Well, since i didn’t shoot this in Troy; and the person driving the car was definitely not Helen of Troy; I’m gonna go with the title above.

I have been getting questions in emails asking me how this shot was done in detail, so i figured i should do a full post on it.

I guess the easiest way i could explain the process is to provide you with a brief equipment list so the post is easy to explain and understand.

The Camera Mounting Rig (Will be posting a photo of the rig soon)

2 x Manfrotto 241-S Suction Mounts
3 x Manfrotto Super Clamps
1 x 2.5 Ft Aluminum Cross Bar
3 x Custom made 6 ” Steel Spigots
1 x Benro Tripod Head

Imaging Equipment

Nikon D700
Nikkor 14-24mm F/2.8

Flash & Modifiers
1 x SB 800
1 x Westcott Apollo Mini Softbox

Wireless Flash Triggers
Alien Bees Cyber Sync Transmitter & Receiver

Camera Triggers
RFN3 Wireless/Wired Remote Trigger

Human Enhancement Supplements
1 x Gatorade :)

Ok.. Now that thats out of the way, lets get to the details.

First things first. I wanted to make sure that my baby (Nikon D700) would be secure while the car was moving. It took me two months to acquire the necessary components to design and test out the rig. I was originally gonna use just a super clamp with a magic arm to do this shoot, but the higher the camera was, the more jitter i was experiencing plus i wanted a more secure solution. With the old setup, the movement seemed to be a little jaggy. I was a little paranoid about trusting my equipment with a single super clamp. I didnt care how “super” the clamp was, i just wanted a better solution. So i had to think of a way to increase the height of the camera while maintaining the stability, sturdiness and well a very low rate of jitter. The only way i could do it was with 3 customized 6 inch steel spigots. Individually attached to 3 x super clamps. I had already put a dent on my hood with a single super clamp so i wanted something else that could house the super clamps while protecting my cars paint job. Here is where the Manfrotto 241-S suction mounts come in. I got 2 of those to mount my super clamps on. To add a little height to the rig, 2 custom made steel spigots were mounted to both the Manfrotto suction units. I mounted the two super clamps on the spigots which gave me a tiny height boost. The clamps on the super clamps were then adjusted to hold a 2.5 Ft Alumnium bar, forming something like a bridge. I checked the bar by trying to pull it off the car. I couldnt. It was stable and secure. The third super clamp was positioned in the middle of the aluminum bar, along with the third spigot, giving me another 6 inches of height. I was getting there, but i needed to add few inches more to the gear. Thats where the tripod head came in. Mounted on the spigot was the Benro tripod ball head. A very Large ball head.
I mounted the camera and the lens on the ball head and took it for a spin in my car. Nothing too crazy. Just around the block. Seemed ok. At this point i was more concerned about someone stealing my camera while i was inside the car! Everything else seemed ok.

I was going to shoot tethered with the Nikon Camera Control pro software on my Mac, but the Nikon supplied cable was too short so i had to go with wireless shutter release and stay out of the car.

Now, the fun part. How do i expose and freeze my friend Shandana who was driving the car?? With a Flash, of course. So i mounted a Mini Westcott Apollo softbox on a single SB 800 and asked my friend to hold it while she was driving. I set the Flash mode on the camera to rear curtain. Flash was set to 1/4. I set the exposure to about 5 Seconds, F/16.

I asked my friend to start driving and we ended up close to a busy traffic area. I got out of the car and asked her to drive the car around 5-10 Km/Hr. Since i had the wireless trigger attached to the camera, i started triggering the shutter.. and yes i was actually running next to the car. Through the whole shoot, my friend was on the phone with me, and i kept directing her where to go.

In post-processing, contrast and vibrance was increased, curves were adjusted.