automotive photography..to light or not to light?

[SCHOEY01]

hi people,

I'm a commercial photographer ( http://www.rickschofield.co.uk/commercial ) and i light virtually everything i shoot with studio flash, even outdoors in daylight i'l use some kind of aditional light. I like the level of control it give you.

when i photography cars (not in a proffesonal context) i never use flash because i think sometimes it does cars no favours. I realise people don't use diffusers as they would just become masive reflections but the quality of light given from a bare bulb IMO makes cars look plasticy and seems to speperate the bits of the car that are non-refective like tyres/side strips etc on rather than bringing everything together as part of the lines of the body.

for example i think this shot of mat wilkinsons is stunning: http://www.mattwatkinson.com/portfolio/5.htm

not really a fair comparrison but this shot is less stunning, i undertand why light was needed in this case but it illustrates my point : http://i15.tinypic.com/2iazb6p.jpg

are you with me on this?...

so is automotive photograhpy outide the studio in dayligt a 'natural light' affair OR are other shots being lit in more subtle ways.(HOW?!!)

sorry about the essay :-)

rick.

[CVP]

Persoanlly I'm in favour of a natural light approach but flash can sometimes be effective if creatively used.

IMHO an exmaple of flash used well is this one from Mr Trackdemon, a different take on the M3 CSL

[/

[Golgarth]

natural light all the way, dunno why, I just think its more natural, and comes across better in the shot

[snapper seven]

CVP - in that M3 photo I assume you are saying the guy used two flashguns to light the car, one as remote master and the other as a slave or something on the other side of the car.
That photo certainly hasn't been lit by a flashgun sitting on the camera.

I really must get out and experiment with that sort of thing. I don't have a flashmeter so the exposure calcs will be fun!

SS

[snapper seven]

Rick

IMO the best motoring rag for photography is CAR magazine and sometimes you can see how they light cars when they print an 'arty' shot of the car in its outdoor surroundings. I have seen them use long strip lights to throw light as well as the usual studio lights. Not sure what sort of lights these strip ones are tho.

SS

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

CVP said:

IMHO an exmaple of flash used well is this one from Mr Trackdemon, a different take on the M3 CSL

Looks more like 2 cars parked either side lighting the car with their headlights, not flash.

[chris.mapey]

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

CVP said:

IMHO an exmaple of flash used well is this one from Mr Trackdemon, a different take on the M3 CSL

Looks more like 2 cars parked either side lighting the car with their headlights, not flash.

IIRC Trackdemon used a long exposure and two flashes for that shot. He discussed it in the thread when he posted those photos

Chris

[franv8]

It depends on the shot. On camera flash never (imho) works very well, expecially with number plates.

Last shots I did, bit experimental, were of a friend's jeep in very close to night time conditions, used a long exposure that brought in a bit of the background and used a powerful torch to 'paint' the car - worked really well and you can selectively highlight areas as you see fit. Surprisingly, I didn't think there was too much trouble with white balance either.

[CVP]

chris.mapey said:

ThatPhilBrettGuy said:

CVP said:

IMHO an exmaple of flash used well is this one from Mr Trackdemon, a different take on the M3 CSL

Looks more like 2 cars parked either side lighting the car with their headlights, not flash.

IIRC Trackdemon used a long exposure and two flashes for that shot. He discussed it in the thread when he posted those photos

Chris

It was two flash units (Nikon SB800's) one as master one as remote combined with a long exposure.

Quoted from original thread
2xSpeedlight800 + 30s exposure to capture some of the colour in the sky

Chris

[trackdemon]

^^^ CVP is almost right - I actually only had one flash with me at the time:- its two shots merged in PS to create the double flash. I said two x SB800 because, well, it was an SB800 used twice

I agree with snapper seven - CAR is easily the best motoring mag photgraphically, they consistantly create exciting images. A good example is the recent round of Scuderia shots - its clear that the photographers were fairly restricted WRT location and mobility of the vehicle, however Car's shots used creative artificial lighting and depth of field to make some really lovely shots; IMO quite a bit better than that which I saw in the other mags at the time.

Back to the OP - some of the nicest car shots I have seen have used creative lighting in an outdoor location, some examples from Autocar's wallpaper library;

I love the way the colour of the car really leaps out at you in this one:


Making an interesting pic out of a mundane location; petrol pumps at Bedford Autodrome if I'm not mistaken!:


My preference is to use available light for cars, I dont yet have the kit to achieve what the guys have above anyway - I imagaine it takes a lot of power to equalize the exposure when your shooting into the sun!!!