# car photography



## anel (Mar 28, 2010)

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?


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## outamyway (Mar 28, 2010)

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.


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## anel (Mar 28, 2010)

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.


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## kkamin (Mar 28, 2010)

anel said:


> 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


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## outamyway (Mar 28, 2010)

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.


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## kkamin (Mar 28, 2010)

outamyway said:


> 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.
> 
> ...



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.


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## outamyway (Mar 28, 2010)

kkamin said:


> 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.


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## anel (Mar 28, 2010)

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?


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## kkamin (Mar 28, 2010)

anel said:


> 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?


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## anel (Mar 28, 2010)

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..


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## KmH (Mar 28, 2010)

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

The light source appears smaller.
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.


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## outamyway (Mar 28, 2010)

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.


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## kkamin (Mar 29, 2010)

outamyway said:


> 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...


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## anel (Mar 29, 2010)

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.


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## kkamin (Mar 29, 2010)

anel said:


> 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.


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## anel (Mar 29, 2010)

i see that yeah, i guess i'll have to do with experimenting.. i'll try everything from stacking photos with different flash positions to the umbrella and everything.  maybe putting it parallel to the sun and flash and trying that setup.. i'll post my results when i do this!


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## outamyway (Mar 29, 2010)

outamyway said:


> Typically I use available light or 3 flash units through umbrellas.





kkamin said:


> 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.



You see how you kinda said the same thing I did? I didn't assume he was trying to take a full on commercial quality picture of his car. OP had already mentioned that he only had one strobe, that led me to believe that he wasn't going to procure a truckload of equipment for this. 

 Anel , 
I just looked through This thread on here and there is some pretty good photography of cars. There are a lot of uninteresting shots to be sure, but you will probably get some good ideas. In the first 10-15 pages there are some really good shots of BMW's.


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## kkamin (Mar 29, 2010)

outamyway said:


> outamyway said:
> 
> 
> > Typically I use available light or 3 flash units through umbrellas.
> ...



He wants to take pictures like the ones in magazines.  And it isn't happening with shooting through umbrellas either.


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## JimmyO (Mar 29, 2010)

Or you could forget all this and shoot it with ambient


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## kkamin (Mar 29, 2010)

JimmyO said:


> Or you could forget all this and shoot it with ambient



You would still need to control the reflections.  You probably don't want trees and buildings showing on the cars surface.

@outamyway
I went through about 6 pages of that link and the photos are 99%  unsuccessful imo.  Nobody is thinking about light.  The better looking  images people are thinking about composition and their cool camera and  lenses probably, but about light in a deep way.  Photography is all  about light: how to control it and modify it in order to define a  subject.  Cars are giant, funny shaped mirrors that need a highly  controlled lighting environment to do well.  It could be done with cheap  tools but you have to know how to light reflective surfaces in an  aesthetically pleasing way.  If the OP can figure out how to do it on a  scale model of a car, he could replicate it on a full size car.  I  recommend he buy the book: Light, Science and Magic.  It teaches the  fundamentals of lighting--and gets into tricky situations like lighting  metal or glass.

car photo:
http://www.taurangaphotographer.co.nz/images/portfolio/cars/large1.jpg


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## outamyway (Mar 29, 2010)

Believe me kkamin, I understand that you can't take that Audi picture with one strobe or 3 umbrellas or outside ambient light. I apologize if I misunderstood, but I didn't get the impression that was what he was going after. I was assuming more like this shot, BMWsunset or this Porschesunset.


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## kkamin (Mar 30, 2010)

outamyway said:


> Believe me kkamin, I understand that you can't take that Audi picture with one strobe or 3 umbrellas or outside ambient light. I apologize if I misunderstood, but I didn't get the impression that was what he was going after. I was assuming more like this shot, BMWsunset or this Porschesunset.



How do you take the images you are referencing exactly?  What are the natural lighting conditions and environmental conditions?


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## anel (Mar 30, 2010)

actually that  porsche looks great, i'm just not sure how it was lit.


