I love to capture classic cars in motion! It adds life and movement to my photos. But what’s a girl to do when photographing a car in motion just isn’t possible, for instance if I’m at a car show or expo?

A couple of months ago, I stopped in at a regional Roadster Show to capture a few detail shots. As I was packing my camera bag with the lenses I’d need, I saw my Lensbaby Composer and then it hit me…*light bulb*…I could shoot these stationary cars with my Composer and add movement where there isn’t any! Brilliant.

So off I went, challenging myself to shoot the entire expo using my Lensbaby Composer with Double Glass Optic. It was a bit challenging at first getting the settings just right for being inside the expo hall, but once I had my ISO, Shutter, and Aperture working for me everything seemed to click. I had such a blast!

I’d like to take a minute to share with you some of my favorite shots:

For all of these photos, I bumped my ISO up to 800, giving me the light sensitivity I needed to be shooting indoors. My aperture was set in the lens at f2 by using the interchangeable aperture rings that come with the Composer. The only thing I needed to worry about while shooting each photo was my shutter speed. I wanted to keep it around 1/100 to avoid any camera shake from hand holding the camera.

First up, is a photo of a classic with the left side of the hood open to show off the work that was done to the engine. This is a great setup for engine detail shots, but if you want a good photo of the front of the car, it may not work for you. With the Lensbaby, I was able to let the open hood work in my favor, allowing all the elements of the photo to radiate from the center, creating a ton of action!

Nikon D60 | Lensbaby Composer with Double Glass Optic | f/2 | 1/125 sec. | ISO 800

One thing I love to do with my detail shots is focus on one element and allow everything else to blur out. Normally, I’ll use my 50mm lens, letting the shallow depth of field highlight my focal point. With the Lensbaby, I’m able to create the same type of focal effect, just with much more movement. Pretty cool, wouldn’t you say?

Nikon D60 | Lensbaby Composer with Double Glass Optic | f/2 | 1/100 sec. | ISO 800

Don’t you just love bokeh in a photograph? Combine shiny chrome, bright lights, and the Lensbaby Composer, and you have a pretty awesome blurred effect!

Nikon D60 | Lensbaby Composer with Double Glass Optic | f/2 | 1/80 sec. | ISO 800

The thing I love most about car shows is when the owners have fun with their displays and add props…a photographers playground! This was a fun scene with a race car red classic with flames that scream, “Eat my dust!”, complete with matching gas pump. With this type of scene, it’s fun to put all the focus on the added element, allowing the car to blur out in the background. It makes for a fun shot that tells a story…and you know how much I love telling a story with my photos!

Nikon D60 | Lensbaby Composer with Double Glass Optic | f/2 | 1/160 sec. | ISO 800

Since all of these photos were shot indoors underneath awful fluorescent lighting, I made some minor adjustments to the white balance inside of Adobe Camera Raw. Other than that, the effects that you see were created completely 100% in-camera using the Lensbaby Composer.

So tell me in the comments below, how do you challenge yourself to see things creatively?