Who doesn’t want to see a car fly?

The two new brands of cars that lift motorists from their driveways to their office parking lots, of course, pose new challenges for photographers and videographers. And it’s the same with the Google cars, which have been making news since Nevada became the first state to grant them legal access to public roads.

Google’s engineers, working in partnership with Stanford University, started with Toyota Priuses and modified them from there.

The cars, according to the UK’s Telegraph, “are controlled by computers processing a combination of mapping data, radar, laser sensors and video feeds.”

The company’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, has been a big supporter of the idea for the past few years, according to The Telegraph.

“It’s amazing to me that we let humans drive cars”, he said in a 2010 interview.

Whoever’s driving them, cars are getting much more sophisticated — and capable of things we used to see only in sci-fi films. Car photography, meantime, still needs to make the subject appealing, and to find fresh ways to show what these new automotive abilities mean.

We can’t wait to see what else the future looks like — contact us if you’d like to talk about where to go with your next campaign.

Need more ideas? See sleek car designs for driverless transportation here.

Currently there is a watershed, photographic based, court case coming to a close that could have far reaching effects on images and rights of use. Daniel Morel, a freelance photographer, found himself in Haiti at the time of the island nation’s historical & powerful earthquake. His photos were among the first that the world saw of this epic disaster. Due to the country’s wide spread devastation, he was not able to securely upload his photos to his representatives, so he utilized a more public method… TwitPic.com … a service he linked to his Twitter account. Several news agencies came across these images and began flashing them across TV screens and publishing them in daily papers for days and even weeks after this tragic event. However, none of the news agencies sought Morel’s approval to disseminate his images or even gave him credit.

This caused Morel to bring suit against many powerful news organizations, among them Agence France Presse (AFP), ABC, CBS, CNN and Getty Images. Without getting into all the complicated legal terms of the case, the news organizations declared that they had not infringed upon Morel’s copyrights. They argued that Twitpic’s terms of service, which Morel had agreed to before uploading, provided them a license to distribute the images.

However last December, District Judge William H. Pauley refused to dismiss the case in favor of the new agencies and he went one step further by legally commenting that anything posted on Twitter or TwitPic cannot be freely re-used or distributed. His comments alone caused many of the new agencies to settle with the photographer while AFP and Getty chose to move forward with a summary judgment (a tactic seen by most, as attempt to allow more time for settlement talks).

It comes down to this; in previous cases the court only found violation if the digital photograph’s embedded metadata had been removed or alter (metadata is created when utilizing Photoshop or other similar applications). Yet, in this case, due to the use of Twitpic, there was no metadata. Judge Pauley took this into account and found that the information does not have to be embedded; it can be shown alongside the image. All 13 of the images Morel uploaded displayed the handle “photomorel” or “Morel”. The Court concluded that anyone would have recognized that meant Morel was the author of these images.

What does this mean for photographers? Simply put, the courts are catching up to the digital age and would-be online poachers should beware.

Contact us to learn more about Izmostock’s massive library of European and American car photography.

Fiat 500 Abarth – 2012 Super Bowl Commercial – Seduction

This ad is perhaps the best 60-second encapsulation ever of the fascination with cars, especially European cars. It brilliantly showed how the right car, captured in the right setting and the right way, can be every bit as intoxicating as an encounter with a stunning person to whom you are physically attracted.

That car, of course, is Italian, but the model is actually not Italian but Romanian (Catrinel Menghia). She’s become something of a celebrity because of this ad, and when she made an appearance at a Fiat event in Las Vegas, some quick-thinking video enthusiasts grabbed a few seconds of video of her, and made another ad, which USA Today found out about, and wrote about.

It took some ingenuity. Not everyone can come up with an ad in moments, and most of the automotive writers were not so quick:

Many of the writers just posed for pictures with her. But ever quick on his feet, producer Luul (pronounced “yule”) took her outside and filmed her whispering in Bell’s ear and stepping out of the car in her high heels. Mission accomplished, all in about 10 minutes. After she was gone, he figured out he rest of the shots he needed, which became the promo for the team’s Webby nomination.

