Who: Photographer Edward Fink, of New Eden Multimedia.When: Shot May 23rd, 2005
What:. Cities Limousine and Transportation's "Land Yacht", an 18-passenger H2 Hummer stretch SUV limousine
click here to view fullscreenWhether you find them gaudy or glamorous, the stretch Hummer has arrived, and if you haven’t yet seen one hogging a city block in your neck of the woods, don’t feel smug; you will soon. The Hummer H2 rolled out of showroom floors a couple years ago and the 30-foot-plus beasts, er, beauties, are the hot ticket with the under-30 crowd and in high demand for prom season.
SUV and sedan-based limos are produced by more than a dozen coach builders throughout the U.S., who buy production line models like the Hummer or Excursion and then stretch them. Gargantuan and gaudy, the gas-gobbling beasts churn out 8 miles to the gallon and are guaranteed head-turners, something QTVR photographer Ed Fink hadn’t anticipated when he shot this panorama. “The spectators and panhandlers were drawn to the enormous stretch Hummer like moths to a flame!” he recalls. “Seeing me with the camera and tripod drove some of them into a frenzy. Hummer stretch limo!? “Paparazzi!?” The Hummer must be picking up or dropping off rich celebrities!”
The H2 Hummer stretch limo, from Cities Limousine and Transportation, of Minnesota, features:
• 3 Flat Screen LCD TV's
• DVD - CD Overhead Combo Player
• Hi-Fi Multi speaker, multi subwoofer stereo surround sound system
• Contour leather coach style seating
• Rear lounge / VIP seating
• Full Avonite Bar with stainless steel wine / champagne bucket, decanters, rock, & champagne glasses and holders
• Stainless steel headliner / ceiling with Fiber Optic star like lighting
• Fiber Optic Bar and Accent Lighting
• Chrome Opera Lighting
• Floor Lighting
• Strobe light
• LED Cabin lights
• Digital touch pad controls
• Tinted windows
• Chrome mag wheels
Why: “I shot the H2 Hummer stretch limo panorama for Cities Limousine and Transportation (www.citieslimo.com) in Minneapolis, MN”, writes Fink. “They wanted to emphasize their fancy lighting package, so I shot at night in the downtown Minneapolis entertainment district.”
How: “I was actually shooting 13 sec. at f8, but auto-bracketed 1.3 stops and ended up using the 30 second exposure”, explains Fink. “That’s happened several times now, so I guess the lesson is that car interiors are darker than they look - and then some. And if you bracket whenever you can, bracketing will surely save your ass one day. Fear of failure is the main reason I bracketed even while telling myself the 30 second exposure wasn’t necessary.
“I considered shooting at a higher ISO or wider f-stop, but decided as long as I didn’t have to deal with passengers in the limo, I’d rather have long exposures than a noisy or soft picture – especially with an already soft lens like the Sigma 8mm.
“The long exposure times helped with a problem I hadn’t unexpected – the spectators and panhandlers that were drawn to the enormous stretch Hummer like moths to a flame! Seeing me with the camera and tripod drove some of them into a frenzy. Hummer stretch limo!? “Paparazzi!?” The Hummer must be picking up or dropping off rich celebrities! But the owner did a skilled job of moving people along fast enough that they didn’t show up in a 30 second exposure.
“To deal with the windows, which were still a little too bright, I made two source images from the same RAW file, one adjusted for the interior and another for the windows/exterior, stitched both the light and dark versions with PTGui and Enblend, then stacked them up in Photoshop and made layer masks to display the dark windows over the light interior. I thought I might have to use one of the darker bracketed shots for the windows, but found I could get enough mileage from a single RAW file by importing it at two different “exposures.” I always prefer to do that from a single RAW when I can get away with it because I can be certain the dark and light shots are perfectly aligned.
“This was the first panorama I did after upgrading to Photoshop CS2. I was concerned about being too heavy handed with the new Smart Sharpen, but felt at ISO 200 and with no people in the photo it was worth the risk of over-sharpening.
“Many people eventually ask why they can’t see me in the shiny roof. This answer is a $4.95 Radio Shack TV remote, plus the long exposure time.
“I unsuccessfully tried to talk the owner into packing the limo full of strippers for the picture, telling him that the kind of guys who rent limos like the H2 only want to know one thing: how many strippers it will hold.”
Equipment: Nikon D70, Sigma 8mm, Kaidan QuickPan III, $4.95 Radio Shack universal remote.
Software: Panorama Tools, PTGui, Enblend, Photoshop CS2, PanoCube Plus
Exposure: RAW, ISO 200, 30 sec. @ f8
