Here’s something different from my daily grind. I’ve always been interested in cars and before I started photography, I loved to set-up or dress up the ca rides I drove. I believe I got this from my Uncle, Dindo De Jesus. He has been passionate about cars ever since he was young and most especially car racing. Eventually he became a champion slalom and rally car driver.
When I was a kid, I would always look forward hanging out with him to hear stories about everything about cars, from its history, to the latest technology, to his stories about car racing. I would also watch as much as I can whenever he had race. I really look up to him as someone who pursued something he loved with great passion. Similar to what I’m doing with wedding photography now 
So late last year, when I had a chance to hangout with him. I wanted to do something for him and shoot some of the cars he was setting-up. This was also a technical exercise in photography for me. I put to use and harnessed the power of Nikon’s creative lighting system or CLS. One doesn’t have to use big studio lights all time, one can get big results from small strobes. For this shoot, I only used 2 Nikon SB-800 flashes. I’ll explain more as we go along.
Mini Cooper Mania.
This Cooper is owned by my dad’s good friend, Chito Macapagal. My Uncle Dindo was the one who helped find this car and helped him modify and restore this baby to its classic glory.
For the techies out there, I used the natural sunset light to side light the camera left side of the Cooper in order to get a warm glow effect. For the front of the car, I used a Nikon Sb-800 off-camera attached to a light stand and fired it on an umbrella. I decide to use an umbrella for my light modifier in order to avoid a nasty reflection on the car. Then I used another sb-800 at the back of the car to light the background.
Here, I lit the car using an SB-800 on a light stand and umbrella at camera left. Then I place another Sb-800 on the ground and pointed it directly to the rear wheel of the car at camera right.
Subaru: A Legacy of Champions
This 1996 Subaru Forrester is one of my Uncle Dindo’s pride and joy. Subaru is legendary when it comes to racing performance and technology and is backed up by an impressive winning history in the rally arena. This Forrester is the 2.5L Turbo World Rally Version complete with sun rood and all the options available. I used the same lighting set-up of the Cooper for this one.
I think I see more of myself shooting cars in the near future
