One summer evening I ordered dinner at a colorful brightly lit outside menu and realized that in the dusk, that would be a perfect thing to reflect off a shiny car just for a picture. I think of it when I see such lighting to this day, but it doesn’t work the way I expected at all. I’ve taken my own shiny car all over town looking for just the right light play to interact with its glossy form.

Well now it’s winter. That means colored lights!

So I have been casing the city streets in search of the perfect setting. Turns out, the perfect setting is probably going to be something I create artistically, but I found a yard ablaze with color and got permission from the owners at that house to take pictures. They even moved their truck so I could get a better parking spot.

I learned some things! Like that this car and maybe most well sculpted cars pull a trick – all the lights end up in a sliver band along a body curve! Yes, but I have a plan : )

Here she is in plain light of day. This would be the view from the yard, where all the lights were ablaze.

Entire yard lit up, and all that showed up on the car was the glow and highlights.