Working with experienced Pro shooters like Bob Stevens is one of the highlights of my work as a retoucher. Car photography these days involves a lot of compositing images together to achieve the perfect, seamless shot. This shot was one of a series of four shots we worked on together, each involving lots of compositing and retouching to achieve the final image.
Shots of the cars in motion like this are called “Rig Shots” because of the rig that is used to attach the camera to the car. As you can see in the “before” shot below, this rig is a strong, lightweight arm that is bolted to the car extending out to hold the camera. The motion effect is achieved using a slow shutter speed as the car rolls forward slowly. Since the camera and the car are attached the car stays sharp while the background picks up that signature motion blur making it look like the car is speeding down the street.
From the retouching side the fun part of these shots is not only compositing the various plates to remove trucks cruising through the intersection or bringing in just the right light on the back side of the car, but also in removing the large arm of the rig holding the camera.
