EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT RIG SHOTS

Rig shots are striking and produce a great sense of motion. That’s why a lot of automotive photographers use this technique. Unfortunately, this has resulted in over saturation. I challenge you to show me one automotive magazine that doesn’t have at least one rig shot.

This over saturation might be the reason a lot of automotive shooters are weary about sharing the secret to this technique. But the majority of the photogs that are hush hush about this are more than likely threatened by new photographers that are coming into the market, using techniques such as this, and undercutting them. But here’s my take, photography is more than just a camera on a pole, there’s so much more to it. Anyone (especially you after you’ve read this article) can do a rig shot. But that doesn’t mean they have the creativity to make it look good. The ability to do a rig shot doesn’t make you a photographer.

I say to hell with it, show everyone how to do it. Level the playing field. It’ll force photographers to get more creative to stand out. And soon they’ll come out with newer, even better techniques. Ultimately, that’s better for everyone.

Now that that’s off my chest, let me get off my soap box and show you guys how to do this. There’s a couple ways to do it, but I’m going to tell you my way. Basically you mount a pole to the vehicle and the camera to the pole. Then you set a long exposure and push the car during the shot. Because the car and the camera are moving on the same plane and at the same speed, the car stays sharp and the background blurs by. The resulting image looks like it was taken at 100 mph when in truth, you only went a few feet while going less than 1 mph. To maintain some organization in this article I’m going to cover 3 sections: the rig, execution, and post processing.

The Rig

Here’s a list of what my rig consists of. I’ve done my best to attach links to places where you can purchase them:

Extension Pole

Just a regular run of the mill extension pole you would use for painting. I got this one at Home Depot. I grinded down the threads on the end of the pole so I could mount my ball head. Try not to extend it out too far during your rig shot. That causes instability, which in turn causes camera shake, which could result in blurry images. I’ve seen people use bigger aluminum piping for their pole instead which could be a good alternative, but you’ve got to keep in mind portability. I couldn’t find the exact pole I use at homedepot.com but you could shop for it here.

Ball Head

I use a Manfrotto Ball Head which I mount the camera to. I find it very easy to adjust. As another alternative, I’ve hear