Lighting

[Flash In The Pan]

I

well what i think ive come to realise, is that i need to stop being lazy and switch to manual to take control of the Aperture as well as Shutter.
At the moment I'm using a basic off camera Jessops 360 AFD which i flash during the 5 seconds the camera is taking a photo. I was playing a little with angling the flash appropriatley to use the in-built diffuser and bounce card to light the car, but not the inner arches.

I'm currently looking into buying a Nikon SB-600, then have that on one side of the car, and the Jessops the other part on slave. Would this be a good idea? And does anyone know anyone selling one?

If you're working with just the one flash and doing long exposures then you might want to experiment with light painting and with your camera on a tripod on a long exposure walk round the car popping the flash and yes you need to start shooting in manual mode

 

[L33LEG YARIS]

I

If you're working with just the one flash and doing long exposures then you might want to experiment with light painting and with your camera on a tripod on a long exposure walk round the car popping the flash and yes you need to start shooting in manual mode

thats what i was doing anyway, but was only using a 5s shutter, so the crappy Jessops flash would only fire once in that time.

Think I'll lower the shutter and try and get a couple of flashes in different areas.

 

[L33LEG YARIS]

I'd take a look here

http://www.carphototutorials.com/

awesome link. Thanks. Really good stuff, and well written.

 

[fracster]

well what i think ive come to realise, is that i need to stop being lazy and switch to manual to take control of the Aperture as well as Shutter.
At the moment I'm using a basic off camera Jessops 360 AFD which i flash during the 5 seconds the camera is taking a photo. I was playing a little with angling the flash appropriatley to use the in-built diffuser and bounce card to light the car, but not the inner arches.

I'm currently looking into buying a Nikon SB-600, then have that on one side of the car, and the Jessops the other part on slave. Would this be a good idea? And does anyone know anyone selling one?

Using shutter priority or aperture priority is not lazy bud, they are tools for you to use..............

Try doing a small experiment. Set your camera up on a tripod and take a series of photographs,of the exact same subject, using aperture priority whilst adjusting the aperture. Do the same with shutter priority altering the shutter speed. Look at the results and that may well help you understand the fundamentals a tad more.

Radiohead and Flashy babes know a chunk more about using flash than I, so I shall leave that to them................

 

[Flash In The Pan]

thats what i was doing anyway, but was only using a 5s shutter, so the crappy Jessops flash would only fire once in that time.

Think I'll lower the shutter and try and get a couple of flashes in different areas.

Well, I think I'd be aiming for a longer exposure, maybe 15-20 seconds (obviously this is just a guesstimate) and lowering the output of the flash (a 5 sec recycle time sounds as if you're on full power) and then walk round the car, as before, firing the flash off as you go.

Make sure you have decent rechargeable batteries in your flash, Eneloops or 7dayshop Good to Go are the favourites around here, as using regular alkaline ones (especially the pound shop specials) don' help the flash recycle quickly.

I'm not sure if you can adjust the output on the 360 AFD when using it this way, but if you can then you can play about with the power until you get the results you're after. Alternatively, if it's only going to fire at full power using that method then what you can do is invest in a cheap set of triggers, set the flash output manually and then use those to fire the flash as you walk round.

 

[Triggaaar]

all the photos are too dark and WB is off - so constructively there useless

WB is easy enough to fix, just shoot RAW and include a grey card in one of the shots for example. Or if you didn't do that, play with WB until you're happy. Photos being too dark - advise that he increases the exposure.

Difference is I learnt from the answers and now know how to do it

I know the answer so I've told the guy

FLASH IS HARD LIGHT

if you modify it - your altering it .. flash is harsh - if you dont know how to use it which you dont until taught - its harsh ..

Danny you've tried to give the guy advice, as we all do. Sometimes the advice we give isn't quite right (I just told someone they wouldn't get a good tog taking their wedding pics and then giving them the raw files, but it looks like I might be wrong - can't get them all right can we). You have had experience taking a similar shot as the poster here, and you've used a tripod and a long exposure to get the results you wanted, so that is an option.

Flash is also an option and can give great results at times when a long exposure might not work (eg, the ambient light isn't consistent, or in the right place, or it's too hard/soft for the desired results. It doesn't take a lot of pracitce to learn how to get good results with a flash, and the OP can get advice on how to use one if he chooses that path.

But saying flash is harsh (even if you put it in capitals) is wrong. What light in the universe would you say isn't harsh? Sunlight can be pretty harsh - or it can be soft if it's diffused by clouds, or if it's feathered by being low over the horizon. A flash is the same. If you use a flash to take a photo of a ladybird, and you put the flash 2 inches away, it'll be a soft light, not harsh - that's with no modifiers, just direct flash. Here we're talking about lighting cars - the OP can either create a hard shadows with off camera flash, or he can modifiy the light or add another to soften or remove the shadows. There are lots of choices, but to just say 'flash is hard light' is incorrect.

 

[Pete B]

Another way on long exposures is to paint it with a powerful torch, theres some nice photos somewhere on these forums of people painting a building with a torch while they shot star trails, practice on a car at home in the dark maybe?