Easton Chang’s Picture-Perfect Porsches
No other photographer can bring cars to life quite like this intl’ artist, and now SmugMug Films shows us how the magic is made.
Automotive photographers have one of the hardest jobs on the planet. They have to take a lifeless hunk of metal and make it look like a moving work of art. Ask anyone that’s ever done it, and they’ll tell you it’s not an easy gig. Easton Chang is an international automotive photographer that has had his work featured in both magazines and advertisements for automakers. His work is arguably some of the best in the automotive industry.
While photographers usually don’t share their secrets to getting a good photo, SmugMug Films provides a behind-the-scenes look at how Chang gets the perfect shot in El Mirage Lake in California, and it’s incredible.
While the main focus is on Chang and his work, the vehicle he’s shooting is quite the looker. The Porsche 911 GT3 was built by HG Motorsports, a California-based company and is for the truly insane. The track-focused sports car is already a monster from the factory, but HG Motorsports amps the ante up by making the vehicle even more track oriented.
Power from the flat-six has been increased thanks to an Akrapovic exhaust, IPD intake plenum, and ECU tune. In addition to the bump in power, the vehicle is enhanced to look like its track-only brethren – the GT3 Cup. There’s a massive rear wing, a larger front fascia, flared front fenders, an enormous rear diffuser, and more. The car’s suspension was also upgraded with coilovers from JRZ and a full suspension kit from BBi Autosport. Needless to say, the modified GT3 is a beast and is a fantastic car to shoot.
While some may think that automatic photographers are artists first and enthusiasts second, Chang clearly loves cars. “Cars are much more than just being an inanimate object to us car enthusiasts,” he says. “It’s the culture. It’s the lifestyle. It’s the people. It’s a way of life.”
And just like a lot of other enthusiasts, Chang’s first car was a gateway into the culture and the world of photography. “When I bought my first car and I was getting involved in the car-culture thing, I really wanted to capture that with a camera,” says Chang.
Chang uses a variety of methods to get the perfect shot of a vehicle, as the photographer believes that “every car is different” and “every location is different,” as well. Static shots, for example help Chang “focus on showing the lines of the car.” As the photographer puts it, “it allows me to use light and shadow to sculpt the car and basically create the image, choreograph the image, and show off its distinguishing profile.”
Photographing cars in motion, though, is the ideal way of getting the machines in their element. “But ultimately, cars are designed as a tool for moving…for speed and performance,” says Chang. “So capturing it in motion has the advantage of shooting a car in its element, doing the things that it was meant to do.”
With a car like HG Motorsports’ 911 GT3, it’s all about the speed, the performance, which makes a dry lake bed an excellent location to photograph the high-end sports car. “So that’s why we have this Porsche 911 GT3 here in this dry lake bed,” says Chang. “It’s basically this giant playground for a car nut to play with this amazing machine.”
Capturing a car in motion can be done through various methods, including: tracking shots, panning shots, high shot of speed, and action shots. Each method, though, is different. “Each and every one of these methods highlight a different aspect of action, so they suit certain images and certain moments more so than others,” says Chang.
Even with a car like a 911 GT3, getting the right shot of the vehicle is difficult, because, as Chang puts it, every vehicle has its own character. And being able to capture a car’s character and share it with others is what keeps Chang going.
“Because cars do have character…they have history…pedigree…ultimately they have emotion,” says Chang. “If I can capture that, If I can bring that out, to capture the car as being more than inanimate objects, then the image becomes more than just eye candy…it becomes a portrait of the car and what it represents.”
The next time you go to take a picture of your car, take some advice from Chang and try to bring out the vehicle’s unique character. And to look at the extensive process that goes into capturing a car, check out the video above.