Dodge Challenger SRT shoot with Nikon D810

If you are following my blog, you would know that I have been looking for a high megapixel camera that I could use together with my Fujifilm X-T1. In commercial work, there are times in which you are required to give large-resolution images to your client.  That is my main reason for looking for a high-megapixel camera; fortunately, I was lucky enough that the kind folks from Nikon Middle East here in Dubai let me borrow one of their most successful cameras, the Nikon D810. They also gave me a few lenses to play with, the 14-24 f2.8, the 24-70 f2.8, the 85mm f1.4 and the 16mm f2.8 fisheye lens.

If you have been following my work, I use Canon and Fuji cameras.  This is my first shoot with a Nikon, ever.  I did my homework and studied how to operate the camera.  Using a Nikon for the first time was quite an adventure, It took me a while to figure out how to change my settings but the basic operation is the same.  I’ll discuss this in full details on my upcoming post: “Nikon D810 review from a Canon and Fuji user”, which will be posted very soon.

Now, on to the shoot: I used a very minimal lighting here. When you are on a location shoot during sunset, you are literally chasing the light. Light changes in minutes and you have to be quick in executing your lighting plan. Instead of using multiple lights, I decided to use one light and fire it multiple times in different angles where I would usually be placing my lights if I had multiple lighting setups;  I then combined all those shots and blended them all together vin post production. This technique is often referred to as “light compositing”, which is different from light painting. Let me know in the comments if you think I should create a tutorial on light compositing for cars. By the way, here’s my lighting diagram:

Gear used & Settings:
Nikon D810 + 14-24mm f2.8 ( f8 | 1/40 | ISO 200)
YN560-TX Trigger
YN560 III Flash @ 1/2 power

Lighting up a black car is always a challenging task. It’s not just the lighting anymore, you also have to make the ambient light and the reflections work for you. The key in lighting a black car is to carefully light only specific parts, and not the entire car. In this shot, I used the Nikon D810 with the 14-24mm f2.8 lens and zoomed in to 22mm to get that wide-angle look to accentuate the hood of the muscle car while still keeping the car’s proportion intact.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post them in the comments section below.

/Mike