Photography Life

PL provides various digital photography news, reviews, articles, tips, tutorials and guides to photographers of all levels

  • Lens Reviews
  • Camera Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • Compare Cameras
  • Forum
    • Sign Up
    • Login
  • About
  • Search
Home → Tours and Travel

Adventures of Traveling Cars by Kim Leuenberger

By Guest Poster 40 Comments
Published On July 18, 2013

This guest post is a little different than the ones that we have been posting here at Photography Life. It is not coming from an established pro photographer. It is from an aspiring photographer, Kim Leuenberger, who works hard on bringing something unique to the world of photography, something we do not get to see every day in the never-ending sea of imagery on the Internet. I think a lot of our readers can relate to her and might find her work inspiring. I really liked her concept of Traveling Cars and asked Kim to share a little tip on how she post-processes her car photos.

Traveling Cars (15)

My pondering and wondering

My name is Kim Leuenberger, I’m 21 and I’m a big dreamer! My imagination is so wide and over productive, so I have to find ways to let things go off of my head (so I don’t explode). I’m very close to nature, and I spend most of my time alone, which can be quite heavy at times. I love to get my feelings out through art. As a kid I used to have my own “throw-away” Kodak, and we would develop it and put it in a small album. My parents would tell me how to improve, and it went on like this for years, until The family got a digital camera. After the purchase I could practice as much as i wanted.

Traveling Cars (12)

For my 19th birthday, I got my first personal DSLR and that’s when I started really photographing. I started creating and photographing as an artist, and not just to take a point and shoot photos of things like I used to. I would go for hours and days in City like Basel or Bern and take my friends out for photoshoots, it was a lot of fun.

But like a lot of people out there, I decided to go to school for something other than photography. In 2011 I was sitting on a bench at the university, my camera always in my bag. I couldn’t concentrate and all I could think about is going out and take pictures. I was doodling on my school notes, and even if loved Chemistry, I knew that it wasn’t my calling. I think that’s when I decided to enter London University of The Arts, which I will be attending from September. I always wanted to study in an university, plus studying the thing i love the most in the world – photography – would just be perfect.

Traveling Cars (16)

Traveling Cars (14)

In 2012 I decided to go to Dublin, there the thing got bigger. After seeing what I had in my portfolio, some of my teachers offered me to do an exhibition of my work (especially The Traveling Cars Adventures). But I left in April to work in Tunisia for the Club Med as a tennis teacher. The work was intense, and I had almost no time to take pictures, I was feeling very down… As soon as I got back home, I felt empty. But then in June I forced myself to go back on the field and I took some of the best pictures of my life.

I love to have friends with me to take my car pictures, it’s always more fun, and I look a little bit less ridiculous (only a bit). As I take the pictures low on the ground, I often have to lie down to make the focus perfect. Sometimes people would walk by and find me funny. At that point I would show them the pictures I just took, and that’s how I ended up selling some of the photos to them. Talking about making money from something they thought was funny :) Soon after I started getting inquiries for purchases of my work…

Traveling Cars (9)

Traveling Cars (4)

Traveling Cars (3)

I believe that everything is interesting. From my point of view, we must share feelings with our pictures, they must tell a story. It can happen that creativity and inspiration disappear, but we always need to fight to find them back.

Nothing can stop us and we should always push our boundaries.

Traveling Cars (17)

Traveling Cars (7)

Traveling Cars (13)

Traveling Cars (1)

What I have in my bag

I use a Canon 5d mark III at the moment. I have two lenses – the 24-105mm and the Sigma 50mm f/1.4. My 50mm is my soul mate and 99% of my shots are taken with it. I use a triopo tripod that’s very light, compact and solid. I also use a wireless remote to trigger the shutter. I recently bought a 6 in 1 light reflector that is very practical for shooting in the sun and still have some lights on my cars or models. I am not big fan of using flash. I bought a porteen gear bag on Etsy for my camera and lenses. It is specifically designed for the 5D and is perfect for me.

I’m a big fan of analogues, too. When I travel in a city, I tend to take an old analogue (I’ve got 5 or 6, always as gifts) along with a b&w filter in it. I also have quite a collection of Lomography and always have them with me. I think they take the funniest pictures ever.

Post Processing

My pictures are mostly post processed in Lightroom and I only add a little color to my photos. Light effects, blurs, are all already done with my camera and my fantastic 50mm!! I’m not a pro at retouching in Photoshop.

1. First, open your picture on Lightroom. Sorry mine is in french ;)
Vintage Post Process (1)

2. Then, you want to go to this mode where you can choose the tint of your light and darker tones. Try to save your best presets to win some time. I like to set my light tones in a green-yellowish color and the darks in blue-red ones, but it’s really up to you, try to play with it, push the saturation, the tint. It’s always fun! It works really well for sunsets too!

