CPL for light painted cars....

[specialman]

I see a lot of people using (or being told to use) a CPL to cut down on surface glare/reflection on car windows when shooting in daylight and/or with standard flash but what's the deal with light painting? Does the fact that the light source changes direction make the CPL defunct or is there still some advantage to be gained (aside from it acting like an ND filter)? Also, has anyone found any difference in when using a series of flash bursts as opposed to a continuous light source?

Was aiming to go out one night soon to get some shots of the car but just wanted to gauge the general thought on whether a CPL will make a difference?

Pat

 

[Byker28i]

To be honest, it depends. Mostly I don't use one, but sometimes I do. Usually I have the camera in a fixed point on the tripod then I shine a torch or a camcorder battery floodlight where I'm going to be lighting as it'll sit on a lighting stand, then I check if a cpl is needed or not. Generally I find that because the exposures are long, and the light levels low then the filters not needed.

 

[AndWhyNot]

Does it make a difference - sometimes. Do I use one - no.

If you're using long exposures and blending 2+ frames, you have the option to control the glare off glass purely through exposure management, whilst I find glare off body panels all-but disappears in response to lightpainting.

The only time I can see a CPL being worth the stop and a half of light it consumes is if you want your key light to be indirect ambient light.