Drag2Zero are a cycling aerodynamics company based in Brackley (Reynard Park Mercedes GP Petronas Formula One Team). My brief was to photograph a series of new cycling products and clothing to be sold on their website
The most difficult shot was definitely photographing the disc wheel. It reflects everything so my only option was to extend the backdrop right up and in-front of the cameras lens. I then cut a whole in the centre of the backdrop just about big enough for the cameras lens to fit through. This removed all reflections (including myself) from the wheels shiny surface which allows me to focus my attentions on better lighting, focusing, composition and the fun stuff
I have some new studio equipment (HiLight from Lastolite) which is perfect for providing soft even lighting. HiLights are normally used as backgrounds. They’re portable and can be set up quickly for portraits but I use them for a variety of situations where I need soft even light. For example I used an HiLight positioned directly above the carbon fibre extension poles to produce an even reflection. This worked really well positioned on a black backdrop. I just needed a small fill light to add detail into shadow areas. After photographing the images only a few tweaks were needed in post because effective reflections and lighting had already been captured directly in camera
Finally I photographed the new high end skin suit which has a perfect shiny matt finish that looks great when captured. The model chosen was our local Time Trial specialist Tim Cartwright who’s an exceptional athlete already setting incredibly fast times in our early season TT’s. I photographed a variety of angles of Tim using a typical backdrop (grey) and soft side lights. The backdrop wasn’t wide enough unfortunately so I shot the images in portrait (to obtain maximum resolution) and extended the backdrop width in post using various Photoshop techniques
