Any Tips for Photographing a group of cars tomorow night?

dougie1142

dougie1142

Suspended / Banned
Messages
59
Name
Douglas
Edit My Images
No
As the title says really, im going out with a group of about 4-5 cars tomorow night, got a rough idea of what i'd like to achieve, But any little pointers or tips would really be appreciated! Im using a canon 350D just now, will have tripod and 2 flash's.


Thanks Doug
 
Make sure they are clean - proper clean.

Choose a decent location to shoot it and when you are there, watch your backgrounds.
 
POAH said:
don't do it at night
Click to expand...

Fair point.

It can add to the complexity of what you're doing, especially with a mix of different coloured light sources.

However, if you can arrange for some fog... (:))

CRW_6139.jpg


or a passing vehicle to be in the right place at the right time [lorries work well IME]

IMG_8917.jpg


200812_8138.jpg


you can turn them to your advantage.

You can pop a flash once or twice to fill in on a long exposure

2194406725_30c2810d12_z.jpg


Definitely use a tripod and preferably a remote shutter release (or use the countdown timer on your camera). Shoot RAW so you can adjust the white balance later.

Take off any 'protective' UV filters on your lenses - they will cause flare at inconvenient moments.

You will curse bad reflections. Try to look for some good ones instead.
 
Dusk or just before is a great time as the sky becomes a dark blue. Sunset tonight will be about 9pm and we've had some great sunsets this week.

This was just after the sun set on top of a local car park.
104485515.jpg


Watch out for reflections, or use them, puddles, shop windows etc.

Use a tripod. If it's really dark you can then light paint the car walking around the car manually popping the flash in your hand, or use a torch.

This was shot using two battery powered camcorder lights on light stands outside my house. The yellow light at the front is spillover from the streetlamp (which I'd climbed up and put bin bags over to try to kill the light ;) )

105295796.jpg


Don't be afraid to light just one part of the car or one car in one shot and layer shots together to get the result you want.

As for really clean cars, well sometimes.
My car in this shot had been driven all over south wales for the weekend, quickly washed at home then driven back 120 miles for this photoshoot and not recleaned. The one at the back held up the shoot for over an hour whilst he detailed his car.

119982005.jpg
 
dougie1142 said:
As the title says really, im going out with a group of about 4-5 cars tomorow night, got a rough idea of what i'd like to achieve, But any little pointers or tips would really be appreciated! Im using a canon 350D just now, will have tripod and 2 flash's.

Thanks Doug
Click to expand...

Shoot in manual, Wide aperture (low "f/" number) and long shutter speed. Tripod is an absolute must, and watch for wierd colour casting if you are near horrible orange streetlights, may be worth setting a custom white balance. try with and without off-camera flashes. play around with positioning them in different arrangements.

Post some of your piccies here to show us how you got on. :thumbs: good luck!
 
Last edited:
Byker28i said:
Why a wide aperture setting?
Click to expand...

Good point Byker;
I was just thinking about maximum light entering the lens, but for a group of cars you probably will want a small aperture to ensure they'll all in focus and longer shutter speed to compensate for the low light. my bad.
I wrote that before the morning caffeine fix. :bonk: silly me.
 
jammy_c said:
watch for wierd colour casting if you are near horrible orange streetlights, may be worth setting a custom white balance
Click to expand...

low pressure sodium lights produce light that is practically monochromatic in the yellow/orange area of the spectrum.

SOX.png


No amount of white balance adjustment will fix it as there's no light in the other colours to adjust to, as it were.

If you're stuck with it, use other lights (such as a flash) to pick out the areas you want to be correctly colour balanced and let the rest fall to yellow/orange.

200611_2770.jpg


200611_2720.jpg


The Ace Café at Park Royal is particularly blessed in this respect :)

Or just accept that you're working with monochrome light (in the same way that you might with a yellow filter on the camera) and PP the results as black and white.

Edit: High-pressure sodium lights, which produce a more 'peachy' looking light, emit a broader spectrum than their low pressure cousins. A WB of around 2100K will usually render something fairly natural looking IME.
 
Last edited:
Will coloured Flash gels make any difference? I was once told that it will eliminate the orange/yellow cast that you get indoors at places like the NEC for example. never tried it personally.
 
Last edited:
I often use a yellow one when I want to achieve a more neutral overall result under high-pressure sodium lights.

Otherwise the flash-filled areas tend to go quite blue if the WB is set for the environmental light.

With low-pressure lights, there's very little you can do about them except work round the limitations as I mentioned above, or swamp them with lots of your own light, but that's expensive and time consuming.

e2a: If you use a yellow gel under low pressure sodium light, all that will happen is that you end up with more monochrome light, which might be what you want for fill purposes, but it won't help the colour out much.
 
Last edited:
jammy_c said:
Good point Byker;
I was just thinking about maximum light entering the lens, but for a group of cars you probably will want a small aperture to ensure they'll all in focus and longer shutter speed to compensate for the low light. my bad.
I wrote that before the morning caffeine fix. :bonk: silly me.
Click to expand...

Nope - sometimes it's fine if you have a moving subject. I've shot cars at the Millenium dome at 5am with flags flying and wanted to capture the flag fluttering, but if the stuff is static and you're controlling the light then really you pick the aperture for the depth of field. With a tripod you can shoot low ISO, long exposure and if needed manually flash the flashgun, counting the number of times you need for the exposure.
 
Cheers guys, those pics you posted are top notch! I'll post some car pictures soon once i've gone over them! Absolutely hate the yellow light, but kind of had to work with it! Need to get to somewhere with neutral light some point soon. I was just firing the flashes off by hand tonight, had a torch on me too. Was a bit cold but hey! Tips much appreciated, not sure if theres a thread like already but maybe we could keep it going?!
 
wet the road..and as mentioned...clean clean clean..!!

turn the front wheels to look aggro and macho and make sure some lights are on
lights inside also help...torches etc...to give warm lighting to the interior
 
Don't use dipped headlights just sidelights.

Turn the wheels to show the alloys and not the tyre tread.




Why is the Fiesta hidden behind a brick wall??
 
Bazza155 said:
Don't use dipped headlights just sidelights.

Turn the wheels to show the alloys and not the tyre tread.




Why is the Fiesta hidden behind a brick wall??
Click to expand...

Thanks for the Tips Bazza! Will go out again soon and do as suggested.

Eh, not sure, just thought it was a nice spot?

Hehe Musicman :)
 
good car shots...in the main...you got too much in the way in some
the one on the carpark roof at sunset is the best
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top