Police car at night

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JHILFIG

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i am planning on setting up a photo of a police dog van at night... my aim is to have it on a slow exposure so the lights put some color in. Possibly have a flash on rear curtain sync to light up the car.

Also looking to get a police dog sitting in front of the car so the flash will light him up.

I may not have explained that very well but any suggestions or tips?
 
Joking aside, perhaps read through 'The Speedliters Handbook' by Syl Arena. It's written for Canon Speedlite flash users but the general principles of combining show shutter speed and multiple flash set-ups should be easily transferable to other makes. Unfortunately, this book is out of print at the moment (a 3rd edition is due out this winter/spring time I believe). However, a second-hand first edition could probably be found for around £10 to £15 in reasonable condition.

After that, it will probably be a case of setting up the shot and trying different flash position and power settings until you get the look you want. You could try some red and blue coloured filters for the flash lighting the car up too, to add some atmosphere. I can imagine the dog getting bored fairly quickly though, so maybe practice with a stuffed toy to get the rest of the shot right first before introducing 'Rex' into the mix? Hope this is useful.
 
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Mr Badger said:
Joking aside, perhaps read through 'The Speedliters Handbook' by Syl Arena. It's written for Canon Speedlite flash users but the general principles of combining show shutter speed and multiple flash set-ups should be easily transferable to other makes. Unfortunately, this book is out of print at the moment (a 3rd edition is due out this winter/spring time I believe). However, a second-hand first edition could probably be found for around £10 to £15 in reasonable condition.

After that, it will probably be a case of setting up the shot and trying different flash position and power settings until you get the look you want. You could try some red and blue coloured filters for the flash lighting the car up too, to add some atmosphere. I can imagine the dog getting bored fairly quickly though, so maybe practice with a stuffed toy to get the rest of the shot right first before introducing 'Rex' into the mix? Hope this is useful.
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Thanks for the tips... will have a look for that and get reading.
 
Are your dog vans covered in the highly reflective tape? If so, best of luck getting a flash lit shot anything close to correctly and evenly exposed.
 
My next door neighbour bar one is a police dog handler and has the police car often at home. Let me tell you there is no way would I get anywhere near a police dog especially in a cage in a car,let alone the front seat
Even Lee my neighbour is careful how he get the dog from the house into the car.
These are working dogs not your family pet.
Also I doubt if you would even get that far because i don't think any police dog handler would even let you, the risk of attack in defence is too great

As for using flash at a dog, let alone a police dog ,you must want your head examined, this leaves me speechless

Best advise is forget the project
 
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Our local police force regularly post pictures of their police dogs on Twitter both in and out of the vehicles. I suspect the OP is probably a police dog handler and as such will have full knowledge of how far he can go with the hound. Remember these are highly trained animals that are used to dealing with situations that the normal 'pet' would never meet so a flash would not cause them any distress.
 
realspeed said:
As for using flash at a dog, let alone a police dog ,you must want your head examined, this leaves me speechless
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There are hundreds of photos of police dog portraits taken in studios, I'm sure flash was used and I'm pretty sure that the photographer still has both arms and legs.
 
realspeed said:
As for using flash at a dog, let alone a police dog ,you must want your head examined, this leaves me speechless
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Sometimes it pays to READ THE WHOLE THREAD.....

JHILFIG said:
Thankfully he is my dog so should be ok there (famous last words ha ha)
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That would suggest to me that the OP has an idea about what he is doing??
 
Sounds like a great image if you can get it right. I'm no expert but reading your vision got me excited to try it.
I am not sure what the finished image should look like from your description. That said I would concentrate on getting your framing set up and lighting the car how you want it first eg; ambient light exposure decided and any flash work sorted.
When happy with that then place the dog and light him/her accordingly.
Sounds easy don't it ? Well it is typing it. In practice that's another matter.,
All fun though !

Course you can light the car one time get that right ( remember settings )then set it up again on the day you include the dog.

Good luck.

Gaz

ps: In my experiance dogs don't mind flash photography at all.
 
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cargo said:
Sounds like a great image if you can get it right. I'm no expert but reading your vision got me excited to try it.
I am not sure what the finished image should look like from your description. That said I would concentrate on getting your framing set up and lighting the car how you want it first eg; ambient light exposure decided and any flash work sorted.
When happy with that then place the dog and light him/her accordingly.
Sounds easy don't it ? Well it is typing it. In practice that's another matter.,
All fun though !

Course you can light the car one time get that right ( remember settings )then set it up again on the day you include the dog.

Good luck.

Gaz

ps: In my experiance dogs don't mind flash photography at all.
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Yeah i think this will be a long time coming to fruition as a previous post says about the reflective wrap...could be challenging so will try the trial and error to et the car how i want it...then put in 'my' police dog (who lives with me 24/7 and i know very well what i can and can't do with him... tbh it will take him a while to work out where the flash came from and have a confused look on his face!).

I have found a location i like but will have to see what the lighting is like at different times of the evening / night

watch this space!
 
So had a little dabble last night... just seeing what the basics were and the logistics of turning blue lights on and off etc....

Still work to do to get the lighting right.... bearing in mind i am only using one speed light at the moment.

first base efforts.... please again...any advice observations, let rip! My vision is the dog either silhouetted at front or with extra light to show him in his full beauty!

(first is 15sec f11 iso 100, second is 30sec f11 iso100...speedlite power position differs)

20181013-dog van-02-JNH.jpg 20181013-dog van-05-JNH.jpg
 
LOL Cmos sensor cameras are crap with blue light, especially strobe...lol

I would shoot the scene without any blues and use a tripod and take several shots with the flash in various positions so trying to even up the light all over the car not too much light on background then merge em all in some software then shoot blue lights close up and Photoshop them in.
 
