Automotive product shots, feedback and some help please

behanana · May 29, 2011

OK, so the story leading to all this; I work at a BMW dealership, and I work on the cars. I asked the owner who does thier used vehicle pictures and he said nobody, but was looking to hire someone. Good, I told him I would do it for free because I want to get into photographing cars and would like the expieriance. So, I am trying to come up with a set up and the correct equipment to make this work. I am trying to determine a place that I can shot cars all year long without worrying about snow, rain, crappy weather, etc. I started with inside the BMW shop, this is a cavernous space, ceilings are about 20 ft high, overhead lighting is preasure sodium bulbs, floor is off read tile, there are windows up high on the walls, and one very large door. That's the shop, and you'll see some of it in the pictures below. I used basically the same angle on the 2 pictures posted, different settings and such, I'll get to the questions I have below.

Picture 1

ISO 100, f3.5, 1/80 pop up flash on D80, sb700 through a softbox camera right

Picture 2

ISO 500, f3.5, 1/50 pop up flash, sb700 through softbox just to the right and above, overhead lights are on.

Picture 3

I just like this one because I got what I wanted out of it.

I know the background is cluttered and all, these were simply test shots and set-up to see how it would work in the shop. I would put up a background if I use the shop to get that stuff out of the shot.
My questions are; to get rid of the reflections would a CPL filter work, or would moving to a much darker location and getting another light or 2 be a better option? Would using an umbrella be better than a softbox? Finally, I'm shooting through my 18-55 kit lense, would a diff. lense be a worth it, or would the above changes help more?

oldmacman · May 29, 2011

I think you'll have to shoot with the lights out and bring your equipment to control the angle and position of the light sources. If space allows, I would also take the shot so that the car is turned in the frame showing the hood and side at the same time. You may need a wider lens to take your shots.

behanana · May 29, 2011

Thanks for the feedback, as I was shooting yesterday I was kinda thinking that having another light would be helpful to control where it was coming from and it would allow me to keep the overhead lights off.

Photomag · Jun 3, 2011

I would set the camera on a tripod, lower the shutter speed, set the ISO to lowest possible (less grain) and if using a flash, aim the flash straight up to bounce the light from the ceiling straight down. With all the light surfaces around it should create a good picture of the car.

However, I don't have any studio gear or any experience with studio gear (umbrella, remote flash, etc).

Photomag · Jun 3, 2011

BTW, that last picture looks really cool

KmH · Jun 3, 2011

behanana said:
... I told him I would do it for free because I want to get into photographing cars ....

Great deal for him. ****ty deal for you. In other words, IMO, you've made a critical business mistake with that potential client.

Get a quality CPL filter.

Aze · Jun 3, 2011

Yes, a cpl will help. also you'll need to really rework your lighting. When it comes to automotive pictures for sale purposes and not artistic, you need even lighting. Buyers want to see the quality of the vehicle, are there dents, scratches, etc.. The hot light on the front of the grill and the very dark sections around it make it almost impossible to judge the quality of the car. IMO if I saw a picture like that advertising a car for sale I'd think they were hiding something.

The CPL probably won't help with the reflection of the ceiling lights on the car that much, as a previous poster said, you'll want to control as much lighting as you can. here is a link to a company who does what you are looking to do: CarpixArchive Photo Galleries Check out how they stage and frame their shots. Also remember, making a car look as if it is in motion always helps.

Village Idiot · Jun 3, 2011

You need to learn how to light cars. A CPL will basically nullify the use of any strobes and not take care of a direct reflection of light. So in other words, you're still going to get the reflection of the lights coming from the ceiling.

To light a car, you're basically lighting the surrounding. The darker the car, the more apparent this is. So aiming an SB700 in a softbox, and I'm guessing a small one at that, is not going to light an entire car. You're going to get the direct reflections from the softbox and what little polarized light is hitting the car. If you take the softbox off the SB700 and point it up and shoot, then the entire ceiling becomes a huge light source that will help to illuminate the car. I've seen professional auto setups where photographers have a big white sheet or other type of diffusion panel above the car and fire their strobes into it to create a giant light source.

The best thing to do is to set your camera's SS at the x-sync and use a small enough aperture to kill all ambient and then fire the flash straight up. Other than that, you're either going to spend an excessive amount of time in post editing or having to buy more gear to get professional quality photos. At that point, the two things you should be asking is if you're getting compensated enough by the dealership and how high quality of an image are they seriously expecting for a used auto shot? Most bulk used auto photos I've ever seen are not of a professional caliber. Hell, most look like the cars have been pulled infront of the dealer and shot with a P&S.

Now if you're shooting black, your going to be in a world of hurt if you don't know what you're doing.

Mike_E · Jun 3, 2011

See if you can borrow the Dean Collins DVD set, there is a section in there on just this subject.

Think huge diffusers hung from the ceiling for instance. Anyway, it's worth finding and definitely worth paying for if you really want to do this sort of work. Dean Collins