car photography

[anel]

let's say we have a silver bmw and i wanna make it look as cool and sleek as possible- like in the ads, lots of reflection and sprakling..

i am limited to 1 strobe with a pocket wizard- what can i do?

 

[outamyway]

You can leave your camera on a tripod, make your shot then reposition the strobe and make another shot (as many times as you want) then combine them in Photoshop.

You can borrow a flash or 2 from friends to make your shot.

You can possibly rent some good lighting from a local camera shop.

Take the car to a well lit parking garage.

 

[anel]

parking garage? i was thinking more in line on top of a hill in the sunset..
that repositioning sounds like a good idea but i doubt that it would look realistic in photoshop.

 

[kkamin]

let's say we have a silver bmw and i wanna make it look as cool and sleek as possible- like in the ads, lots of reflection and sprakling..

i am limited to 1 strobe with a pocket wizard- what can i do?

I think you need more tools if you want to do a commercial quality shot. This type of work if very production heavy and expensive.

Lesson 1- How to shoot cars and big reflecting objects on location | Manfrotto Experience

 

[outamyway]

Well, ok, top of a hill at sunset does change things a bit. I shoot a lot of cars for our local VW/Audi/BMW/Porsche club so I've done them just about everywhere. I only suggested a parking garage because you didn't say what your idea was for a setting. Most garages have rows of lights that can add neat effects to the shot. Just watch your WB in there.

Back to the sunset shot, your on camera flash can be diffused a bit to supplement the strobe too. Expose for the sunset in the first shot, then light the car for the 2nd-3rd shot. It can be combined fine in PP (people do it all the time for HDR and multiple exposure shots). Just don't move the camera.

 

[kkamin]

You can leave your camera on a tripod, make your shot then reposition the strobe and make another shot (as many times as you want) then combine them in Photoshop.

You can borrow a flash or 2 from friends to make your shot.

You can possibly rent some good lighting from a local camera shop.

Take the car to a well lit parking garage.

This wouldn't work because you are not pointing the strobe head directly at the car. You'd want reflected diffuse light to do most of your work and that would require using very large light sources (bigger than the car). If you were to use smaller light sources and try to combine the images in PS, I have a feeling it would look blotchy.

 

[outamyway]

This wouldn't work because you are not pointing the strobe head directly at the car. You'd want reflected diffuse light to do most of your work and that would require using very large light sources (bigger than the car). If you were to use smaller light sources and try to combine the images in PS, I have a feeling it would look blotchy.

You're probably right, I've never tried to use just one strobe to shoot something like this. Typically I use available light or 3 flash units through umbrellas.

 

[anel]

what about putting the camera on a tripod, the car against a sunset and then doing 3 shots. all 3 shots exposed properly, (something like 1/200 F4.0 - flash at 1/16th power), and firing the flash at the left side, front and right side of the car.
is it possible in any way to auto merge these 3 shots in post?

 

[kkamin]

what about putting the camera on a tripod, the car against a sunset and then doing 3 shots. all 3 shots exposed properly, (something like 1/200 F4.0 - flash at 1/16th power), and firing the flash at the left side, front and right side of the car.
is it possible in any way to auto merge these 3 shots in post?

Look at the link i posted before. I don't think you understand how to light reflective surfaces. The car is basically a 3 dimensional mirror. How do you light a mirror?

 

[anel]

actually i've already read that article a while back, and he does way too much processing for my taste, lighting everything separately so much that it makes my head hurt thinking about it..

right kkamin, that first proposal was a bit unthought and dumb.. what about an umbrella so far away that i perfectly light the entire car in just one take? that might work..

 

[KmH]

Actually the father away from the car you get the umbrella the worse the problems will be, for 2 reasons:

1. The light source appears smaller.
2. Light falls off as a square function to distance. If you move the light 2 times farther away only 1/4 as much light reaches the subject.

 

[outamyway]

Sorry. I guess Lesson 1- How to shoot cars and big reflecting objects on location | Manfrotto Experience is the only way you will be able to photograph your car.

 

[kkamin]

Sorry. I guess Lesson 1- How to shoot cars and big reflecting objects on location | Manfrotto Experience is the only way you will be able to photograph your car.

I guess. I had two ways to go with this: 1) A further explanation of shooting a large reflective surface or 2) show me the money. I'll go with #2. Mr. smarty pants, let's see a commercial quality car photo...please...

 

[anel]

no no, i don't think u understood me, i meant that MY proposal was a bit dumb cause it was the first idea that popped into my head.

 

[kkamin]

actually i've already read that article a while back, and he does way too much processing for my taste, lighting everything separately so much that it makes my head hurt thinking about it..

right kkamin, that first proposal was a bit unthought and dumb.. what about an umbrella so far away that i perfectly light the entire car in just one take? that might work..

When you photograph highly reflective surfaces you need to approach it differently than non-reflective surfaces. Your idea would work if the car was not shiny. But the car is like a giant mirror. If you want to photograph a mirror, the only way light will show up is if you can actually see the light source in the mirror being reflected, otherwise it will be dark. So that is why you see reflectors or "bounce cards" being used that are bigger than the car. If you look at that link they are pretty much using a grip truck of gear for the shoot. It is not the only way to do it, and you probably could get a way with using less equipment but it is going to be more than a single strobe. Or maybe you can find a location and a natural lighting situation that is good enough for what you want to do.