That story, and the original ad are so good, that in some ways it helps us to fall in love again with what we do, which among other things is market European car stock photos. Our photos are of cars, not women, but our clients understand the deep and almost provocative connection with an excellent photo of a beautiful car.

If you’d like to learn more about our photos, and our passions, please contact us.

The legendary after-market performance automaker is poking a little fun at itself after USA Today recently detected some doctoring in images Shelby released to the press. The company later said the pictures were released by accident.

New images from Shelby, though, are no mistake. Whimsically manipulated photos show the Las Vegas-based company’s 950-horsepower Shelby 1000 rumbling down a roller coaster track, parked on the deck of an aircraft carrier and jumping a row of cars … while disguised as a monster truck.

Considering Shelby’s legacy of blindingly fast cars, the doctored photos seemed believable to many. The pictures appeared to show the front wheels of the Shelby 1000 pulling off the ground — presumably from the car’s powerful torque.

But a closer look confirmed some altering of the image.

Shelby spokesman Scott Black, who initially told USA Today that the only photo manipulation he knew of was to correct for shadows, had to call the paper back after further fact-checking at the Las Vegas-based company’s offices.

That is a fake shot,” Black told USA Today. “That shot is not real. I am beyond embarrassed.” He explained that a photographer had done the manipulation but that he didn’t know why.

It’s a good reminder of why car photography requires the highest levels of skill, ethics and professionalism. Contact us if you’re serious about your campaigns.

And launch is a pretty fair description in this case.

The American-made Terrafugia Transition flying car — yes, that’s what we said — already has folks at the New York Auto Show talking, and the Dutch-built PAL-V (Personal Air and Land Vehicle) is taxiing up right behind it.

This is truly a case where a picture is worth a thousand words — the video of the PAL-V is not to be missed.

The Transition, cleared for takeoff last year by the National Highway Safety Administration, is the closest to retail availability, according to a report in PCMag.com

The two-seat “street-legal airplane,” the article says, runs on unleaded gas and, with its wings folded up, fits right in on highways. When it banks into the sky, though, it’s capable of flying at 1,400 feet, as it proved during a test flight out of Plattsburgh, N.Y.

The PAL-V, meantime, is more like a mini-helicopter.

With a flight range of up to 315 miles, it tops out around 110 mph by land or by air — and it handles like a motorcycle on the ground, its makers claim.

While potential PAL-V buyers will have to wait until it clears some more regulatory hurdles, Terrafugia Transition’s promoters are already accepting $10,000 on their $279,000 machine, PCMag reports.

“We appear to be entering a Golden Age of sorts for automobiles that double as aircraft,” the article says.

Sounds like fun to us. Contact us for your marketing efforts — we don’t get airsick.

Related story: 12 Flying Cars That Paved the Way

Terrafugia

The new concept car — presented as a full-scale model — reinterprets the 1947 Cisitalia 202. Students pursuing Master of Arts degree in transportation designed the car, originally envisioned by Pininfarina in 1946.

The students had some assistance from CECOMP, Pirelli, OZ Racing and ABET Laminati, which helped build the car, according to a post from gizmag.com.

The Cisitalia 202 E might not look much like the original, but look closer.

The shape of the grille, those wide rear fenders and the fastback design all hearken back to the original 1947 model.

Pininfarina’s design, which turned heads at shows in Italy and France back then, incorporated a flowing surface that merged handcrafted fenders, hood, headlights and body.

Only 170 models came out between 1947 and 1952.

The students reinterpreting the car are the ninth group from their school to present concept cars at the Geneva show, the gizmag post says.

But Pininfarina, meantime, is still designing originals.

The company is reportedly at work on a sporty new model called the Cambiano, which Pininfarina says is “conceived with great attention to the environment.”

Save for a teaser video and a few photos, though, little is known about the new car.

Whether it’s concept cars or classics, contact us if you’d like help with your strategy.

It’s worth noting that photography created so much buzz for the car that’s debuting at the Geneva Auto Show.

Volvo had released what the Chicago Tribune described as a “shadowy image” of the model and had dropped hints that it might offer the car in the U.S.

No such luck, though, Cars.com confirms:

U.S. sales data and our continued market analysis confirm that demand for a five-door hatchback like the V40 would not be strong enough to warrant bringing it to the United States,” Volvo’s Jawanza Keita tells the website.

