Audi Hires Photographer To Shoot Their $40,000 Car, He Uses A $40 Toy Car Instead

Audi Middle East commissioned Mexican photographer and art director Felix Hernandez to shoot a series of photos of their $40,000 Audi Q2 crossover for Audi Magazine.

Felix, known for his realistic miniature photography, created a small-scale desert and roadway in his studio and produced a series of striking images using a 1/43 scale model of the Q2.

Challenges: Making miniature car photography work at this level is less about the model itself and more about how it is photographed. The camera has to be positioned low to preserve real-world proportions, lighting must behave like natural daylight on automotive paint, and depth of field has to be controlled so the scene doesn’t immediately reveal its scale.

Even the smallest mistake in focus, reflection, or background texture can instantly make the car feel toy-like. That’s why projects like this rely as much on photographic restraint as on set building, a balance that Felix Hernandez maintains consistently throughout this series.

Check out the campaign below.

Felix normally works with 1/18 scale models. This was the first time he was using a 1/43 model and he claims to have “learned a lot in the process.” A smaller model meant that he needed to make the car look full-sized against realistic-looking backdrops and sets. He used foam core, LEDs and sand paper to build the indoor roadway. For the desert, Felix used polvo fino powder mixed with water and moulded into miniature sand dunes.

Felix also travelled to Dubai to capture this background shot of the Middle Eastern cityscape.

Everything else was shot in Felix’s studio in Cancun, Mexico. He used a Canon EOS 5D Mark III. Other tools used were a Wacom Cintiq pen tablet and Adobe Photoshop for some minor retouching.