# Continuous Light Source help



## tooonchi (Sep 9, 2013)

i'm trying to photograph car at night. Something portable and cheap would be ideal. A soft box i can move around the car with would be good but i dont know where to begin to look for one. 

any advice would be great! 

thanks!


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## cgipson1 (Sep 9, 2013)

portable and continuous are two words that do not go together... unless you have a generator to take to the location.

Places to buy softboxes, flashes and even continous lights.... (a start anyway)

Amazon.com: softboxes

continous lights| B&H Photo Video

softboxes : Buy or Learn at Adorama

Learn to use flash... much better!


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## Big Mike (Sep 9, 2013)

To do much good on a car, the softbox would have to be huge.  

Your best bet for car photography, is probably to find a location that already has good light, and put the car there.

Another way to go about it, would be to use small lights (flash units).  This is because you likely want to hide the (direct) reflections and it's easier to hide a reflection on a car, if the reflection is small.


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## table1349 (Sep 9, 2013)

A couple of these would work nicely.  Westcott 7' Parabolic Umbrella (Silver) 4633 B&H Photo Video  Of course you are going to need a lot of light to use them effectively.


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## cgipson1 (Sep 9, 2013)

gryphonslair99 said:


> A couple of these would work nicely.  Westcott 7' Parabolic Umbrella (Silver) 4633 B&H Photo Video  Of course you are going to need a lot of light to use them effectively.



Yep.. continous won't work with those, unless you spend some serious cash for some good hotlights. FLASH... it works!


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## cgipson1 (Sep 9, 2013)

Big Mike said:


> To do much good on a car, the softbox would have to be huge.
> 
> Your best bet for car photography, is probably to find a location that already has good light, and put the car there.
> 
> Another way to go about it, would be to use small lights (flash units).  This is because you likely want to hide the (direct) reflections and it's easier to hide a reflection on a car, if the reflection is small.



I agree with Mike.. lookup automotive photography and LARGE Scrim  (like this  Shoot Big Cars With A DIY Huge Scrim | DIYPhotography.net) ! Even the 7 ft umbrellas mentioned (and they are not really 7', I have three of them) will leave large round umbrella images on shine paint... but they are better than small units.

Cloudy day...  or well lit night location... if you want cheap.


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## nycphotography (Sep 9, 2013)

tooonchi said:


> i'm trying to photograph car at night. Something portable and cheap would be ideal. A soft box i can move around the car with would be good but i dont know where to begin to look for one.
> 
> any advice would be great!
> 
> thanks!



A softbox big enough for a car would be... oh... 20 ft long by 10ft high?

A small crane to move and position and hold it.

And oh, maybe 20,000 watts of halogen light bank?

Ever seen what they set up to light things like that on location for movies?  (movies = hot lights).

Trust me, flash is wayyyy cheaper.  But you still need something to hold your big white screen panel(s).


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## table1349 (Sep 9, 2013)

A couple of these would work just fine for a car shoot.  MegaLite 6'x4' Softbox With It's Support Stand LL LB6488KIT - MegaLite | Lastolite 
Definiatly would need two studio flash heads per box for a car shoot.


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