Lighting a car

Kryptix

Kryptix

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Hi guys,

I found this location the other day and took this shot:

387335_1984517712900_1841990307_1299902_880717970_n.jpg


It's very dark and to get the dome exposed properly the car itself is pitch black so we used a torch to light it.

I have a 580EX II so can I use a long exposure to capture the dome and then flash the car manually a few times from different angles?

Has anyone got any example photos of this method?

I was thinking of borrowing an umbrella or something to soften the flash.

Any other suggestions?

Luke
 
What about using second curtain sync, use flash off camera with a cord?
 
To be honest I think you'll struggle to light a car decently with just a speedlight. A friend of mine (based in London) does a lot of car photography and he uses proper lights for it and it looks fantastic. Maybe a speedlight inside the car to light up the interior but only proper lights for the exterior.

You could try getting an assistant to just run around the car blasting it with the pilot light from the flash while you take a long exposure from the camera? I did this once and it came out fairly well (also had a street light above with nice white xenon light).
 
In theory your plan should work. You will need an exposure long enough for the flash to recycle and for you change position. Be careful of stopping the lens down too much or the flash will not be powerful enough. It's a balancing act...

I agree that it would be nice to have a light inside the car. Got any other old flash gear lying around?

An umbrella will soften the light a bit
You have to try it it could be a great picture

Roy

www.royriley.co.Uk
 
Do the background exposure first. Get that nailed.

Then just take several shots using the flash as you move around the car and merge them together until you have what you need. Overlay these over the background shot and you have it sorte :)

A few guys on here do lightpainting on cars and they are awesome - might be worth looking at their flickr feeds to get some inspiration and info...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/andwhynot/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pgdesignscouk/sets/72157626315473415/

There is a tutorial about how to do it but can't find it at the moment :)

I can't see the exif for this shot so don't know what kind of exposure you've got. Flash recycling shouldn't be a problem on something like a 30sec exposure - if in doubt just dial the power down to improve recycling times.

A lot of people seem to use continuous lights, like lamps and lights inside softboxes.
 
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How about lighting the inside of the car and then lighting under the car quite fiercely with a small reflector bouncing some light up at the back wing or something.

I'll get me coat...
 
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