This Isn’t A Picture Of A Lamborghini Driving On A Track In The Rain

You all should know by now that I’m not in the business of lying to you. We have other people on staff to do that, and they’re much better at it than me. I’m here to force you to think about taillights or whatever. That’s why when I tell you that that picture up there of a yellow Lambo driving in the rain is not really a yellow Lambo driving in the rain, you should believe me. Because it’s really a toy car on a treadmill being sprayed with water.

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Home straight! Head on! “The Art of Racing in the Rain” Image 2 of 3 —— If there was a rule that stated, “You can only own one car of your choice,” I’d pick a @lamborghini. Now you might ask, which one? That’s the biggest catch! All of them are amazing, but I might just settle for a Miura. —— All elements are captured in camera. A spray bottle was used for rain. Two @lumecube lights along with two @profotoglobal B10s and a Yongnuo YN360 were used to light the scene. The car was held in place on the treadmill with the use of a shoelace. The boundary fence was a ping pong table net. I had only 1 so copied it on to the other side in post. Check stories for BTS —— The story of a model @lamborghini Huracan shot on a treadmill during the COVID-19 Lockdown in India. —— @womanbehindthewheel and I were supposed to be in Europe for a few projects and we were looking forward to getting a Lamborghini in front our lens, but due to the running pandemic we have had to figure new ways to do what we love! Here’s to photographing cars for life! —— . . . #Lamborghini #lamborghinihuracan #huracan610 #racingintherain #scalemodelphotography #apaphoto #carphotographersclub #carphotography #automotivephotography #shotonfujifilmxt3 #fujifilmXT3 #creativequarantine #covidlockdown #covid19 #lockdown2020 #lambo #huracan #bburago #toyphoto #toysrus #modelcars #shootathome #lumecube #pixelstick #carantine #lamborghini_daily #lambocar #yellowlambo #yellowlamborghini @bburago_collezione @maistotoys @autoartmodels_official

A post shared by Kunal Kelkar (@theautofocus) on Apr 5, 2020 at 6:31am PDT

Kunal Kelkar is an automotive photographer based in India, and if you’ve been keeping up with the news coming out of a sleepy little place I like to call “the entire world” you’re aware that there’s a global pandemic and being able to go out and photograph cars in their natural, outdoor habitats just isn’t really an option at the moment.

But Kunal, see, Kunal’s not just going to lay around in his underpants and eat corn chips and whine and complain about how miserable it all is. No, not Kunal. Kunal’s going to take a toy Lamborghini and rake the laundry off his treadmill and get a spray bottle full of the same liquid as rain and make a little bit of photographic illuso-magic.

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“The Art of Racing in the Rain” Image 1 of 3 —— All elements are captured in camera. A spray bottle was used for rain. Two @lumecube lights along with two @profotoglobal B10s, a @thepixelstick and a Yongnuo YN360 were used to light the scene. The car was held in place on the treadmill with the use of a shoelace. The boundary fence was a ping pong table net. —— Yes yes, I know it’s the title of a movie and a book, but it also happens to be the title of this series of model @lamborghini Huracan images shot on a treadmill during the COVID-19 Lockdown in India. —— @womanbehindthewheel and I were supposed to be in Europe for a few projects and we were looking forward to getting a Lamborghini in front our lens, but due to the running pandemic we have had to figure new ways to do what we love! Here’s to photographing cars for life! —— . . . #Lamborghini #lamborghinihuracan #huracan610 #racingintherain #scalemodelphotography #apaphoto #carphotographersclub #carphotography #automotivephotography #shotonfujifilmxt3 #fujifilmXT3 #creativequarantine #covidlockdown #covid19 #lockdown2020 #lambo #huracan #bburago #toyphoto #toysrus #modelcars #shootathome #lumecube #pixelstick @bburago_collezione #autoartmodels #maistodiecast

A post shared by Kunal Kelkar (@theautofocus) on Apr 4, 2020 at 8:38am PDT

Here’s some details about how he pulled it off:

All elements are captured in camera.

A spray bottle was used for rain.

Two @lumecube lights along with two @profotoglobal B10s, a @thepixelstick and a Yongnuo YN360 were used to light the scene.

The car was held in place on the treadmill with the use of a shoelace.

The boundary fence was a ping pong table net.

The ping pong net works remarkably well, I think, though the forward view I think is more convincing than the side, mostly because the toy car’s panel gaps are actually a bit worse than a real Lambo’s.

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Night Circuit “The Art of Racing in the Rain” Image 3 of 3 Series Fin. —— Wasn’t really sure of which rear angle I wanted to post so just decided to post both. You guys can comment on which one you like better. —— All elements are captured in camera. A spray bottle was used for rain. Two @lumecube lights along with two @profotoglobal B10s and a Yongnuo YN360 were used to light the scene. The car was held in place on the treadmill with the use of a shoelace. The boundary fence was a ping pong table net. I had only 1 so copied it on to the other side in post. Check stories for BTS —— The story of a model @lamborghini Huracan shot on a treadmill during the COVID-19 Lockdown in India. —— @womanbehindthewheel and I were supposed to be in Europe for a few projects and we were looking forward to getting a Lamborghini in front our lens, but due to the running pandemic we have had to figure new ways to do what we love! Here’s to photographing cars for life! —— . . . #Lamborghini #lamborghinihuracan #huracan610 #racingintherain #scalemodelphotography #apaphoto #lambolife #carphotography #automotivephotography #shotonfujifilmxt3 #fujifilmXT3 #creativequarantine #covidlockdown #covid19 #lockdown2020 #lambo #huracan #bburago #toyphoto #toysrus #modelcars #shootathome #lumecube #pixelstick #topgearchallengetwo #lamborghini_daily #lambocarphoto #lambocar #yellowlambo #yellowlamborghini @bburago_collezione

A post shared by Kunal Kelkar (@theautofocus) on Apr 6, 2020 at 7:10am PDT

The treadmill/road effect is pretty fantastic! According to some quotes on Bored Panda, water droplets were tricky to deal with, for scale reasons:

“Another challenge was not wanting to spray too much water on the car because that led to large water droplets forming on the surface and it looked completely unrealistic”

Kunal also published some behind-the-scenes videos:

…and another:

I’m hoping some of you photographer/toy car/treadmill owners and enthusiasts may be inspired to try some similar shoots of your own. May I suggest pouring Coco Pops on a moving treadmill with a toy Jeep or something to make some fake off-road videos?