A colleague had just bought an Audi SQ5 and dropped by with a spontaneous idea: “Let’s take some cool photos.” Neither of us had much of a plan and I had no real experience with this kind of shoot. So we grabbed my gear and headed out.
The gear
- Sony A6700 with a Sigma 18-50mm F2.8
- DJI RS 4 Mini gimbal
- VILTROX RGB video light
Figuring it out on the way
We were already in the car when the obvious questions came up: “Where are we actually going to shoot?” and “How should I set up the camera?” While my colleague searched Google Maps for a suitable spot, I quickly looked up camera settings. As soon as we arrived, we got straight to it.
What I took away from the shoot
- You learn the most by picking up the camera and actually using it.
- Keep your expectations realistic, especially for the first time.
- Shooting photos and video in the dark is a very different experience from shooting in daylight.
- Walking around in public with a camera and gimbal feels strange at first and attracts plenty of attention.
In the end a few shots turned out pretty well and we had fun along the way. There’s still plenty for me to learn, but this was a good start.
One small detail we forgot
We ended up being out for almost three hours, shooting in a hospital car park. What we hadn’t done was telling our wives where we were going. When they checked our location, seeing us at a hospital, gave them quite a scare. They thought we’d somehow managed to land ourselves in hospital. Thankfully the only thing we’d been up to was taking photos.
The videos
Created with DeVinci Resolve (also first time using it).
Audi SQ5 – Teaser
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Audi SQ5 – Test clip
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