it so you can see the shape of the car, or to create the impact you want is essential. In the above photo we wanted to emphasise how aggressive the car looked from the front and also wanted to make a big deal out of the Audi corporate grill. The shot, with a wide angle lens did everything we wanted … and being shot towards last light we were able to keep it low key and use flash as necessary to highlight the details on the front. if you are unhappy with the lighting when you are taking a shot … stop, and change it, move the car, move yourself … but don’t settle for second best!
