Advance tips on shooting car show

[MTalley]

I'm the semi-official photographer for our local vintage VW club. We host a big VW show every summer and the venue is in a large covered area (see attached picture). The cars are all parked with the rear of the vehicles facing the outside of the pavilion.

I had a real challenge photographing the fronts of the cars without totally blowing out the sky outside. I was using fill flash to help offset the massive difference in lighting (foreground to background) and that helped some. Last year, I shot the event with my P/S camera, so the only fill flash I had was the on-camera flash.

This year, I've obviously got better equipment. The DRebel, a choice of lenses, two flash heads, umbrellas and stands if I need them, etc. Give me some suggestions, if you will, on the best bet for more evenly lighting the cars from the front. One issue I had when using fill flash was that the reflectors on the vehicles tended to blow out, depending on the angle.

Any other tips or suggestions are also welcomed (i.e. lens selection and so forth). I stand an excellent chance of having some of the photos published in at least one VW enthusiast magazine.

By the way, my '69 VW is the off-white vehicle about the middle of the line of cars in the picture.

[markubig]

I think you should get a Circular Polarizing filter for whatever lens you are planning on using. It will help w/ reflections/glare off the cars and windows. you also lose about 2 stops of light, which could help your sky blowouts. good luck

[MTalley]

Natch. Already have some CPs for each of my lenses. I used a CP last year, too.

By the way, here's a link to the show report from last year's show. All of the photos were taken by me.

Click Here (http://www.vintagevw.net/vwmelt2004show1.htm)

[PhotosGuy]

Well, that has to be the worst case lighting I've ever seen! I would at least have the winner take his car out of that situation so I could get some good shots of it.
Take a look at this:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=70290
The 2nd pic example of lighting the 'Cuda might work in that situation if you could use the outside backlight to light the reflector. Or maybe pop a few strobes into it. I don't know just how much effort you're willing to go through to get the shots.
Good luck!

[MTalley]

I could pray for a very dark and overcast day, I guess. :D

I'll study different flash scenarios and see what works best. Since folks roll into the show over a three to four hour period, I'll have time to try different things before the judging gets underway.

Only problem I found last year was that once the awards were handed out, everyone started loading up and leaving pretty quick. Within 1/2 hour, the only vehicles left were basically our own group. Of course, a lot of them came from a few hours away, at most, so leaving the scene right away meant that they could get home before dark.

[Cr8tor]

I'm a newbie at this so maybe it's just a dumb idea, but what about creating a panoramic photograph?
I have not played around with this myself but it seems like it would work, you could zoom in enough to catch the cars and no sky and then shoot the sky separate... stitch them together and have one shot with some awesome detail...

Again, I’m a newbie and this may be a bad idea or just wont work for some reason. If it is please explain why and don’t flame me as i'm just trying to throw out ideas.

[MTalley]

Well, you are on to something, Nathan. One could shoot the car using the car as the exposure (and the sky will be blown out), then, without moving the camera at all, reshoot with the sky as the preferred exposure (making the car very dark).

Combining the two in Photoshop to get the best exposure for each is a well-documented process. I might have to try that.

[PhotosGuy]

I'm a newbie at this so maybe it's just a dumb idea, but what about creating a panoramic photograph? You'd have a big problem with the people walking around I think. And still have the lighting problem. ;-)

[Moppie]

Take a step ladder, shoot from on top of it.
The extra 2-3 feet of height will give the cars a new perspective and should create enough of an angle that the bright background is totaly removed, or at least reduced to just a small slit.
Getting really really low (lieing on the ground low) should also help give the same effect.

And of course don't be afraid to get really close to the cars, useing a wide angle lens if you have one.
And better yet, if you can get outside don't be afraid to take the group shots from behind.

[MTalley]

Good thoughts, Moppie. Last year I was really wishing I had a ladder for the overall show shots. I managed to get one of the show participants to agree to let me climb on top of his VW bus (Combi, I believe, overseas) and let me shoot from there.