Any reason you picked night time? By switching to full manual and adjusting the shutter speed (and reducing the amount of sunlight reaching your camera's sensor) you can make it 'night time' during the day, and by adding the right amount (and quantity) of artificial light (lights from the car and flash units) you can take full control of things, adjusting the amount of light from the flash units to bring out the desired amount of detail in the car, foreground and the dog (when added). As I suggested, have a look at 'The Speedliter's Handbook' to see what I mean and get some ideas. It will still take trial and error to get the desired effect, but at least you should be more in control of the light.
 
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Mr Badger said:
Any reason you picked night time? By adjusting the shutter speed you can make it 'night time' during the day, and by adding the right amount (and quantity) of artificial light (lights from the car and flash units) you can take full control of things, adjusting the amount of light from the flash units to bring out the desired amount of detail in the car, foreground and the dog (when added). As I suggested, have a look at 'The Speedliter's Handbook' to see what I mean and get some ideas. It will still take trial and error to get the desired effect, but at least you should be more in control of the light.
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I did have a look for the book you mentioned... not got my hands on it just yet but thought I’d jump in two footed with a bit of trial and error first.

No reason for night time... other than I seem to love making things hard for myself!
I will admit that I normally take action photos (sports mainly) and am very new to using off camera flash... so learning as I go.

I may wait until I get the book and then work with it.
Thanks for your advice, appreciated
 
LASTOLITE said:
LOL Cmos sensor cameras are crap with blue light, especially strobe...lol

I would shoot the scene without any blues and use a tripod and take several shots with the flash in various positions so trying to even up the light all over the car not too much light on background then merge em all in some software then shoot blue lights close up and Photoshop them in.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice... I was hoping to do it all in camera but I think I have set myself a monumental task with just one speed light! So may have to try your advice and use multiple shots!

Everyday is a learning day!
 
The other possibility is to try shooting at dusk, but then you'll have changing ambient light to contend with and about 15 to 20 mins of 'in with a chance' type lighting to experiment with before it's game over until the next time.
 
JHILFIG said:
So had a little dabble last night... just seeing what the basics were and the logistics of turning blue lights on and off etc....

Still work to do to get the lighting right.... bearing in mind i am only using one speed light at the moment.

first base efforts.... please again...any advice observations, let rip! My vision is the dog either silhouetted at front or with extra light to show him in his full beauty!

(first is 15sec f11 iso 100, second is 30sec f11 iso100...speedlite power position differs)

View attachment 136532 View attachment 136533
Click to expand...


The starburst is a little too distracting and I reckon it could do with toning down a bit, perhaps try f/5.6 and see how that looks. Also at these long shutter speeds you are either going to need a flash dedicated for lighting up your dog so that the shutter speed will only effect the ambient or you will need to blend multiple exposures. The former will be easier and it would be even better if you had another flash behind your dog for some edge separation.

If you can't get a second flash then you could try experimenting with daytime shots playing with depth of field and throw the police car slightly out of focus to draw the attention firmly with your dog. I don't know your equipment but a couple of ways of doing it:

1. Very wide aperture. Like this but at night: http://blog.markrogersphotography.c...man-shepherd-police-dog-k9-and-police-car.jpg
2. Using a much longer focal length, but you'll have to be much further away for taking the shot so if your dog takes a disliking to a passing chav then it could be carnage.
3. Moving your dog further towards you and away from the car, not sure how the perspective will work and the car may end up lost behind your dog. Perhaps something like this: http://blog.markrogersphotography.c...r-german-shepherd-police-dog-k9-squad-car.jpg


I think I can envisage what you are trying to get but I think daytime will probably make things a lot easier as to make a night time shot look really good, as in pop, I think you are going to need multiple flash units for both your dog and the car. It may be worth having this thread moving in the lighting section as there's some guys in there who know a shed load more about flash than me!
 
gman said:
The starburst is a little too distracting and I reckon it could do with toning down a bit, perhaps try f/5.6 and see how that looks. Also at these long shutter speeds you are either going to need a flash dedicated for lighting up your dog so that the shutter speed will only effect the ambient or you will need to blend multiple exposures. The former will be easier and it would be even better if you had another flash behind your dog for some edge separation.

If you can't get a second flash then you could try experimenting with daytime shots playing with depth of field and throw the police car slightly out of focus to draw the attention firmly with your dog. I don't know your equipment but a couple of ways of doing it:

1. Very wide aperture. Like this but at night: http://blog.markrogersphotography.c...man-shepherd-police-dog-k9-and-police-car.jpg
2. Using a much longer focal length, but you'll have to be much further away for taking the shot so if your dog takes a disliking to a passing chav then it could be carnage.
3. Moving your dog further towards you and away from the car, not sure how the perspective will work and the car may end up lost behind your dog. Perhaps something like this: http://blog.markrogersphotography.c...r-german-shepherd-police-dog-k9-squad-car.jpg


I think I can envisage what you are trying to get but I think daytime will probably make things a lot easier as to make a night time shot look really good, as in pop, I think you are going to need multiple flash units for both your dog and the car. It may be worth having this thread moving in the lighting section as there's some guys in there who know a shed load more about flash than me!
Click to expand...

Thank you for taking the time to after advice... yeah I seem to be agreeing that jumping in with a night time s*** with minimal flash units is most prob a leap too far at this time... I’ll try out your suggestions and go from there.

Thanks again
 
@JHILFIG Great thread. Really good to see you working through this and taking us all along with the journey. @gman Those are fab images you linked to.

Gaz
 
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