My BMW M3 CSL Picture Spectacular

[typeS4]

Amazing thread 10/10 girl and car

[filipinoise]

Such a beautiful car, definitely don't see a whole lot of those on the forums, let alone in person! Props.

[harry328is]

Thank you.

[KnudsonsM3]

Love the CSL ma....looks great.

Any in car vids while driving?

[acolella76]

Man, I sure do like Melissa.

[odortiz]

wow. on every account.

[Volf]

clean

[acssilhoutte]

i do love how you tell the story behind the beautiness of the csl, until this came up i don't know there are such many details on this car.. waiting for more details thank you sir!

[Walechamp]

Incredible thread. I fell in love with the CSL when I saw it in the BMW Museum in Munich. Yours looks fresh off the showroom floor. I'm awaiting new chapters.

[MParallel]

Such a beautiful car, definitely don't see a whole lot of those on the forums, let alone in person! Props.

Indeed. If you want to see them in the flesh, your best bet is to go to The Ring during the summers.

There's are usually a few CSL's around during the weekends. And most of them seem to be UK RHD versions.

[m5time]

Chapter 5: The Photography


Taking the pictures you see in this thread took about 20 nights. I usually shoot after sunset, as the light is at its most beautiful then. Because I live in Finland, this means staying up late, as the sunset can be as late as 10:50pm. The good thing is that the “golden hour” lasts much longer than an hour so there is plenty of time to enjoy those wonderful reflections that it creates on the car.

Yes, you did read it right, it took 20 nights. And lots of help from friends. Altogether 19 people helped me shoot these pictures! Want to shoot cool car photos? It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I am lucky to have friends willing to invest their time and effort in my crazy photo projects. These pictures would not exist without them; big thanks to all of you involved!

I shoot cars for magazines, but shooting my own car was very different. There is definitely the advantage of being able to re-schedule the project at a very short notice. Whenever I saw a beautiful sky, I took photos that night. And if I made a mistake and the pictures did not turn out well, I was able to do countless re-takes, as there were no deadlines. For example, the engine picture did not look nice after the first session, so I did another session. Afterwards, I noticed some dirt on a plastic part that spoiled the picture. And because I do not manipulate the pictures, all I could do was shoot it the third time. So that one picture took 12 hours to take, and that is not counting the hours I put into cleaning the engine. Likewise, only after three failed sessions did I understand how to photograph the SMG display, so the fourth session was finally producing the pictures that you see in this thread.

Speaking of the SMG display, one of the most interesting experiences in this project was the macro photography. It is hard work. And because I was determined not to use any digital manipulation, it became quite a challenge. The problem, in a word, is dust. When shooting the roof picture, I had the camera trigger in one hand and a microfiber cloth in the other. Then I repeated the sequence of wipe – shoot – wipe – shoot. After wiping the roof clean, the picture had to be taken immediately. After three seconds, there was already so much dust on the roof that it spoiled the picture. When shooting the interior, especially the buttons, I had a small brush: brush – shoot – brush – shoot. The SMG display introduced a new issue: ultra-shallow depth-of-field. First I thought I should focus on the glass on top of the display, but then many hours later I realized that I got better pictures when I focused a bit deeper into the LED structure; there seem to be many layers in the display. The difference was probably less than 1mm, but in macro photography, a millimeter is huge. The macro shots are all 21Mpix pictures and looking at them in full-res is very interesting. For example, there is no such thing as a straight line; there are only lines that appear straight when you look at them from a distance.

Tech spec for SMG macro shots: Canon 5DmkII, 100 2.8L macro, f/11, 20sec, ISO 100. For the low-res pictures in this thread, the spec is overkill. But I wanted the quality to be so good that the picture would be perfect even in poster size, so I used all the tricks: tripod, mirror lock-up, remote shutter, manual focus with live view, medium aperture, low ISO. The price to pay was long exposure time, during which I had to hold my breath not to shake the car. Try repeating that a couple of hundred times. It was hours and hours of hard work. I now have great respect for photographers who specialize in macros.


Canon 5DmkII, 24-105 (@32mm), f/10, 42sec, ISO 100. Picture was taken at 01:13am, the night is about as dark as it gets in July. (The darkest moment is at 01:20am, this is due to DST and timezones.) The sky is beautifully illuminated by noctilucent clouds and the moon is rising. To me, this is Finland at its best. I am proud to present the CSL in these surroundings.


Canon 5DmkII, 24-105 (@40mm), f/10, 49sec, ISO 100. The flag is created with white LED lights, so the reflections on the car are very detailed.


Canon 5DmkII, 70-200 f/2.8L II (@115mm), f/8, 2sec, ISO 200 and Melissa. This was shot at 00:39am, the sky was already getting darker, but I still wanted those sunset colors in the picture, so Melissa had to stay absolutely still for 2 seconds. This is why she is leaning against the car with her right hand.


Whenever I post my pictures somewhere, there is always a lot of discussion about my policy of no manipulation. Before you comment, please remember that these pictures were not easy to take. It takes a lot of time and effort. Much more than many people would ever think was realistic or reasonable. 10 hours per picture is not uncommon at all. In my opinion, it makes photography more exciting: the moment you take the picture is the moment that counts. There is no “oh well I will fix that later at home”.

