Noble Studio Shoot
Discussion
Due to an unexpected financial problem I was unable to attend the PH studio shoot and fellow PHer and Noble owner GC1 felt it was a bit far to go so instead he brought his rather tasty Noble to my recently set up studio in an ex-cowshed in the heart of rural Cheshire.
This was my first studio shoot in nearly 20 years and I wasn't even sure if a cowshed would be suitable for a car shoot but in the end I think everything worked out quite nicely. The main issue that this shoot highlighted for me was what a problem unwanted reflections can be so something that I need to deal with. I'm hoping a polarizing filter will do the trick otherwise I'm going to have to invest in some extra backgrounds to enclose the shooting area a little bit more.
Anyway enough of my rambling, here are the pictures. All comments good or bad are warmly welcomed.
This was my first studio shoot in nearly 20 years and I wasn't even sure if a cowshed would be suitable for a car shoot but in the end I think everything worked out quite nicely. The main issue that this shoot highlighted for me was what a problem unwanted reflections can be so something that I need to deal with. I'm hoping a polarizing filter will do the trick otherwise I'm going to have to invest in some extra backgrounds to enclose the shooting area a little bit more.
Anyway enough of my rambling, here are the pictures. All comments good or bad are warmly welcomed.
Would agree with 14-7 that the images are over exposed. If you look at //dean's thread they shot a silver car on a grey backdrop so it will absorb a certain amount of the light. They have also used bounce flash from their strobes to diffuse the light where with yours the soft boxes are visible in the reflection. The overexposure then loses the edges of the car and the mid section on the side onshot is underlit in the mid part of the car. A good start which will improve as you get more time using the light set-up. A lot of it will be check and re-checking your histograms.
Are you shooting tethered as that will show very quickly on the laptop screen what needs to be adjusted?
Look forward to seeing more from you in the future
YB
Are you shooting tethered as that will show very quickly on the laptop screen what needs to be adjusted?
Look forward to seeing more from you in the future
YB
Edited by Yellabelly on Wednesday 5th May 23:45
I saw //deans thread after I shot these and there were certainly some good points in it, particulary with regard to diffusing the softboxes which were a major problem. I think the over exposure problem was down to trying to bleach out the background in order to smooth it out a bit (it's in 3 sections so there are visible joins plus due to it's size I had to jerry rig a support which means it doesn't quite hang level).
A darker background would be a better bet so that I don't have to shoot everything high key but I'm going to have to save up a few quid before I can do that.
I'm happy with these as a first attempt but agree there is much room for improvement. Thanks for the comments they are much appreciated.
A darker background would be a better bet so that I don't have to shoot everything high key but I'm going to have to save up a few quid before I can do that.
I'm happy with these as a first attempt but agree there is much room for improvement. Thanks for the comments they are much appreciated.
I have actually but as I said it was my first studio shoot in quite a few years so what with getting to grips with the gear and dealing with all the teething problems I think it wasn't too bad an effort. I knew I wasn't going to get it right first time which is why I'm here asking for constructive criticism.
Hmmm Over exposed..
Strange that because the silver wheels have plenty of detail in them. With such a dark car I and if it is over exposed I would expect that the detail in the wheel would white out.
I would say that much of the car is underexposed because you are losing lots of detail.
When photographing car, bike or other shinny thing like rubber wear, or kitchen items there is more to it than getting the exposure correct. The key thing is where the high and low light will be to give form, shape and excitement.
Looking at the pictures I would say that your main problem is that you have lost all control of the lighting. The soft boxes have not been up to the job because they have not given you continuous highlights running the length of the car to give shape. The reality is that there are very few soft boxes big enough to do this. Floating ceilings being the main one. because your soft boxes are not big enough to light the sides I would suggest that you create large polystyrene reflectors. This way you can bounce the light on the the reflector and have them set up in such a way that it is the reflector reflecting on the cars bodywork and not the direct lighting. You will of course have to set the lighting up to hit the reflectors with out the lights being court in the cars bodywork.
I would have lit this very differently.
Option A
Firstly I would have pulled the car as far away from the background as possible and left all the surroundings and the background to be shaded from the light. I would of the back/top lit the car so that you only got a backlighted effect high light and the rest of the car would remain in silhouette. You could always mask off the cameras lens to prevent the floor area from being exposed in the picture.
Option B
Firstly I would have pulled the car as far away from the background as possible. I would have used some coloured gel lighting on the background to give it a sunrise warmth. Minimal top lighting and a continuous wall of reflected light curved around the front and side of the car.
What you have to remember is that a lot of people get carried away with lighting and try and make thing to complicated.
I would suggest that you experiment more with the modeling lamps with the studio in darkness other then the lights being used. Look for the angles, direction of light, the reflections being created.
I hope that helps.
Strange that because the silver wheels have plenty of detail in them. With such a dark car I and if it is over exposed I would expect that the detail in the wheel would white out.
I would say that much of the car is underexposed because you are losing lots of detail.
When photographing car, bike or other shinny thing like rubber wear, or kitchen items there is more to it than getting the exposure correct. The key thing is where the high and low light will be to give form, shape and excitement.
Looking at the pictures I would say that your main problem is that you have lost all control of the lighting. The soft boxes have not been up to the job because they have not given you continuous highlights running the length of the car to give shape. The reality is that there are very few soft boxes big enough to do this. Floating ceilings being the main one. because your soft boxes are not big enough to light the sides I would suggest that you create large polystyrene reflectors. This way you can bounce the light on the the reflector and have them set up in such a way that it is the reflector reflecting on the cars bodywork and not the direct lighting. You will of course have to set the lighting up to hit the reflectors with out the lights being court in the cars bodywork.
I would have lit this very differently.
Option A
Firstly I would have pulled the car as far away from the background as possible and left all the surroundings and the background to be shaded from the light. I would of the back/top lit the car so that you only got a backlighted effect high light and the rest of the car would remain in silhouette. You could always mask off the cameras lens to prevent the floor area from being exposed in the picture.
Option B
Firstly I would have pulled the car as far away from the background as possible. I would have used some coloured gel lighting on the background to give it a sunrise warmth. Minimal top lighting and a continuous wall of reflected light curved around the front and side of the car.
What you have to remember is that a lot of people get carried away with lighting and try and make thing to complicated.
I would suggest that you experiment more with the modeling lamps with the studio in darkness other then the lights being used. Look for the angles, direction of light, the reflections being created.
I hope that helps.
It certainly does, thanks a lot.
rottie102 said:
What lens was it taken with? It's not too sharp, isn't it?
These were actually shot with my Canon kit lens purely because my prefered lens has been away on holiday with a friend and I've yet to get it back. I considered this a minor issue compared to everything else that I was dealing with.
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