OK, so maybe not everyone will think this view of a police cruiser is beautiful, especially in your rearview mirror.  But. this week I did a shoot that was something new for me.  I have never thought I would be into automotive photography, but after watching an online class, I decided to try it.  I wanted to try a subject that would be really cool, and yet be accessible.  Not knowing anyone who owns a Ferrari or Lamborghini or other exotic cars, I decided to use a subject that only I would have access to.  Since my ‘other’ job allows me access to police cruisers, I thought I could do a shoot with one of our newest.  Further, the shoot would be used to promote the Police Department and to update our display boards for the upcoming show season.  

The 2013 Ford Police Interceptor is a really great vehicle.  While it’s only a 6 cylinder, Ford has really gotten the most out of it and it can accelerate with the Dodge Charger.  It only loses out to the HEMI on the top speed category.  Even better, it’s all wheel drive and in this part of the country, we need it, believe me.  The black and white paint scheme would make for some challenging, but attractive images and we wanted to capture shots that would be dramatic.  This car is equipped with an automated license plate reader.  You can just see the cameras on the trunk in the pic of the rear of the car.  The technology that's inside today's police vehicles is really incredible.  From in car video cameras to laptop computers (the next generation will be tablets) and better radio equipment; Officers have to be familiar with many different pieces of equipment. 

I say we in that I had my friend Jason assisting.  We used only one light, a small hot-shoe flash, for this whole shoot.  It was placed inside a 10x36 strip softbox with Pocket Wizard Plus III’s.  We also shot tethered into Lightroom the whole time and this allowed us to see the details of the shots as we took them.  Most of the shots were done with a Nikon D700 and 24-70 zoom but Jason even used his D3100 and an 18-55 kit lens for the side view, which goes to show that you do not need an expensive camera to do great work.  We went around the car trying to get details and overviews of the car that could be used to show the technology of the car and yet capture the style also. 

Thanks for reading.  If anyone has any questions or comments, be sure to leave one at the bottom.