Heading Back (to basics)

PhotoShop, stacking, custom WB, speedlights, electronic light trickery.

Forget all that, sometimes it's good to go back to being just you and the camera.

Shot this last night and posted straight from the camera. Here's what I did and why:

Taken at twilight to get some colour in the sky- best time of day for balancing light levels in the sky and ground.

Auto white balance to make sense of the different colour temps across the scene, from the moody blue sky through LED dash, tungsten interior light and HID headlamps.

Composition was pretty limited. The Fat Gecko mount hasn't let me down yet for grip but that doesn't mean I'm up for big risks. So, the camera had to go where I could within reach of looping its strap through the roll-hoop behind the driver's seat.

Hit the dual carriageway and kept my speed to about 50mph for the best compromise between camera stability and being rear-ended by a speeding truck.

Waited until a car passed me before opening the shutter. This brought the picture to life with motion from light trails.

Positioned the door mirror so my face would be visible in the reflection. And flicked on the interior light to lift the darkness inside the car. There's two lights in the cabin of a TT roadster. The first one was in frame so I went for the other side.

Only thing that didn't work out as planned was just how much bounce my Fat Gecko mount was giving.

Updated tutorial on driving shots coming soon.