Shooting a magazine cover involves many things, sleep not being one of them. Planning the shot, packing the camera/lighting gear, traveling to the location, spending hours on end moving cars around, tweaking lighting and camera angles, and let us not forget the time spent retouching after the shoot is over. Here is an animated gif of one of my recent cover shots for RIDES Magazine which walks you through the 56 layer image build process leading to the final result.

As Photo Director of RIDES Magazine, when you're working full time as an Automotive Photographer, every day is a good day. Sometimes, though, you get these special kind of calls... and those calls turn a good day into a GREAT day. This is the perfect example.