I want to stress that I have nothing against photographers who excel at post-processing and manipulation. I truly admire their skills and love to view their pictures – I have just chosen a different approach for my own production.

Also, keep in mind that I shoot in RAW, so I do make adjustments in the JPG conversion process, such as brightness, contrast, saturation and white balance. I use Canon DPP software to do the conversion. And then I re-crop and resize the pictures for internet use. But I never manipulate my pictures. If there is an ugly traffic sign in the background, it is there in the final picture. If there is an insect sitting on the car, it is there in the final picture. If there is a piece of chewing gum on the ground and it looks stupid when I look at the picture at home, I just cry and then I re-shoot the whole thing next night. (And I make sure to check for any chewing gum before I position the car!)

You can have fun spotting all the mistakes in the pictures – there are lots and lots of them! See that dent on the door in the rolling shot? No it is not a dent – it is a mosquito. And oh how I wish that mosquito would have had some other car to sit on that night!

More about my photography method:

http://www.m5time.com/INFO/M5TIME_INFO_ENG

Much more pictures of cars, bikes and girls:

http://www.m5time.com/Assignments

In their portfolios, models more and more appreciate pictures that have not been manipulated at all. Those pictures show their true beauty, and not only the Photoshop skills of a digital retouch artist. Keep this in mind when you look at these pictures; it is just amazing how beautiful these people really are.

Tearsheets:

http://www.m5time.com/tearsheets

I was very fortunate that Satch (editor-in-chief, Roundel Magazine) liked the CSL pictures and ran a feature in the December 2011 issue. Roundel Magazine is great!

My next goal in photography is to have my work featured in BMW’s own “BMW Magazine”. They are very photography-focused. In fact, I did send these pictures to them but I got rejected. I hope some day my dream will come true and they will publish my work.

There are a lot of new CSL picture ideas and concepts that I simply have not had the time to shoot yet. But there is always next summer. Again I plan to drive during daytime and photograph during night-time. And if I get some good pictures, I’ll be posting them to this thread for you to see.

Thank you for reading this thread, I hope you liked it.

All CSL-related discussion and questions are welcomed in this thread!

Anssi

[FLTN]

Tell Melissa I need some help with my oil too

[lambo7]

God damn, my heart was racing just reading that...

[MParallel]

Truly an epic post.

How about some Northern Light pics

[m5time]

How about some Northern Light pics

Northern lights are very rare in southern Finland where I live. I have seen them only twice in my life. I would need to put winter tires on the CSL and drive north. Your smiley is winking, but I have given this serious thought. The idea is so very tempting. There are not many of pictures of CSLs on ice...

Noctilucent clouds are visible almost every summer, from late July to early August. I did not see any in 2010, but 2011 was again a good year and I got these lucky CSL shots.

Driving the CSL through the light summer nights of Finland is so sweet that just thinking about it almost brings a tear in my eye. Many Finns spend the winter just waiting for the next summer. For me, summer has not been so important in the past. But it is now! I cannot wait for summer 2012.

Anssi

[kalkan]

this is art. pure art.

thank you.

[Matty C m3]

Wow!

[ilya1585]

SO MUCH WIN!!!! But why no story/pics on the interior...????

[BimmerBreaker]

You have quite a lot of talent, I am very impressed, I showed my photographer friend this thread I imagine he is even more impressed

And droooool

[MParallel]

Northern lights are very rare in southern Finland where I live. I have seen them only twice in my life. I would need to put winter tires on the CSL and drive north. Your smiley is winking, but I have given this serious thought. The idea is so very tempting. There are not many of pictures of CSLs on ice...

Noctilucent clouds are visible almost every summer, from late July to early August. I did not see any in 2010, but 2011 was again a good year and I got these lucky CSL shots.

Driving the CSL through the light summer nights of Finland is so sweet that just thinking about it almost brings a tear in my eye. Many Finns spend the winter just waiting for the next summer. For me, summer has not been so important in the past. But it is now! I cannot wait for summer 2012.

Anssi

Yes I was winking, because I know that nothern lights are rare and you just can't go out and take a pic. But it would be stunning.

There was an "outbreak" of the sun just last week and Nothern light could be seen in lots of parts of Europe, but too bad, not here. It was too cloudy.


"Driving the CSL through the light summer nights of Finland is so sweet that just thinking about it almost brings a tear in my eye."

Well I don't have such nice surroundings over here, but I know just what you feel. I have the same feeling when I drive my car with the top down, on a summer's night, when it's not too hot anymore, but perfect for a nightly drive with the roof down, going past city lights...

[Lord DRIFT]

I wouldn't change a thing...

[mmzcee]

Awesome photography. Love your work man.

[3MPowered]

Awesome thread! I really enjoyed reading your impressions of the CSL. I'm also all in for a featurette on the interior!

[gary88]

I read your article in Roundel last month and thought it was great, thanks for sharing more

[odortiz]

the center cap on the wheel is upside down. everything else looks perfect.

You have quite a lot of talent, I am very impressed, I showed my photographer friend this thread I imagine he is even more impressed

And droooool