# Lamborghini Gallardo - Composite



## Mot (Oct 27, 2012)

I recently got the opportunity to photograph a Lamborghini Gallardo! I've spent about 1 week working on this photo, assembling all the elements and generally putting together some basic edits. Unfortunately I'm getting that thing where you've looked at the photo so much that you can't tell whether it's heading in the right direction stylistically!

So I ask people of the internet, point me in the right direction! Tell me what's wrong or what you'd change!

It is a composite because I had no choice but to shoot it next to his house! Remember that composites usually look surreal and my work is no exception! I'm at the point where I can't tell whether the colours are right, whether I've over-done the grunge or even can't see minor faults. I would really benefit from a fresh set of eyes simply telling me what they think.

I'll also point out that it's not finished so hasn't had proper sharpening done; I'm still trying to make it all look cohesive.


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## sleist (Oct 27, 2012)

The lighting on the car doesn't match the surroundings.  Perhaps brightening the foreground to make it look like it was lighted from the front:






Just to show what I mean.  Still needs some adjustments.


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## Mot (Oct 27, 2012)

I know what you mean. What I'm confused about is that I shot the car at night with my own flashes, the only things lighting the car are my own flashes, that means I could have shot it anywhere and the lighting would still have looked like that.

I want it to look like it's been lit, because it has, I don't want it to look totally ambient because anyone can do that! The original background image is actually lighter, more like how you adjusted it, but it just didn't 'feel' right.

I'm frustrated because I honestly can't convince myself that it doesn't look real, I know it's my own stupidity and in 2-3 days it'll be blatantly obvious what's wrong. In the mean time I hope someone here can help.


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## Flyhigh (Oct 27, 2012)

I think the lighting and composition are very good, just not crazy about the location (background).


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## jamesbjenkins (Oct 27, 2012)

The shadow underneath is really sloppy for a composite. The lighting difference could easily be explained by OCF of some kind. However, the pure black under the car is a dead giveaway. If you're going for a realistic composite, this falls well short.

Just my $0.02


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## Mot (Oct 28, 2012)

jamesbjenkins said:


> The shadow underneath is really sloppy for a composite. The lighting difference could easily be explained by OCF of some kind. However, the pure black under the car is a dead giveaway. If you're going for a realistic composite, this falls well short.
> 
> Just my $0.02



I appreciate your feedback and I understand what you mean. The only problem is that the shadow is actually real; I just cut it out from the original shoot. I'll concede that it isn't as feathered as it is in the original but it _is_ all black. Here's the original with the actual tarmac!



However, based on your comment I *will* be making the edges slightly softer and perhaps be adjusting the opacity on the shadow areas, so thanks!

@Flyhigh:
I am currently working on 2 other locations!


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## ryanwaff (Oct 28, 2012)

Personally, I'm not sure why you are trying to composite it... I  much prefer the overall feel of the original to the composite. 

When I think of a Lamborghini, I think; sleek, minimalistic, speed.

IMHO I think you captured the essence of what a Lamborghini represents better in the original and lost it in the composite.

But if you are set on keeping the composite, as others have pointed out, your lighting pattern isnt correct. If you look at the ambient lighting in the background, the impact it would have on the car is a rim light, which is especially missing at the back right and on the hood. There are also two different colour casts in the image. The background is quite pinkish, whereas the original isnt, which will impact the success the image has at blending in...

Here is a quick five minute job, probably a tad dark...


In Photoshop, I adjusted the saturation of the car, reducing it slightly. I also altered the hue, dragging the slider left a bit to try and better match the colour cast in the background. 
I dodged and burned a bit around the car.
and added a black circular gradient to the image with layer mode set to colour. 
Looking at it again now, I see that I got my dodging and burning slightly incorrect, especially around the front of the car, but it was just to give you an idea. 

SO to summarise: Sleek, minimalistic, speed. And to add to the list, quite dark. 
I still prefer the original, but if you can get the blending right on the composite, it can work.

Just my 2 cents worth


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## Derrel (Oct 28, 2012)

ryanwaff said:
			
		

> But if you are set on keeping the composite, as others have pointed out, your lighting pattern isnt correct. If you look at the ambient lighting in the background, the impact it would have on the car is a rim light, which is especially missing at the back right and on the hood. There are also two different colour casts in the image. The background is quite pinkish, whereas the original isnt, which will impact the success the image has at blending in...
> 
> Here is a quick five minute job, probably a tad dark...
> View attachment 24265



I was reading the thread, eating breakfast, and thought, Hmmmm...what does this shot need to look REAL???? I made a decision, and got ready to type out some thoughts, then scrolled down and lo and behold...my exact thoughts were transformed into a re-work by ryanwaff!!!!!! YESSSSSS---he did EVERY SINGLE thing I was thinking would make the car and parking garage scene appear to look "real"...and not composited!


