Lighting on the cheap
Discussion
Yesterday my mate and I were out taking a few shots of his car. The day was a bit grim and we picked up too much road dirt but we thought we would find a few locations to go back and try without the rain.
I like this shot but want to do it in the dark next time. I only have a lowly G9 but I think I can rig a tripod to get a good result. What I was thinking is floodlight behind the car and light the car from the font. So how can I do this on the cheap?
I assume when I see those sort of shots they are expensive lights so they diffuse well, don't cast patterns and brightness can be adjusted. But normally there seems to be way to rig a cheaper solution like the macro toilet roll tubes or paper white boxes. Whats the trick here as I liked a lot of the shots I took but the lighting needs a lot more work to create a real atmosphere.
I like this shot but want to do it in the dark next time. I only have a lowly G9 but I think I can rig a tripod to get a good result. What I was thinking is floodlight behind the car and light the car from the font. So how can I do this on the cheap?
I assume when I see those sort of shots they are expensive lights so they diffuse well, don't cast patterns and brightness can be adjusted. But normally there seems to be way to rig a cheaper solution like the macro toilet roll tubes or paper white boxes. Whats the trick here as I liked a lot of the shots I took but the lighting needs a lot more work to create a real atmosphere.
nick_bbb said:
What about leaving the shutter open and just running around the car firing the flash so you get the image? because ive tried it that way before and didn't get your result 
DamianBlades said:
nick_bbb said:
What about leaving the shutter open and just running around the car firing the flash so you get the image? because ive tried it that way before and didn't get your result So Damian, if the car you tried it on was darker, and in a darker place than Nick's (excellent) example your final image would be underexposed by comparison, even if the flash power and positions were the same.
The S3 should come up nice at night - wait for a full moon and the blue sky will offset the yellow nicely
DamianBlades said:
nick_bbb said:
What about leaving the shutter open and just running around the car firing the flash so you get the image? because ive tried it that way before and didn't get your result Might try Grant's method next time.
AndWhyNot is right, I should update the article to say you need to adjust the ISO or power of the flash depending on available light. There was plenty to play with left in the Vitiars and you don't have to worry about recycle times using this method. I have done a couple of these now for Custom Car, that I can't post up yet, the results are good but it can need a bit of time in Photoshop.
Be interested to know what happened Damien?
Be interested to know what happened Damien?
Running around the car is very hard to control - in fact you don't really have any control at all, it's pretty much down to luck.
Multiple flashes or multiple exposures is better. Having more flashes is easiest because you can just get it right first time, without needing to do lots of editing.
Multiple flashes or multiple exposures is better. Having more flashes is easiest because you can just get it right first time, without needing to do lots of editing.
Following on from this can someone help with a compatible flash? I'm not feeling canon flush so something a bit cheaper would be nice. I looked at the sunpak pf30 but have read a few reviews saying it wont work with the G9. I carried on looking and I'm now wondering about the metz c36 af 4c. It seems to be compatible but there isn't much written about it. I can't find any info on trigger voltages either to see if it is compatible with the triggers recommended.
It can be done with one flash, but that takes a fair bit of practice to pull off as you need to know what effect each flash will have as you build up your lighting. I use multiple flashes these days, but I used to build images from 1 or 2 flashes and then bring in what I wanted from each layer in PS - just offered more control over the final result; I still do it occasionally if there's a specific area I want to control light in.
Back when the dollar was a bit cheaper to buy, I got two Vivitars from B&H in New York, but they seem not to stock any now. This price seems about right though:
http://m-z-photo.amazonwebstore.com/B00004TVSP/M/B...
Of course, your next problem becomes how the hell you trigger them reliably....
This was about the only time I was able to get optical triggers to work - on board SB-600 and 285s either side of the car. Even then the flash on the left needed to be set at higher power, but I couldn't tell that until I got the picture up on the screen at home.
I moved on to cheap radio triggers, more reliable but still by no means perfect, mainly down to range.
Testing even at very short range I could only get all three flashes to fire about half the time.
I believe //Deanphoto uses (or did use) long cables - this is probably the best and cheapest way to go.
http://m-z-photo.amazonwebstore.com/B00004TVSP/M/B...
Of course, your next problem becomes how the hell you trigger them reliably....
This was about the only time I was able to get optical triggers to work - on board SB-600 and 285s either side of the car. Even then the flash on the left needed to be set at higher power, but I couldn't tell that until I got the picture up on the screen at home.
I moved on to cheap radio triggers, more reliable but still by no means perfect, mainly down to range.
Testing even at very short range I could only get all three flashes to fire about half the time.
I believe //Deanphoto uses (or did use) long cables - this is probably the best and cheapest way to go.
Edited by _dobbo_ on Wednesday 16th December 11:53
Dean used Pocketwizards I think.
I used to use the PT04s you have Ben but they were too unreliable. I have these now, much, much better...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
I used to use the PT04s you have Ben but they were too unreliable. I have these now, much, much better...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
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