“On the other hand, the V40 is highly compatible with the interests and tastes of European automotive consumers, so it’s expected to be very successful in European markets.

Volvo figures 85 percent of the 90,000 units they expect to sell will go to European buyers.

Still, Americans can’t get those inviting pictures of the V40 out of their heads. The power of a strong image, it seems, shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Luckily our car stock photo library covers both European and USA vehicle markets, so we can find you a V40. Contact us for advice or strategies for your campaign.

Car photo library files might never be the same.

Lexus, the official automotive marketing partner for SI’s 2012 Swimsuit Launch Week, has taken a daring plunge, according to a post on MarketWatch.com. The automaker’s multimedia TORI 500 campaign showcases an actual racetrack built in the shape of SI swimsuit model Tori Praver’s body.

The specs?
• A camera app called SUPERMODELED, which lets people place pictures of Praver into their own photos with a single click. (It’s available at lexus.com and iTunes.)

• In a behind-the-scenes video, professional race driver Scott Pruett and stunt driver Greg Tracy duel on the TORI 500 track. (to see who wins a victory lap with Tori in the passenger seat, visit: Lexus.com/tori500 or youtube.com/lexus).

• Lexus has a four-page spread in this year’s swimsuit issue, along with custom tablet integrations n iPad, Samsung Galaxy, Xoom and Nook.

What better way to help introduce the bold new face of Lexus — the all-new GS — than with a bold new campaign featuring a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model?” says Lexus marketing vice president Brian Smith. “With the new GS, there’s no going back for Lexus. Instead of just looking at the pictures, consumers can share in the fun through our many campaign components, including having Tori appear in their own photos.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you: Sharp curves ahead.

Contact us if you need someone to help steer your photo campaign.

Please click here for Media Contacts and Multimedia assets.

One of the best things? The latest J.D. Power & Associates dependability survey, which shows cars and trucks made in 2009 are proving to be the most reliable ever produced — despite being built as automakers struggled through one of their worst downturns in history.

The results of the survey, which polled owners of ’09 model-year vehicles, appear in a new report from Reuters and on the PRNewswire.


Twenty-five of 32 brands showed improved dependability from the 2011 survey, according to the PRNewswire. Six declined, and one remained the same.

The data is pretty clear,” says David Sargent, vice president of global automotive for J.D. Power. “These were the best quality vehicles ever built up until this time. It’s a pretty good testament to the industry. Some of the automakers were facing, potentially, the end, and all of them were struggling to sell any product.

During that nightmarish year, United States auto sales fell to their lowest level since World War II when adjusted for population, Reuters reports. Chrysler and General Motors Co. slipped into government-sponsored bankruptcies and Ford Motor Co. had to borrow heavily to stay afloat.

Meantime, Sargent says 2010 models are showing further improvements.
Nobody likes remembering that dark phase — but it doesn’t like anyone will soon forget the work the industry produced then.

If you’re working to show what the car industry can do, contact us for ideas and solutions.

Automotive technology experts say driverless cars aren’t as far down the road as you might think, according to a blog post by CNN’s Doug Gross.

“We are seeing just seismic changes as we speak,” Scott Belcher, president and CEO of the nonprofit Intelligent Transportation Society of America, says in the article.

It might sound like something from a science-fiction film, but Belcher tells CNN he wouldn’t be surprised to see such vehicles on U.S. highways in just a few years.

The technology will get there, he predicts — the question is whether drivers will be willing to move over and let a machine drive.

“We don’t really like to give up control of our vehicles,” Belcher says. “But if you look at where we are today — the adaptive cruise control is semi-autonomous. Cars that park themselves — that’s autonomous. You’ve got buses that operate in rapid transit systems that, for the most part, are autonomous.”

Already, the CNN post notes, automakers are on the brink of producing vehicle-to-vehicle technology — which allows cars to sense and “talk” to one another and avoid collisions. Volvo even has a system that looks out for pedestrians and can automatically hit the brakes if it spots anyone in the car’s path.

These changes might take some getting used to, but they’re likely to save many lives.

Contact us if you want to see more of what the future looks like.