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## Mot (Oct 28, 2012)

Thanks Ryanwaff... and I suppose thanks Derrel, too! That is definitely looking better, I'll give it a go myself on the PSD and perhaps post the results later on this week! I think the desaturation will help massively!

As I mentioned, I have played with a few other backgrounds. I have simply dropped the car onto the background, little to no effort has been made to match them. Any thoughts? Perhaps ditch the current one in favour of one of these?

Oh, and here's a joke picture I made! Enjoy!


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## ryanwaff (Oct 28, 2012)

Looking at the two pics, I was trying to figure out what was bugging me about them, and while i was absent mindedly just fiddling (rotating, flipping just to see) I realised that the proportion of the car, in the second one is way off. It was made particularly noticeable due to the background elements being so much smaller. Just something to look out for.

I think you sorta going the right route... So i did a bit of research to see the general style that car photo shoots take. Enjoy! (some inspiration?)

A Gallardo, A 997TT and ADV.1 Wheels | My Car Portal
Rennsport and 360 Forged Black Lamborghini Gallardo On Yellow 20 Spec Twelve | My Car Portal - Similar to what you're doing now
LAMBORGHINI GALLARDO TUNING - Lamborghini Wallpaper (16543140) - Fanpop fanclubs - Also very similar
Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder 2009 - Lamborghini Wallpaper (6967962) - Fanpop fanclubs - A bit more dramatic

Just a couple of ideas. Do a google search and just browse through the images until you see something that catches your eye, and then try and figure out what you find appealing about it. Then do!  

PS I love the fun one!


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## Mot (Oct 28, 2012)

Responding to the out of proportion idea. I can see it but it doesn't make sense; I used the same camera, same lens (set at 35mm), same tripod height and same angle of view. It simply wouldn't make sense that they would be out of proportion, I'm not saying that it looks right but I'm saying that maybe it is technically correct. I think it's just the nature of composites!

I appreciate the links you posted, some of them are nice photos but they're not composites. I think the thing I'm having issues with is the compositing!

If it helps, I'm basing my image on this shot here> http://saiudagaragem.tempsite.ws/Saiu/ImagePost/mercedes_sl_sting.jpg

I would appreciate it if anyone could help me try and achieve the sheen seen it that picture, I'm finding it quite frustrating. I can't find any good resources anywhere that even suggest what might be done to get it looking like that. It's what I based the lighting off, which I think I did okay with, but they have a silver car which is easier to match to a background. I wanted a darker, more aggressive tone but with the same sharpened look.

I've played around with high pass and surface blur, they just don't produce the same urban yet clinical feel.


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## ryanwaff (Nov 1, 2012)

Sorry about the late reply. But perhaps if you want to fix proportion, make the car a tad smaller in the frame. 

That base image does help, haha. And looking at that one, the 'sheen' that you talk of, not only comes from the car, but also the background itself. The floor looks very smooth, like polished concrete almost.

But yes, I would agree that a silver car is easier to match. However, this has been buging me all week, so I had another go at it:

 This one is probably a tad dark, but I feel that the blending is closer than before.

For this one, I did a bit more:

1. Duplicated the background and masked out the car. I then applied a Gaussian blur to the layer. And then varied the amount visible on the layer mask.
2. Added a gradient map with the shadow areas colour a dark navy, and the highlights a desaturated blue (4c7fa7). I then changed the blend mode to soft light with a layer opacity of roughly 34%
3. I then added a brightness / contrast layer with settings: Brightness: 64 | Contrast: 34.
4. I then duplicated the background layer again and colourized the layer (shift + u) giving it a blue color (roughly 200 hue and 40 saturation), then set the mode to soft light and opacity to 34%
5. Then did a selective brightness adjustment to the car, reducing the brightness by roughly 26.
6. Ontop of that, I added an empty layer, onto which I put a radial gradient from black to white, with white in the centre. And blnd mode to soft light | 76% opacity.
7. Then to finish off, I did an overall hue/saturation adjustment of roughly -6.


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