Location and Timing - Choose Wisely
My good friend PJ loves anything and everything with wheels, from his unicycle to his racing motorcycle, sports car and touring bike. He rides and drives thousands of miles a year in the San Francisco Bay area and around Northern California. He decided to sell his beloved BMW sports wagon. A meticulously maintained vehicle, beautifully clean, with tuned performance and a sound that enhances its looks. It's a rare vehicle, a 2011 BMW 328i with 6-speed manual transmission, rear wheel drive, M Sport package in Space Grey with Saddle Brown leather interior and a Harmon Kardon 16 speaker stereo - the Holy Grail for enthusiasts - making you want to take the long way home from a grocery run.
PJ knew he would miss it terribly, and loved the idea of creating a big wall print as a lasting memory. I knew he also had a 2006 BMW 1200RT made for all day comfort so you still feel fresh after 300 miles in the saddle, but balanced to be nimble in traffic, just the thing for travelling around the bay every day of the year with heated hand grips and seats, an adjustable windscreen, plenty of luggage space, and a classic flat twin engine evolved into 1200cc of smoothness and force.
So we came up with a location for the shoot which would feature the iconic San Francisco skyline and give a composition that helped highlight both his station wagon and touring cycle together.
Here's a cell phone image as we set up for the shoot showing the lovely coloring in the sky that evening.
The San Francisco skyline looks tiny in the cell phone image, but a professional photographer will know how to select the right equipment to bring the vision for the final image to reality.
Getting the Right Light
Once the car and bike were carefully positioned and the framing adjusted to get a balanced composition with the skyline, we shot the city backlit by the sunset, also capturing the reflections in the car's hood and fairing of the bike. Then, as the sun went down we shot the many detail shots of each vehicle.
The Build
After the lightpainting passes were completed it was time for the build. The individual layers are opened on the computer, examined, and selected for carefully layering together, blending into the finished product.
There is skill and judgment combined with a lot of attention to detail, and an artful vision in creating the finished image, suitable to be printed and hung on the wall.
This image was printed at 40" wide 20" high on metal with a satin finish for a dramatic and luminous showpiece, and an enduring memory.
We also took the opportunity to photograph the bike without the tail box and panniers and the sparkling San Francisco night scsene.
Do any Top Gear fans know the identity of The Stig?
