Photoshoot - Auto Express Buying Guide

[Vickster1]

Hi All

I need to try and sort out an iQ for a photoshoot to feature in one of the used buying guides that Auto Express do.

The owner of the car would need to take their car to either our studio in Derby or Beaulieu for the day (a shoot takes about 3 - 4 hours but with travelling time it would probably be a day out) and in return they would receive a full set of studio pictures (worth about £350-£400) and have their car in a national magazine. The car needs to be 2 – 3 years old and ideally not black or white but all of the ones I have seen have been these colours so I’m not sure if other colours are available. Also it needs to be a standard car and not modified. I’m sorry about this to all of you that have modified cars but we need to photograph a fair representation of what’s on a standard forecourt. I appreciate that this is a bit of an ask but before we try the local dealers we do like to see if any private owners would like a studio shoot of their car done via their respective forum.

If anyone is interested, please do not hesitate to contact me either via the forum or vicky@magiccarpics.co.uk for further information.

Many thanks

Vicky Dredge

[sweet-dentist]

oooops double.... sorry

[sweet-dentist]

You can come over to Holland.... take a day off.... and enjoy our Dutch Cheese and Beer.....

I will buy you guys a pair of wooden shoes each.... OK?

We could make a photo-shoot in the surroundings of "The Veluwe" , nice forest aria.... So it would be... Robin Hood, Robin Hood....A RED Lexus in the Wood....

Greetz,

Peter

[JordaniQ]

She said standard, Peter xD

Jordan

[marcandsebe]

You can come over to Holland.... take a day off.... and enjoy our Dutch Cheese and Beer.....

I will buy you guys a pair of wooden shoes each.... OK?

We could make a photo-shoot in the surroundings of "The Veluwe" , nice forest aria.... So it would be... Robin Hood, Robin Hood....A RED Lexus in the Wood....

Greetz,

Peter

Its a Lexus. Looks nice though.

[craggle]

Hi Vicky

I have a pretty standard (At the moment) 2010 iQ3 in silver if any good and I don't live too far from Beaulieu.

Car is as I bought it a few weeks ago with the addition of some floor mats and a personal number plate.

Pictures below.

I'll send an email as well.

It will be a bit different from the last photoshoot I got invited too anyway, Picture also attached..... :)

Craig.

[tarquin]

Like your girlfriend Craig. Like the Cobra as well

David

[craggle]

Ha, Unfortunatley not my girlfriend but fortunately my car. A little something I built a few years ago to keep me entertained in the summer. :)

Craig.

[Dizeee]

Replied Vick :)

[Guest]

Craig, you rascal! Keeping that AC Cobra secret. How could you? What a car. I've seen them racing at Oulton Park and what a sound they make. music to me ears.

[Vickster1]

Hi Guys

Many thanks for all the replies, it really is appreciated.

I have forwarded all the pics onto the Art Ed as he has the final say with this due to colours and how well things photograph in a studio.

I will also reply to all the mails that have come in as I will need to sort out which studio people are closest to.

Pete - I have to be honest, if we could come over to Holland to do your car I would certainly try, the lure of cheese and wooden shoes is enough to tempt me! Also the fact that the car is red, I don't think I have ever seen one that bright over here.

If it's OK I will just wait a further 24 hours, just in case anyone else replies, before letting people know what the decision is.

Many thanks

Vicky

[sweet-dentist]

Hi Guys

Many thanks for all the replies, it really is appreciated.

I have forwarded all the pics onto the Art Ed as he has the final say with this due to colours and how well things photograph in a studio.

I will also reply to all the mails that have come in as I will need to sort out which studio people are closest to.

Pete - I have to be honest, if we could come over to Holland to do your car I would certainly try, the lure of cheese and wooden shoes is enough to tempt me! Also the fact that the car is red, I don't think I have ever seen one that bright over here.

If it's OK I will just wait a further 24 hours, just in case anyone else replies, before letting people know what the decision is.

Many thanks

Vicky

We do have a Guest House... I mean a compleet House for Guests.... so plenty of room... :-)

And "wooden shoes" ... really ... they can be bought at any Farmers Tradeshop... They are called "Welkoop" ... TIP... do NOT bye them in Amsterdam.... ha ha

Peter

[sweet-dentist]

Hi Guys

Many thanks for all the replies, it really is appreciated.

I have forwarded all the pics onto the Art Ed as he has the final say with this due to colours and how well things photograph in a studio.

I will also reply to all the mails that have come in as I will need to sort out which studio people are closest to.

Pete - I have to be honest, if we could come over to Holland to do your car I would certainly try, the lure of cheese and wooden shoes is enough to tempt me! Also the fact that the car is red, I don't think I have ever seen one that bright over here.

If it's OK I will just wait a further 24 hours, just in case anyone else replies, before letting people know what the decision is.

Many thanks

Vicky

We do have a Guest House... I mean a compleet House for Guests.... so plenty of room... :-)

And "wooden shoes" ... really ... they can be bought at any Farmers Tradeshop... They are called "Welkoop" ... TIP... do NOT bye them in Amsterdam.... ha ha

And we could just PHotoshop the Lexus away and replace it with "Toyota".... :-)

Peter

[Guest]

* Very Sorry - The Pictures are not available yet. Although I did put them on here on 13th Feb, I had to remove them the same day due to the chances of my hastiness to post them for you to see leading to the Auto Express article not being printed. I wouldn't want that for a number of reasons. I was advised by two members here, posting later in this thread, to remove them so the whole episode is not wasted. Again, apologies. I have been informed that the article should be in the magazine sometime in April. After this I will re-install the photo's. *

Time to Fess up.

