Darwin Car Cruise at Fisherman’s wharf
I cannot believe this was over a year ago that I spotted an advertisement somewhere about a Darwin Car Cruise. I decided it would be good to go along and take some photographs with a remote speed-light. The timing of the event was around sunset and the skies looked like they could be colourful too.
Sundown Photographs using the colourful sky
When we arrived there was probably about 30 or more cars already parked up. As the sun was setting the sky developed some great colours. There was plenty of chrome and whitewall tyres on show. I was into it straight away shooting cars from all angles looking for the detail shot as well as the scenic setting. I particularly liked a couple of photographs of the white Ford Mustang, in the background the deep blue/grey sky is tinted by warm cloud wisps.
Off Camera flash
As it got darker I pulled out the flash which I like to control remotely using Hähnel Tuff trigger and receiver units. They come with a sturdy rubber case and can put up with my rough handling. I can be hard on gear at times, I don’t mollycoddle my cameras. These Hähnel Tuff units for remote flash (Speedlight) triggering will automatically set for correct exposure known as TTL (Through The Lens -metering) or ETTL(Evaluative Through The Lens-metering). However, I like to use them manually, that way I have more artistic control. I had fun placing the flash in various spots to achieve some different effects. It is also good to have an assistant, in between taking her own set of images my lovely wife assisted by holding the flash unit up and directing the light as needed.
Colour Gels with Flash Lighting
If you look at the photograph below of this fabulous classic car you can see that the colour of my flash light on the side of the car is quite cool. Whereas the ambient light from the street lights reflecting on the front of the car is quite warm. Ideally I should use a colour gel (Cellophane sheets) over the flash so that my flash light tone matches the ambient light. However I like the two light effects as I think it adds dimension to the photograph.
Great turnout of classic and modern cars
More cars arrived just after sundown, there was a great atmosphere with owners happy to chat about their cars. I am amazed at how many much loved old metal turned up. It was great to see the care and effort folk put in to these examples of classic engineering and design. We really enjoyed taking taking these images, please visit my Gallery page to see some more of the images I selected from the 300+ that I captured that evening. Thank you to the organisers and participants.