Tricky job

Liberalis

Liberalis

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Kris
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Been given a bit of a tricky job today, and I thought I would ask you guys for a touch of advice...

One shot deal of a showroom, an exterior showing the big glass windows, illuminated sign, and of course all the cars within all at night. This its self isn't a problem, the tricky part is that they are all black cars, about 8 of them all side by side on a 45. As you know there will be huge reflections so I'm just wondering how one would go about reducing them ?

I have a very large black cloth (enough to cover a truck) small reflectors, and numerous flash units - 3 x 550's, 3 x 580's and 2 x D-lite4's.

I don't think there will be time to move each car out of the way for a large image blend, see the problem ? lol

Any input is welcome and appreciated.

Kris
 
My initial thought would be a circular polariser to cut the reflections then just tripod and bracket quite a number of shots to get enough usable data.

I dont know if you would even be able to get enough detail on the cars themselves at that which would be where the lighting comes into play, I wouldnt know where to begin lighting a scene that big though without having lots of time to individually light bits and make a big composition.
 
To be honest, your lighting is far from adequate for this kind of job. You may be able to 'hide' flashes out of sight to illuminate the cars but, without a hell of a lot of lighting power and massive diffusers all you'll get is harsh specular highlights that will probably do more harm than good.

It's always difficult to give good advice without actually seeing the situation, but my first thought is to take a shot in daylight, then a second shot just before it gets dark and combine them on computer.

In reality you may need to do it the other way round - take the dusk shot first, positioning your camera at whatever angle is needed to avoid reflections (if you can get the angle right a polariser may help) and then come back, set up the camera/tripod in exactly the same position and take the daylight shot - after giving very clear instructions that none of the cars may be moved of course.

Also, you will probably need to make sure that all interior lighting is switched off - you won't want ugly reflections of fluorescent tubes or similar.
 
Could you have a few flashes within the showroom hidden out of sight but bouncing light from the ceiling to evenly light the interior and minimise reflections?
 
markp said:
Could you have a few flashes within the showroom hidden out of sight but bouncing light from the ceiling to evenly light the interior and minimise reflections?
Click to expand...
Good idea - but for this to work the light heads will need to be on the floor pointing up towards what is probably going to be a very high ceiling - and to avoid any light spilling where it isn't wanted each light will need to be fitted with a pretty tight honeycomb, say 5 deg. This brings the equipment limitation question into focus. It's possible to make narrow-angle honeycombs (from drinking straws) but they lose an enormous amount of light, then the light has to travel a long way and then travel nearly as far back again - not very practical with low powered lights:crying:
 
If it were me, I'd run around inside the showroom and fire off the flashes at estimated equal distances. Change settings according to how well the end result is, and then once the settings are sorted, its just getting the flashes fired correctly.

But as I said, just me, I have never even done a studio shoot :p
 
Is there no way you can utilise the showroom's own lighting, taking out unwanted bulbs etc to get the levels you want and adjusting the white balance and colour temps?

There is a lamborghini dealer near me and their lighting is an absolute work of art. Is that really sad of me? I look at the lighting rather than the cars!
 
Hmm, can you take some photographs of the building (inside and out) to show us? This will kind of dictate what lights you can use and where to position them.
What equipment do you have? Are you going to hire anything?
I agree with AliB, some showrooms can have superb lighting (there's a Bentley dealer near me which looks superb at night) but I'd imagine whatever lighting you're using indoors it could be rescued with some PP?
 
Could some baretube flashes be used taped up on the ceiling in the actual light fittings so you supercharge the exisiting lighting ?

Failing that I think the shot during the day and at dust would be your best bet and then build the shot up from photoshop.
 
Cheers for the input guys, I did not take any shots of the place as I got the call while passing without camera.... I'm moving house this week so the only time I have is tomorrow (Tuesday) evening.

I think I'm going to use a blend of:

1- Outside ground
2- Illuminated sign
3- Internal strip lights
4- Internal spots
5- And maybe fire a flash under each car lighting the floor (just to make them stand out a little)

And for the other side of each car, I'm going to cover the wheels with the black cloth, It should minimise most of the reflections.

Thanks again for the help and watch this space for examples.
 
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