I was expecting that by now you would all know whose car had been chosen for the Auto Express photo-shoot. Well, in the words/voice of Jim Carey, 'It was ME!' Today I went to John Colley's studio in Derby. He has taken a load of photo's of the car, inside and out. Of course, there's no telling which photo's will be used, but the copies I get I will post on this forum in a few days. If people want to see them that is.

In the meantime, I took a few photo's of my own which I have posted on here. The other thing is about the drive there and back. I have included the photo as proof, AVG MPG of 60! Obviously I was impressed as on the way there it only went up to 53.6. That is the longest journey I have done in the iQ and I wasn't sure what to expect. It's not much more distance than when I go to see my parents up in Cheshire, a journey somewhere in the region of 70 miles. I know stats are boring, but here are this journey's-

Outward Journey time - 2 hours, Distance - 81.5 miles, Avg Mpg 53.9

Return Journey time - not recorded as I stopped at Tesco for fuel and few items including a large box of Thorntons for tomorrow (Valentines), Distance 96 miles, Avg Mpg 60.0

Also, I got range anxiety. The damn warning light for the fuel was flashing and I still had some way to go. Had to divert into Cannock to get a tenners worth of fuel. Luckily I knew where the nearest garage was. As a consequence of this minor diversion, it turned into a larger one as I had a slightly different route back to the M54. Would you believe it! It went up to showing half a tank again! What is it with that sodding fuel gauge?

I have to admit too, I gave it a bit of a thrash, but only a bit, just up to 80, mainly as the big boys and girls in their big cars were bullying me... well, I don't like holding people up who like to drive faster, as I used to a few moons ago... alright, many, many, many moons ago.

The board at the side of the car was for the interior shots so that what is shown in the mirror is the same as out the windscreen, instead of the lighting paraphenalia shining light on the walls of the photo area.

THESE ARE MY OWN PHOTO'S TAKEN ON THE DAY

[Guest]

Sorry... just a few more pics-

The car is on wheel jacks, great bit of kit. Also, you can see where the photo area starts and how the lights are pointed at the walls, so that lights are not glaringly obvious on the bodywork.

BTW: John is a very nice guy. I learned some tricks for photographing cars, the ideas were not obvious to me, but they are simple things, like the board for the mirror. He's been around for some time, having been at the F1 races in Long Beach years ago. He's been all over the place photographing all sorts of cars, from the Middle East to the US, and in many other countries.

http://www.magiccarp...co.uk/index.php This link leads to a good site. Vicky and her husband, and John, supply photo's for it.

THESE ARE MY OWN PHOTO'S TAKEN ON THE DAY

[DFish]

Congrats, and well done for representing the Purple gang. :)

Fish

[dash]

Pretty impressed by your photos !! Theirs are going to be amazing ;)

Did they wash/wax the car for you as well?

Dave

[tarquin]

Amazing photo's Bob Strange effect, looks like cgi or an Artists impression

David

[Guest]

Congrats, and well done for representing the Purple gang. :)

Fish

Cheers Dan. Yeah! Go Purple...

[Guest]

Pretty impressed by your photos !! Theirs are going to be amazing ;)

Did they wash/wax the car for you as well?

Dave

No to the wash and waxing of the car Dave. It was pretty filthy by the time I got there, 83 miles of grotty roads and road filth. He washed the dirt off the car but surprsingly wasn't too concerned about missing some bits. However, I gave it a polishing to within an inch of it's life over the weekend. Wanted to represent the iQ fraternity at it's best. My photo's look a little out of focus because I was standing away from the car a bit.

[Guest]

Amazing photo's Bob Strange effect, looks like cgi or an Artists impression

David

Your not kidding. When I walked inside I thought I was looking at a grey wall and that it was just a few feet in front of me. It was a bizarre effect, like I could have reached out and touched the wall, that wasn't there. Then I noticed as I looked at John that on his left I could see where the 'studio' part of it began, and then it was like magic, it all opened up before my eyes.

:hokus-pokus:

I was impressed with the effect. The act of shining the light against the walls, floor and ceiling mean the car shouldn't have any bright 'spots' on it. Some light was bleeding out of the sides of the spotlights so he used some black coloured tough tinfoil and wrapped it around the gaps to cover up shiny bits reflecting on the car. It's surprising how much those lights brought out the lines on the car, some I hadn't really noticed before.

I had a great day there, but, the traffic these days is just f.e.c.kin mad!

[tarquin]

Look what MR T has done with your poor old car Dan

David

[Guest]

I received a disk this morning from John Colley with 24 high-res and 24 low-res images on it through the post. I will post them in lots of six. Of course, it's anyones guess what pictures will be used in the magazine, but I know that a number of them were of particular interest and they were; Headlights, Seat Belts, Fuel Display and something else, can't recall now. Some people have apparently said that the Headlights are not up to task -fine for city use only, we all know about the fuel display being innacurate, and I almost wrote down what I forgot just now, but it faded away as I was about to type. Doh!

Anyway, without any further jibber-jabber, here's the pics. As an aside here, I have re-named these 6 photo's 3 times in an effort to get them lined up better below, but they still won't play ball.

[DFish]

Hey if they wanted to tint my windows for me I'd have no problem with that... ;)

Bob, the pictures look great... Even with that hint of photoshop. :P

Fish

[Guest]

Of course, I should have said already, that these are the low-res versions. He used a Cannon Eos camera with a couple of different lenses, but 5616 x 3744 pixels are the high-res; that's 18.720 x 12.480 inches, and these on here at 1348 x 899 pixels which equates to 18.722 x 12.486 inches. You can also see where he put the piece of hardboard on the stand so that the left hand door mirror just picked up the same colour seen through the screen, a neat trick. You can also the scratches on the door edge, apparently from the seatbelt -metal part- when closing the door.