Vintage Post Process (2)
3. Then when you’re happy with your tones, you can work the brightness, contrast, saturation of your image. I love lightroom 4 because it’s so easy to work with for the light, white tones and black and darker ones. I like my pictures soft, but c still contrasting a bit. So that’s what I came up with this time:

Vintage Post Process (3)

4. There is also the tint of every color that’s interesting to work on. Maybe you want the blue to pop up a bit more, so go and push the blue, blue green saturation a bit:
Vintage Post Process (4)

5. Then, for the finish, I use the brush. For example, I want that the scooter pops a bit more up, so I’ll add clarity and contrast on it, maybe saturation.
Vintage Post Process (5)

6. After that, my picture is ready to be exported :D
Tadaaaaam:
Vintage Post Process (6)

I hope you enjoyed this guest post by Kim Leuenberger. If you would like to see more of her work, check out her 500px page.

Looking for even more exclusive content?

On Photography Life, you already get world-class articles with no advertising every day for free. As a Member, you'll get even more:

Silver ($5/mo)
  • Exclusive articles
  • Monthly Q&A chat
  • Early lens test results
  • "Creative Landscape Photography" eBook
Gold ($12/mo)
  • All that, PLUS:
  • Online workshops
  • Monthly photo critiques
  • Vote on our next lens reviews
 
Click Here to Join Today
 

Related Articles

  • image
    On the Road: Traveling Through Yellowstone
  • Sassopiato
    11 Travel Photography Tips When Traveling with Young Children
  • 8
    Photographing Cars
  • 20
    Shooting and Posing with Model Cars
  • J1
    Photographing Scale Model Cars
  • Dome of the Rock
    How to Keep Yourself and Your Camera Gear Safe When Traveling
Disclosures, Terms and Conditions and Support Options
Filed Under: Tours and Travel Tagged With: Guest Posts
guest

guest

40 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Colin Tang
Colin Tang
September 25, 2017 8:23 pm

I love your photography of the Volkswagens and I wonder is it the cars that travel or have personalities or are they just props?

0
Reply
VISHNU PANICKER
VISHNU PANICKER
June 27, 2016 3:18 am

Hai kim,
Iam from kerala,INDIA (renowned as God’s own country)
I came to see your works since last week only…but iam fantastically impressed and now in the stage of addiction.I am madly loving your photography.
You will reach great heights..God bless you…

0
Reply
تحميل Hostpot Shield
تحميل Hostpot Shield
April 22, 2016 2:13 am

Thank you for sharing this page.

0
Reply
Storm
Storm
December 1, 2015 3:22 am

Kim
Thank you thank you thank you.
Your art is just beautiful. It makes my heart smile ?? I hope one day you bring your cars to Australia ! I’ll drive you round. Please keep making our days better thank you Storm x

0
Reply
Andrew
Andrew
July 10, 2014 7:43 am

You have stuffed your blog with a meaningful information and hope you will carry on doing so.

0
Reply
Karla
Karla
November 20, 2013 11:14 am

Kim,

I was just looking for some tips on travel photography and was so happy to read your article. So inspiring! Thanks for the inspiration and tips!! I am traveling to London with 7 other family members in a few weeks and we are all so excited to take pics of your city. I found you on Instagram….I am Rosecity_girl. Love all your pics! As a new photographer, I thank you! You make me believe…

0
Reply
Niraj Kataruka
Niraj Kataruka
October 3, 2013 10:31 am

its so inspiring…bought my first dslr just few days back and felt so upbeat seeing your photographs and reading your story…thanks

0
Reply
Pulkit
Pulkit
July 31, 2013 1:08 am

Fantastic article and beautiful pictures. I had a question about the cars though. Which brand is this? The cars seem nicely detailed and of a good size too. :)

0
Reply
Microstock photographs
Microstock photographs
July 26, 2013 1:33 am

Gorgeous pictures !!! These are so amazing photographs , I LOVE IT

0
Reply
Carl TightShooster
Carl TightShooster
July 25, 2013 2:35 pm

Lovley Images!!!!

0
Reply

Learn

  • Beginner Photography
  • Landscape Photography
  • Wildlife Photography
  • Portraiture
  • Post-Processing
  • Advanced Tutorials
Photography Life on Patreon

Reviews

  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews
  • Best Cameras and Lenses

Photography Tutorials

Photography Basics
Landscape Photography
Wildlife Photography
Macro Photography
Composition & Creativity
Black & White Photography
Night Sky Photography
Portrait Photography
Street Photography
Photography Videos

Unique Gift Ideas

Best Gifts for Photographers

Subscribe via Email

If you like our content, you can subscribe to our newsletter to receive weekly email updates using the link below:

Subscribe to our newsletter

Site Menu

  • About Us
  • Beginner Photography
  • Lens Database
  • Lens Index
  • Photo Spots
  • Search
  • Forum

Reviews

  • Reviews Archive
  • Camera Reviews
  • Lens Reviews
  • Other Gear Reviews

More

  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
  • Workshops
  • Support Us
  • Submit Content

Copyright © 2025 · Photography Life

You are going to send email to

Move Comment