MINI JCW GP - Clicking For A Friend

Helping a friend in their quest to win a contest for a flipping awesome 2013 MINI John Cooper Works GP. You can help by clicking these three links. Pretty please?

http://t.co/VzV3n2E5
http://t.co/jExgzRX1
http://t.co/fzXZRoDy

Squeak, Rattle, and Silence...

Ever since I removed the center console side pillars and other items to put in my Craven shift well, I've noticed an increase in rattles in the cabin. I'm okay with that since I know that a sporty suspension is not necessarily a smooth ride. MINIHERO is rougher than some because of the lowering springs currently installed.

I attempted to eliminate these rattles and I can report success in silencing them. The area I worked on is in the following photo.

I knew that there were gaps between components in the center stack as well as between the side pillars (those ride side items) and down at the console level. I wanted to find something that was pliable but firm enough that I could shove it into these gaps. Shove it might not be the best term but that is what I ended up doing...

I thought about some type of felt material but knew that would be too soft to get into those tight spaces. I happened to go into Howard Brother's Hardware store in Duluth, GA and just started to roam around to see what I could find. I ended up asking for assistance and was directed to a roll of gasket material. It looked to be a perfect fit. It was rigid enough to push into tight places but had some give which would dampen rattles.

It worked perfectly. It can easily be cut with scissors and folded into appropriate thicknesses. Some of the gaps were only wide enough for a single layer of gasket but some areas needed 3 or 4 layers. For thicker areas I just folded it up until I got what was needed. I put this material into any gap I could find.

My first test drive proved that this solved the problem and there is now an eerie silence in the front of the cabin, well, aside from that wonderful whine of the supercharger :)

So, if you are experiencing rattles then you might want to try this technique. I do expect some of this material will wiggle out over time but I'll just continue to "repair" those pieces as needed. That small roll should last me a lifetime.

Click this link for an example of the material I purchased. I'm sure you can find it at most any auto parts store.

Lighting MINI Parts

I've had a recent photography project where I've been taking shots of parts. I thought it would be a fairly boring set of photos to take but I was wrong. First off, how do you make parts look good? Not too many options and for me, interesting lighting was the best approach. Below is an example of one shot.

The final image is show below and is a set of replacement side lamp covers for a MINI Cooper. These items are all "chrome" which can create a challenging shot.

I shot this using two Nikon strobes, a SB-600 and a very old SB-24. Each are manually set and I used inexpensive Cactus triggers. When the camera fires, it sends a signal to the remote triggers which fire the flash. The parts are sitting on white foamcore with a piece of plexiglass on top. This provides for a nice white surface and the plexi provides the reflection. The back is just another piece of foamcore. The main light is being shot through an umbrella to camera left. I have another strobe being bounced against another piece of foamcore to camera right.

For shots that have items that are not so reflective I use the umbrella and then a gridded flash to provide highlights. This does not work well with chrome since you get hot spots which is why I bounced into foamcore. This creates a much larger light source and reduces the possibility of hot spots.

My first shot had a problem where the smooth chrome on the left side ended up being totally black. It was reflecting from the room and because of the fast shutter speed the "reflection" was darkness. That made it look like the piece had a black spot there. See the photo below to see what I mean.

I ended up taking another piece of white foamcore and as I prepared to shoot with one hand, I used the other hand to position the foamcore so that it reflected back into that area of the part. That caused that "black" area to come out white as seen in the first photo. I've placed a photo to help with the setup.

Looking at this photo I positioned the camera between the umbrella and the other flash. I held the foamcore above and to the right of the camera to kill the black reflection.

I never really thought about the scenarios encountered photographing something simple like parts... I've learned a lot and found it to be more challenging than expected.