Car w/ umbrellas

[josh_thornton]

I was hoping to get some advice as to how I should light a car shoot

when my only options for strobes are umbrellas on stands (no

boom/arm, no big softbox). Any suggestions? Examples/Samples would

be great. I'm planning on shooting it outdoors. It's an old T-Bird

by the way. Thanks.

 

Josh

[Jerry_]

Outdoors....are you sure you need the light of strobes? You will have reflections from the 'flash' that a polarizer filter may tame. Have you considered using a tripod and available light?<div></div>

[garry edwards]

I agree with Gerald - you'll get far better results with natural light.

[carl photography]

You could try evening light, perhaps just after sunset.

 

"Brandon's Dad"

[brooks short]

Just after sunset when the lit sky acts as a large softbox is the best light. If you need some fill orneed to lay a clean diffused highlight on the chrome or a body panel, use several 4'x8' white foamcore reflectors.

 

Umbrellas are not a good choice for subjects with reflective qualities.

[hughes]

Josh, what color is the car? that is a big factor, a black car might be harder to light and may need some help with fill in, but the advice to shoot available light is good, very diffused sunlight or nice directional light at sunset. In Southern California the best time to photograph a car is sunset.

In my opinion as far as lighting equipment goes less is more if that makes sense.

Steve<div></div>

[hughes]

Josh,

 

flash on camera was a bit of a punt on this shiny black Porsche and is is probably not the text book way, but it actually works in this shot{imho} more by luck than judgement I would say.

Steve<div></div>

[hughes]

Josh,

 

last one I promise, this shot was available light in the early afternoon, but very diffuse sunlight which works fine. A medium telephoto is ideal for shooting cars or if your are using a digital maybe a 50mm .

hope this helps

Steve<div></div>

[john_jovic]

The replies so far have been quite good, ie shoot at/after sunset if weather permits, (generally) don't use brollies with flash, use tripod + natural light.

 

The colour of the car is important and should effect the way you shoot it. Black is a mirror so you must constantly hide subjects reflecting in the cars panels, white and pale colours allow you to get away with murder as they are far less reflective. You are also more likely to get away with using flash on pale colours.

 

Why do you think you need flash in the first place? It is true that you often need to fill one area of the car but a large silver reflector is much easier to use and gives a better effect. If there is no sun then flash can be used to great effect, but mainly to fill dark areas.

 

The pic below shows the rear of a car being filled with flash. The side of the car is lit with direct sun (polariser used to tame intense reflections and to intensify colour). There is no light modifier on the flash head, to keep the specular highlight from the flash as small as possible. If I wanted to I could probably have hidden the flash highlight better by adjusting the position of the flash, without altering the lighting effect. If I'd used a brollie I would have a large specular highlight which I could not have hiden and which would probably have looked worse. I could have used a large silver reflector to do the same thing, and usually would, but the flash was out and ready to rock and roll whilst the reflector was packed away. The point being, if you use flash it should probably only be for fill and then try to hide the specular highlight. If you are shooting people with the car then you might have to forget about the flash effects on the car and concentrate on how the person looks, but then that's up to you and the end result you are after.

 

Some of my other car pics are at www.jjphoto.com.au

 

Regards

JJ<div></div>