Infiniti QX50 shadow blockbuster, DIY model photographer’s masterpiece

Classmate He Dasu is here again today! As an atypical science, engineering, literature and art house who loves cars, painting and photography, He Dasu joins hands with the old Nikon (D7000) that has been dusted for many years to come out and fight again. Now, it's 0202, let's see if my old Nikon can still fight. First, let’s take a look at the picture above.

I like cars, painting, and photography. Especially when you use a series of light and shadow arrangements to create effects that are difficult to shoot with real cars, it feels even more exciting!

Let’s talk about the car models first. I used two original QX50 car models for this shooting. One was bought by myself and the other was given by a friend. My own car is also a QX50, both of which are model 18. Now the latest QX50 is the 2020 model. Compared with the 18 model, there are actually only two differences in appearance: 1. The 20 model has a new color called Star Rock Brown; 2. There are no fog lights under the front bumper of the 20 model.

I picked it up from the official website and have a feel for it. This color is still very high-quality, but so far, I have not seen a real car.

Continue talking about the model

Dark tones can best set off the QX50’s styling aesthetics, with the streamlined and tough lines of the body clearly revealed. In fact, the styling designs in the Nissan family are very distinctive, such as the GTR's knife-cut bun-like rear butt, the exaggerated curved surface of the early FX, and the avant-garde design of the leaf concept car. Compared with other sister models, the QX50 is more restrained and low-key.

Change the scene. Although the photos are of models, the props must be in place. Is my garage okay?

The front, waistline, and D-pillar should be the most prominent design features of the QX50.

I like the wavy front grille and shell-shaped hood of Infi. I also like the Q50L very much. I even hand-painted it before. If you are interested, you can check my posting record.

The side waistline of the QX50 is not just a ridge like most cars, but has a slight ridge-like fold line. There are quite few such designs, because in terms of manufacturing technology, it should be quite difficult to achieve. Therefore, most car manufacturers' attitude towards waistline design is don't make trouble for yourself, just have it.

In sheet metal parts on cars, this kind of folded line shape is more troublesome. On the one hand, this kind of corner is prone to defects during the stamping process, and on the other hand, it is not easy to paint because the edge is prone to paint accumulation. So from this perspective, Yingfei is quite powerful.

Look at the engine bay.

QX50’s VC-Turbo black technology can be regarded as a fruit on the Infi technology tree. Honda VTEC, Mazda Sky, Subaru horizontally opposed, and Infi VC-Turbo are all ruthless players in the engine industry. The energy of these four brands to dare to think and act is truly admirable.

The brothers stood side by side.

The QX50 is not small, so you have to be careful when parking in the basement. It’s not that I’m worried about not being able to park in. After all, it’s very convenient to have a 360-degree image. What I’m really worried about is being too close to the car on the side and being accidentally injured.

The QX50 also has a bright strip running through the middle of the rear, echoing the front face. The dual-outlet exhaust is extremely comfortable both in appearance and in use.

Spacious trunk space. In the real car, the rear row can be folded down in equal proportions, but the model did not dare to use force. In reality, the space of the QX50 is still enough.

Let’s talk about shooting. Let’s talk about the equipment first. It’s not so foreign. An old Nikon (D7000) from 6 years ago, a 50 1.8 fixed focus lens with a large aperture for civilians, two domestic Godox flashes, a tripod, and two domestic off-brand flash triggers, that’s all. As for the colorful lights and shadows in the picture, they were actually just made by using colored paper stuck to the flash, and there was no advanced post-processing or NB equipment.

The function of the flash trigger is to use the camera to control the external flash. The advantage of this is that we can design the position of the flash at will to create light and shadow effects. As for these two flashes, the smaller one costs more than 300. It is equipped with two AA batteries and can automatically meter (supports TTL). The disadvantage is that the GN value seems to be only over 30, which is relatively weak. The big one is over 100, has four AA batteries, and cannot automatically meter the light.

A simple lighting setup, a simple scene, one light on the front of the car, one light on the side of the car, through two If the light intensity matches, you can generally achieve this effect.

So, on this basis, let’s take a step further.

Add a piece of red paper to the lamp head, then use this piece of paper to hit the background wall behind the car, and then use another lamp to fill in the white light of the car body. This effect can generally be achieved.

Further increase the intensity output of the background red light, and then adjust the illumination angle of the white light at the front of the car (use a piece of white A4 paper to block the front of the lamp head), so that the white color of the car body can be made brighter Some. At the same time, the structural details of the QX50 can also be displayed more clearly.

Adjust the position of the red light to the top, then use another white light to slightly fill in the light, and then simply adjust the white light part to blue-purple in the post-PS process, and you will get the effect in the picture above. . Sexy front, sexy front hood.

Next, we glued blue and red paper pieces to the two flash lights respectively, and lit the QX50 model from two directions. You can shoot this kind of cyberpunk sense of déjà vu.

A major feature of the cyberpunk style is light pollution. The combination of cyan, blue, orange and pink light sources can instantly bring out the atmosphere of the picture. At the same time, the QX50’s The "Mountains, Seas and Stars" design also changes its flavor under such light and shadow.

In the same way, I also took some other angles.

Personally, cyan may be more flavorful than blue.

About solid color backgrounds: Solid color backgrounds are actually not easy to photograph. It may not have the same visual impact as the previous pictures, but the control over details and texture is very demanding. However, I am still a novice, so I can only barely take a rough picture.

This picture doesn’t look like anything special, but it is actually stitched together from two pictures. The main reason for doing this was because one of the lights was out of power. So I used a light to capture the light and dark relationship I wanted to capture bit by bit, and finally combined them together through PS.

For example, the one above, I actually took these two pictures. The main purpose is to express the sexy lines on the front hood. This thing looks very sexy from the outside, and from the inside, it can indicate the direction of movement of the front of the car.

Then, use the ACR that comes with PS to roughly unify the two original images, put the two images into two layers, and then use the mask function to adjust the effects of the two images bit by bit. Rub together.

Similarly

These two pictures, taken together

I would like to mention a small incident here, that is, the light and shadow on the back door are very irregular. , not good-looking.

A little trick: use the pen tool to draw the ideal light and shadow shape first, then use tools such as the color picker and the imitation stamp to imitate the previous light and shadow effects within the drawn frame, and finally Add some noise in.

This picture simply deals with the light and shadow of two places: the hood and the left rear door.

There was a reflection on the hood, but it was wiped off.

Then the method mentioned above was used on the left and right doors to remove the shadow and blend it with the car paint.

I wrote so much without realizing it (inner OS: I can’t write anymore). At the end of this post, just make it bigger! I heard that the 2020 QX50 has upgraded the car system and also supports mobile phone interconnection. Setting up navigation is much easier, and it also supports real-time traffic display. No matter how many NBs are upgraded, it is not as fast as my PS! ! !

When cyberpunk meets QX50.

The process is as follows

First find a background

Find a suitable proportion relationship. Put the photo in.

Use a mask to erase the car.

Wipe it little by little, don’t rush. The most important thing is to add a shadow under the car, otherwise the car will give people a floating feeling.

Combined with the cyan blue tone of the background, deal with the red color on the car body.

Process the car lights and download a lighting material from the Internet.

Find a rainy material from the Internet and incorporate it into it.

Finally, adjust the details and control the atmosphere. You're done!

Although I cannot own all the cars in the world, my paintbrush and camera can, and I can draw/photograph them, which is another kind of possession; Finally, I hope you all like it, thank you. PS: If you want the original picture, you can send me a private message.