This is probably a little more about photography than Saabs, but seeing there’s a Saab featured I think I can get away with it.

I’ve been fascinated by this sort of stuff for a while now. A few years ago I actually did a night photography short course to get a taste of it and it’s a lot of fun.

Strobist is probably the website of choice for this sort of thing. The particular art being expressed here is that of lighting an object with multiple flash units positioned away from the camera. This example, found on Flickr, shows a Saab 9-3 Sport Sedan being lit from several angles. The dark surrounds and selective lighting really set off the red lines of the car.

I’d really love to run a photo contest based on this sort of thing. The imagery can be very evocative and with Saab’s distinct lines, I’m sure we’d get some excellent shots. It’s very involved, though, and takes a whole heap of commitment. Especially on a cold night.

This is part of my brief foray into night photography (more here). This one involved a 30 minute exposure on a freezing cold midwinter night, with the building lit up by multiple bursts from a handheld flash.

I’ve got a shot of my old Saab 900 5-door too, though I can’t seem to find that one at the moment.

If you’d like to see more strobist stuff, check out the strobist pool at Flickr. And if you’d like to try some Saab Strobist photography yourself, please make sure you send in the results. I’ll be happy to shot them off.

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I took that shot on a film camera seven years ago. I had no software to play with back then. A quick press of the ‘enhance’ button in iPhoto gets the contrast looking a lot better.

Ah, the wonders of the digital age.

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