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## kkamin (Mar 30, 2010)

anel said:


> actually that  porsche looks great, i'm just not sure how it was lit.



It looks like all natural light except for a flash they used pointed at the front of the car--but all the flash does is light the ground which is not a reflective surface, and show up as a specular highlight in the grill in a few spots.  It does almost nothing to actually light the car.

If you want to photograph a mirror, which is an extreme example of a reflective surface, you can blast light at it all day long and it won't show up UNLESS the light source itself is visible in the mirror.  You are photographing the light source itself.  If you are shooting a bare speedlight at it, only a tiny spot of light will show.  If you are using an umbrella with it, you will see the illuminated umbrella in the mirror. That is the only way to photograph a mirror.  If you can't see the light source in the mirror, it will show up black in a photograph (if the rest of the room is black too).  To shoot a shiney car, it is all about controlling the reflections.  When you see studios put a giant light box over the car that is longer and wider than the car, it is not because cars require so much light, it is because that giant softbox is going to show up in the reflection on top of the car.


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## outamyway (Mar 30, 2010)

anel said:


> actually that  porsche looks great, i'm just not sure how it was lit.



I agree. It looks to have been lit by one flash/strobe from the front while exposing for the sunset. 

As far as sterile light tent car photography goes, that does not interest me in the least bit. Don't get me wrong, I respect those photographers and their craft, it's just not my cup of tea. The automotive photography I practice is more like the 2 I posted, which BTW, are not my pictures, I just found examples online. What I do is more like what you would see as feature articles in automotive magazines, not car ads. I've been asked to shoot promos and editorial photos for the Concours de Elegance this year in Louisville based on the photos I took there last year. For that shoot, which will be primarily outdoors, I will use only one flash through an umbrella to help highlight the grille area or add some sparkle to the shiny bits.

I got my inspiration from these two professional automotive photographers, JIM FETS and Rick Dole To be fair, some of their work is in studio but that isn't my style.


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## RONDAL (Mar 31, 2010)

how to light a big silver car at night and have it come out soft....by RONDAL;

* i do a lot of VW/audi/porsche stuff during the summers, and have shot a lot of silver cars.  they aren't as big of a pain as you would think, and even ones with lots of pearl in the paint can be dealt with easily.

i use 3 speedlights at a minimum but i'll give you the gear list.

tripod
x3 SB-800's
x2 60" shoot through umbrellas
x3 cybersync receivers
x2-3 lightstands
x1 large white *FABRIC* showercurtain from walmart ($6)
x4 alligator clips


First, go find shower curtain @ walmart or similiar store.  Bring it home, open it up and get a steamer or iron so you can steam out the creases.  Once they are out you will have a nice big white opaque sheet that lets lots of light through diffused.

I usually get the car positioned where i want it and figure out the shutter speed i want to expose the sky properly.  If i'm shooting during the day i'll get bigger flashes but lets not deal with overpowering sunlight for this one.

Once thats done i frame the shot i want and put the camera on a tripod and lock it down.

I'll then set up the two lightstands and string up the shower curtain between them so as to light the main side of the car that is most prominent.   What i do then is set the 2 flashes usually to 1/1 to fire directly into the shower curtain.  This gives me a large white curtain of light, with few hot spots on the car.  You will always get some, but thats what post is for, and they are easy to deal with if there aren't many.

I use then 1 light behind the car as backlighting if the sunset wont cut it.  

If I have to use 1 light behind the car i will take one photo, then i will reposition that light after 1 shot to the front through a shoot through to get light on the front of the car and leading front wheel.  

I will then in post blend those two exposures together via layers to get the final product.

You can take a lot more exposures, i have found 2 usually work, or if i had more lights i could do it in just 1 shot.

The key i find is the shower curtain.   It leaves no hot spots on the car, which is extremely nice.  You do need a lot fo light going into it though as it takes a lot to light it up nicely.


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## kami (Mar 31, 2010)

A freind of mine shot a few exotics using different strobe positions and combining them on PS. He told me 1 photo took him about an hour of work in PS. 

Check out all his car pics:

Aston Martin DB9 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


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