Writing about niche topics can sometimes feel pointless. As someone who’s been in the photography game for a while now, and doesn’t happen to have a sister, networking with other photographers isn't always easy. But hey, this site is full of great content. You’ve got bestselling photographers, folks who seem like they're on another level, and yes, even some influencers. There are also moderators from popular photography forums. This post is just a humble attempt at pulling together some ideas. Think of it like picking between a F0 or a Da Ben for your car, or deciding whether you want a villa or a garage as a backdrop—or maybe a cityscape. It's all about what resonates with you.
This idea came to me accidentally, sparked by my earlier piece titled “On the Self-Cultivation of the Shopping Cart—An Experience with the Dongfeng Peugeot New 308.†PSA Group brands, while appealing in smaller cities, might not stack up against domestic heavyweights like Harbin Great Wall. In 2016, among China’s top ten best-selling car models, the law system accounted for four spots: Citroen C5 and C6, the DS series, Peugeot 308s, and a Dongfeng Renault model. Although the Law brand lacks broad appeal, its distinctiveness makes it unique—purely French arrogance, if you will. Special shoutout to Ruslan, whose camping shirt style is pretty iconic.
A buddy encouraged me to write something about photographing shopping carts. After procrastinating for six months, I finally decided to get this done. Truth be told, there are some things that break down, and pre-shoot preparation is key. It's all about small details. Lighting, camera setup, tripod, masks for synthesis, single-light setups—it all takes time. Whether you’re working with Photoshop foundations or shooting lights directly, everything counts.
When a regular factory shoots a car, they usually have massive sheds with countless lights and soft lighting equipment. If needed, the roof may even get cut to allow for overhead shots. As hobbyists, we obviously can’t replicate that kind of setup. But with a tripod and post-production, we can still achieve impressive results.
The principle is straightforward: fix the camera position, use a single light with a softbox to highlight different parts of the car, and then synthesize the images afterward. Familiar, right?
Suspended lighting works similarly but doesn’t require additional lights—just props and post-production to remove them. For equipment, you’ll need an SLR camera, a flash with a softbox umbrella, a flash trigger, and a tripod. Check out my previous article on how to take high-quality photos at low cost for more details on soft light gear.
Speaking of props, umbrella hot shoe softboxes are essential. Avoid soft umbrellas unless absolutely necessary. Background selection is crucial, and this is where I struggled the most while writing this. Initially, I looked for industrial ruins, but ended up settling for a small garage with a few cars, which worked decently well for the Peugeot 308. Unfortunately, it wasn’t ideal.
Industrial ruins eliminate background clutter and let you focus solely on lighting. Outdoors, finding a quiet spot where the car could stand out was challenging. Eventually, I settled on a broken-down road, which wasn’t ideal but was the best option given the circumstances. It saved me from having to lug around extra lighting equipment, halving the workload.
Here’s the lighting map:
The black light represents the sole light source, while the gray indicates the fill light, which moves around to cover different areas. There’s no fixed position; as long as it illuminates the relevant parts, it works. During shooting, I raised the light several times to mimic top lighting, for example, to illuminate the hood when regular angles couldn’t reach. At the end of the car, I added light to brighten the interior.
From shooting to post-processing, the first step involves capturing multiple angles in RAW format. Using a stable tripod and locking the head ensures consistency across shots. Multi-angle lighting during the shoot reduces post-workload. RAW files are flexible; you can tweak color temperatures later.
I imported the photos into Lightroom in batches and made basic adjustments like color temperature and exposure, along with corrections. Flash color temperature typically sits around 5800K, but due to the softbox, mine shifted slightly. I batch-adjusted the body color temperature to 5000K and corrected underexposure. Ambient light color temperature was matched as closely as possible to the car’s.
After processing, I renamed each part of the image to avoid confusion in later layers. Before compositing, I lowered the opacity of each photo, manually fine-tuned them, and aligned the layers. Once aligned, I increased the opacity to 100% and added masks.
Masks allow you to edit layers. In a masked layer, only black, white, and gray exist. Black means untouched, white means fully transparent, and gray blends both. Here, I added a black mask to each layer and used a white brush to softly highlight the illuminated areas.
When brushes aren’t precise enough, tools like the pen tool help. For example, I selected raised lines with a new selection and brushed over them. Sometimes, due to improper lighting angles, some corners remain unlit. This happens when the softbox is too far from the subject.
In the end, I probably used half the number of photos I took of the Peugeot 308. To enhance post-processing, I introduced Nik Collection’s Efex Pro plugin. It’s free and great for landscape enhancements. I used it to bring out textures.
It’s mainly used to extract filters and tone contrasts in specific areas, like the ground, excluding the car itself. Otherwise, the car might look overly messy. Intensity should be controlled carefully.
Next, I opened the Camera Raw filter for basic color adjustments. Parameters are just a guide. Colorizing this piece relied heavily on personal intuition. Preset tuning helped in some cases.
Back in the main PS interface, I made further tweaks to the colors. The final result looks like this. With just a single light, you can achieve decent results. Finding the right background and angle, like industrial ruins, would yield better effects. Future plans include setting up a proper lighting scheme with multiple lights and advanced post-processing techniques.
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