Beginner New to Photography

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jimrup04

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Jimmy Ruptash
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Hello everyone,

My name is Jimmy Ruptash from Canada, Québec and I am new to photography. I started having an interest a while ago when I was working for a VW dealership and now as a solo entreprenneur in the automotive retail business, I am looking for ways to perfect my pictures for a clean, professional look. At the moment I have a nikon D3100 with DX AF-S 18-55MM lens. I will be reading a lot here in the next few days as theres ton of information but at the same time if you people have tips or comments, feel free to write.


Also, if you have any quick and cheap solution to control the reflection on the car that would be great ! my studio is inside with gray floor, 56 cool white 8' light with white and gray walls,



Thank you.
 
Welcome Jimmy ................ have you tried a polarising filter ? Worth reading up on them and how to get the best effect because it varies with the direction of the light source.
 
jimrup04 said:
Also, if you have any quick and cheap solution to control the reflection on the car that would be great ! my studio is inside with gray floor, 56 cool white 8' light with white and gray walls,
Click to expand...
Cause & Effect.... don't tackle the effect, sort the source.
It's lighting that is 'key' to a flattering shot, and there's no real 'quick' solution to the matter of controlling 'unwanted' reflections, other than not to create them in the first place! But, this does mean the solution can be very very cheap... move the light!
When you say 'studio' it inspires the mental image of a large room with drape rails for backdrop staging, & position able lighting stacks... all sort of a little more specialized and refined than an older entry level DSLR & Kit lens... so what I see now, is not a studio, but a conventional garage, with cinder block walls and concrete floor and a single overhead ceiling light.... in which, other than turning it on or off, you have little or no control of lighting.
So suggestion is that's your start point; read up on studio lighting techniques; you can do an awful lot without having to spend huge amounts of money on dedicated studio equipment with a couple of study lamps or even workshop inspection lamps, a roll of 'natural' lining wallpaper and masking tape and some old cloth, to baffle and diffuse light around the subject, and control unwanted reflections at source by not creating them in the first place.
 
Have you tried ND Filters. Neutral Density Filters....
 
generally reg filters, UV filters- do they reduce the resolution or IQ
 
One way to control reflections on cars is to take several exposures in different lighting conditions, with the camera perfectly stationary in the same place for every shot, and then merge the exposures in Photoshop using masking.

At the simplest level, you could take one exposure in full lighting with the reflections you don't want included. Some parts of the car will be fine, others will have reflections on. Then turn off the lights on the bits that are being reflected and take another shot, possibly at a different exposure (those areas will likely be darker so will need a longer shutter opening to expose them correctly - other bits of the image will be over exposed but you'll use those bits from the first image so don't worry).

Then open both in Photoshop, overlay them, and mask off the bits from the top image that you don't want. You should be able to create something quite nice. For more sophistication, take more images and get creative with a torch to light specific areas or create attractive crease lines or highlights in specific areas.
 
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