After lighting up the Sunset Cliffs caves with my buddy Daniel, I've been due for another fun project. This time around, I found out Lume Cube was releasing a new mount for the DJI Mavic Pro. I reached out to the Lume Cube team to see if this product was available to test and luckily for me, they had a prototype unit available. This new mount is set to release early December 2017 so I was stoked to get a chance to play with these before then. Now the challenge was to come up with a unique idea that I could use the Mavic and Cubes on.
I've been a huge fan of Elon Musk and the Teslas for the past few years. My friend and fellow photographer Spencer Pablo just got his Tesla Model X wrapped flat black. The first thing that came to mind was to see if I can light up the Tesla at night with the Lumes.
We jumped in his Model X and headed off to location #1. Spencer recently photographed his Tesla's here so and I knew it would be a nice night shot with the downtown skyline in the background. The only concern was that this location was fairly close to the airport. After checking a few apps, the actually location we planned to shoot at seemed to be somewhat clear for take off.
We got to location #1 and launched the app instantly is make sure we were clear for take off. Unfortunately, we were literary right at the edge of the no take circle in the DJI app. We tried walking around and got the same warning. Cannot take off.
It was a race against the sun at this point so we needed to make a location change and make that change quickly. Scott Davenport mentioned a spot near Balboa Park that might work so we headed over there as fast as we could. It wasn't to hard getting there fast with the Model X :)
It was all smiles when we took the Mavic up for a test flight with the Lumes Cubes. With only about 20 minutes before the sun crosses the horizon, we moved the cars into place and got the cameras set up. And yes, we had 2 Teslas this evening as Spencers wife brought out her Tesla Model S to join in on the fun.
After a couple tweaks of the car angles, the cameras were set. We wanted to capture images from the same spot as the sun went down, all the way past sunset so we would have a range of images to choose from as far as background went. Spencer manned the camera as I piloted the lights and Mavic Pro.
As the sun went down and the skyline lights came on, we began flying, lighting and shooting non-stop. I would position lights over the main lines of the Tesla, making sure we highlight the curves of the body. Spencer would take some long exposure photos at each position with the idea of compositing the highlighted pieces together later in post.
After some Lightroom and Photoshop work, here is the final 20+ layer composition (plus multiple color correction layers) photo. We had a blast shooting, lighting and compositing this photo and I can't wait to set up another creative project soon.
I hope you got some value my video and this blog. Below are some links for you in case you wanted more information on the products we used.
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Follow Spencer: http://www.spencerpablophotography.com
Follow Scott: https://www.scottdavenportphoto.com
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▼ VIEW THE LUME CUBE MOUNT AND KIT HERE:
DJI Mavic Pro mounts: https://goo.gl/j6fxnW
DJI Mavic Pro Lume Cube Lighting Kit: https://goo.gl/YkEbmD
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▼ BEST PRICES ON THE DJI MAVIC PROs:
DJI Mavic Pro Alpine White: https://goo.gl/Gnz6Lx
DJI Mavic Pro Platinum: https://goo.gl/fDNx1U
DJI Mavic Pro Drone: https://goo.gl/fq1bVN
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▼ LIST OF GEAR USED TO FILM THIS VIDEO:
Video shot on: http://amzn.to/2nGYg2X
DJI Osmo Extension Stick: http://amzn.to/2Ac63sv
DJI Osmo Tripod: http://amzn.to/2gYnZ1C
Backpack I use: http://amzn.to/2uB9kST
Apple iPad Air 2: http://amzn.to/2sSYJhn
Tablet holder: http://www.mavmount.com (Use promo code flytpath)
GPC Hard Case for the DJI Mavic: http://amzn.to/2umfRMt
PolarPro DJI Mavic large hard case: http://bit.ly/2zpXz4z
▼ VIEW OTHER PRODUCTS I'VE REVIEWED ON ONE PAGE: