Some Automotive Photography In Downtown Dayton, Ohio

This past Sunday evening (June 12) was the first weekend evening we’ve had this Spring/Summer where the weather cooperated for a photo shoot downtown….about 3 months after purchasing my new BMW 335i turbo.

I’ve got a few spots downtown I like to shoot from (which you can see in this post about my previous BMW 330 i). But this was the first time I tried downtown locations with evening light (I usually go early in the morning). TIP: Mid-afternoon, harsh sunlight is generally not good for automotive photography…you’ll do better with early morning or late evening. Most hard-core automotive photographers shoot almost exclusively at sunset. All of my photos were taken with my Canon 5D Mark II and my 17-40L lens. I did bracketed exposures (3 photos for each image, one at +/- 0, one at +2 EV, and one at -2 EV.) Those familiar with HDR photography recognize this as a standard procedure. The photos were pre-processed in Lightroom 3.0, then merged for HDR in Photoshop CS 5.1, and HDR processing was done in PhotoEngine 1.0. I also used PhotoTools 2.6 from OnOne software.

My first shoot location was the top of the parking garage at Kettering Tower (Dayton’s tallest building) – a favorite morning location, but as it turned out, not good in the evening. The evening sun went behind the Key Bank building, casting a shadow over nearly the entirety of the top level of the parking garage – not the look I was going for. But I found a corner which wasn’t in shadow, and got this photo which came out reasonably well. But I’ll have to come back to this location in the morning to get some nice shots with buildings in the background. TIP: The minimum parking charge here is $5.00 so don’t forget your debit/credit card. 🙂

After the disappointing shoot at the parking garage, I headed over to Fifth Third Field (home of the Dayton Dragons minor league baseball team). This shoot went much better, but I had a difficult time getting the car in a position I liked. This one came out reasonably well:

There’s a nice open cement area in front of the entrance to Fifth Third Field where I also took some shots.  This one I’m particularly fond of:

Based on a friend’s recommendation, I headed over to the Dayton Masonic Temple for some shots.  Pretty building, but there’s no good place to park your car and get a good photograph.  However, right across the street is the Dayton Art Institute, and it turned out to be my favorite locale of the day:

I hope you enjoyed these photos!