Image Build – SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i

Image Build – SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i

August 8, 2012 · in , , , ,

This will be a bit of an exciting post because in this post I will show you just how I edited a photo for a SSR Wheel ad. Below is the final ad that will be appearing in upcoming European Car magazine issues.

Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i

Here is the original image straight out of the camera with no strobes.
Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i 1

Next up I added 4 strobed layers. Shooting a dark car at night really sucks because you can’t really do much to get the color to pop. Keep in mind the car is dark blue.
Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i 2

Then I took out all the distracting elements in the photo mainly with the clone tool.
Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i 3

After that I took the image and lit it up a bit in photoshop.
Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i 4

And when you mess with the lighting in photoshop, you will notice that colors go all whack. So I had to correct all the colors afterward.
Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i 5

Then I fixed the windows because the lighting made them too “see through”.
Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i 6

I decided to add some color grading after that to give it more of a “night feel” with cooler tones. It’s easier to notice if you look at the ground.
Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i 7

Then to spice things up even more and make the image more dynamic and pop, I added some light streaks and effects. Notice that I took, what was in the original photo and complimented it.
Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i 8

After all that, I was left with this final image. Notice that I took out that distracting blob of light on the hood.
Image Build - SSR Magazine Ad With My BMW 135i 9

The overall hours took to create the final image was 10 hours. I hope this helps shed some light on my post-production process. Go out and take a look at a European Car magazine just to see how it looks on print.

Feel free to leave your comments or ask questions below.