
The Client and Their Brief
The Ariel Motor Company make stripped back, frame-dominated fast machines, and they are based in Yeovil!
We have previously photographed their Motorcycles, the ACE, their off-road vehicle, the Nomad, their Bicycle, the Dash, and of course a few iterations of their highly esteemed track car the Atom.
This brief was to capture the flare and excitement of the new Atom 4R, with a lovely custom-ordered purple frame and carbon fibre panels. We wanted to make 3-4 stills on creative backgrounds, and a product car video that teased the Atoms unique features, before revealing its whole shape and special colours at the end!
What We Did
The brief was very open; the stills needed to show the car in its best light, and the video needed to excite and highlight the key design features.
Preparation is everything! Our large infinity cove had a fresh coat of paint, the lights were rigged high and wide, and we began drafting out shot ideas and a storyboard for the video.
Camera movements were going to be key, as we knew we wouldn’t be moving the car much – the plan was to generate as much interest as we could by moving the camera with lateral and vertical slides and rises. We always leave a little room on the day for ideas, but we needed to be sure that the main parts of the car were covered for interesting shots. By concentrating on key points of the cars design for certain frames, the storyboarding allowed for creative and detail clips in between. This helps in the edit when deciding on pace and feel.
In some shots we also left the camera stationary, instead moving our lighting to create interesting shapes, shadows, and motion.
For the stills we knew we’d like to create custom backgrounds in post production, and so we chose angles that would match the car to those ideas.. again, on the day we leave room to tweak our concepts, look at different lens choices, camera elevations and the cars position on the cove.

LIGHTING AND CONCEPT
This Ariel Atom had a lot of different materials to show off, but above all it needed to look premium. Vivid colours, smooth bodywork, beautiful carbon fibre.
The stills were shot with Profoto flash lights, and are built up from several shots. Although the Atom takes direct hard light very well, the main exposure was achieved by bouncing light onto the floating ceiling above our infinity cove. This gives us a smoothly lit ‘base shot’ to build on with additional lighting images. Working in this way allows for a composite image that creates interest in areas we’d like the viewer to focus on.
Extra light was used to bring out materials such as the carbon fibre texture. We also bounced extra light into the wheels to highlight the beautiful alloy designs – being careful though not to make the black painted metals look too white. For us it’s about adding highlights whilst retaining the overall feeling of the product design.. i.e something has to win, visually speaking, and look true to life, without being bland or flat. Crafting our lighting in this way is what we hope makes our business special.
The video was similar in terms of a main reflected light to start with, but the mood was planned to be notably different: darker, edgy, and exciting were all words that needed to be communicated. We decided to notch the contrast up a little, even referencing film noir when planning some of the shots of shadows cast on the floor from the cars frame! A few of the shots are lit by coloured light tubes, moving just out of frame, which created dramatic reflections reminiscent of travelling past lit streets or racetracks.
How It Looks
The Results
A beautiful set of creative stills and an engaging 30 second video that the client loved! The still photography has a very clean and refined aesthetic, and the video is a little more edgy, with contrast provided by slightly harder lightning and dramatic shadows.
Defining the look and feel of this creative, before the shoot, was integral to its success. The video has a teaser vibe, and by leaning into the more dramatic lighting ideas, clipped frames, high contrast, semi-obscured shots, and a darker scene it created the feeling you get when you watch it. Hopefully in some small way reflecting the experience of how it makes you feel to see, own and drive it!
The photography was all about high quality; showing off a masterfully built car at its very finest. A product shoot with lots of nuance and attention to detail!
What The Client Said
“The photos look absolutely incredible. It really shows that we (you!) have taken extra care and time!”