What lights for car photography?

Sharkattack

Sharkattack

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Tom
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I posted this in the transport section but it's a little quiet over there and I've had no responses. I thought I'd repost it here as it's primarily lighting I'm interested in. Any help appreciated;

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I'll try and keep this short and sweet. Basically, I find myself shooting more and more cars. I'm doing it for friends and I've got a couple of magazine features in the bag.

Last time I was out I was shooting in direct sunlight and tackling gleaming bodywork crossed with big, black shadows. Luckily I had my girlfriend on hand with a big reflector to throw some light into the shade which did the trick. I can't rely on this technique though and I want to be as versatile as possible. I'd like to be able to shoot cars with little or no ambient light. I want to do some interesting night shoots when I have the gear.

Now I've never really used lights or off camera flash so I'm baffled by the amount of kit available and the jargon involved.

So what do people recommend? A couple of speedlights on stands? Or a portable kit like a Lencarta Safari or Elinchrom Ranger?

As for budget, I prefer to buy right and buy once. I tend to buy good gear and never sell it. So what should I be looking at?

Camera is currently a 7D if that matters.

Thanks!
 
You can get some large softboxes. 2 would be a minimum and some studio strobes (if you have a local power supply).
You can light paint the vehicle.
I would purchase the twin head Lencarta Safari kit which is going to set you back £1300
Add a couple of stands, some triggers and softboxes and you are set to go.

Camera will be fine.
Gary Edwards will be along shortly. He has a wealth of information
 
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Loads of car photographers have gone for the Safari 2, the latest convert is Adam Swords (we don't normally name customers but he is happy for us to do so).

Basically it's all about power - power to overwhelm the sun, power to allow large modifiers to be used at a distance - and although good PP skills can allow fairly small modifiers to be used, photographing curved shiny panels make all large modifiers seem small :(

Triggers (full remote control) are bundled with the Safari kits.
 
Just Googled Adam Swords and he's doing pretty much exactly what I get up to. Lots of cars and mountain biking, but obviously he's a few years ahead of me!

I do like the look of the Safari kit and I like the fact it would double as a good studio set up. I do however like the idea of having a couple of speedlights that I can pack into a backpack when I'm at the bike races and rallys. That's where I get lost, there's so much to choose from. Canon's, Yongnuo's, the Lencarta Atom's. I need to do some more reading I think.
 
A barebulb flash will certainly give you a lot more power than a Speedlight but while I have not used them to do cars, I have seen Speedlights used to good effect this way. You can get a couple of 580 lls for the price of a barebulb flash. YN-622Cs are very cost effective. I think a member was offering a pair at a dead giveaway price in the sales forum yesterday. That said, a bare bulb flash is a much longer term prospect IMHO. Please do also note that the Lencarta Atom is a rebadge of the Godox and the latter is easier on the pocket through say, Amazon.
 
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Just lost a big chunk of time there going through those images. And your own light painting gallery. Brilliant stuff. I might hold off on buying the full kit until I absolutely need one, might just see what I can rustle up in the pound shops and wilko's etc...

Would help if I had access to glamorous cars on a more regular basis.
 
Sharkattack said:
Would help if I had access to glamorous cars on a more regular basis.
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Go on to Pistonheads and offer to photograph members cars, if your work is good then you should get a lively response. If this is to build your portfolio then obviously you would have to do this for free, but it can be a fairly speedy way to get a good variety of vehicles into your repertoire. A simple way to get a great shot of a car is to wait until the sun is going down and then aim a flash head at the front of the car (adjust the distance to get the light fairly even) then another light aimed at the back nearest corner of the vehicle. Put a speed like inside the car to a illuminate the interior. This is a quick and simple way to get a great look and I learned this off Adam Duckworth.
 
Thanks for the Pistonheads tip, that's actually a good idea. I just Googled Adam Duckworth as well, I recognise some as stuff from Moto magazine. Just out of interest do you know him or did you work with him? I don't know any photographers myself, I only communicate with them online which isn't ideal. I just wish I could sit and pick someones brain sometimes instead of searching online.
 
Sharkattack said:
I don't know any photographers myself, I only communicate with them online which isn't ideal. I just wish I could sit and pick someones brain sometimes instead of searching online.
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Quite a lot of pros set time aside for exactly that - don't to afraid to enquire about whether they run one to one training, or are speaking somewhere. It's well worth the investment and this is how I learned. Otherwise, I am self taught like most, so my recommendation would be that you practise and experiment as much as possible.
 
I use the Lencarta Safari Li-on (older one) which I find to do the job well for me in terms of giving me enough power. The top end pro's tend to use lights from Profoto, Broncolor etc but you need a hefty budget.

Shot in afternoon daylight:

1960099_743373739030673_105421481_n.jpg


middle of a brightish day:

1509698_721185811249466_1946446394_n.jpg
 
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