Help--Lighting set-up for shooting cars in wharehouse

I work for a car dealership and they want me to start shooting their cars for their websites, the set up will be in a large wharehouse. The wall will be white concrete and I need some advice on the lighting set-up. I am thinking of doing 2 alien bee 800's with soft box's but need some advice on what kind of soft box's or other set-up ideas. My owner is going to order what I need but with-in reason.

Thanks in advance for the help and suggestions

This web page by 1880 Studios has a few shots of their auto studios. Scroll down to see the studio setup shots. Note the huge overhead "softbox" which can emulate a cloudy sky.

What you should consider is creating large surface area reflective panels to bounce light off of or translucent panels to shoot your light through.

SkipD wrote in post #16470124
This web page by 1880 Studios

damn.

that is awesome.

op, if you want more than just snap shots, but have less resources than the above link. I have seen some nice work done with large pieces of white cloth back lit with high power strobes. Think about putting the cloth over the vehicle, as well as on the ground, to cause reflections where needed. Might want some black cloth too.

obviously you need to have enough light to overcome ambient, if there is any.

the wharehouse has a few fluorescentlights above the area but not over powering, the roof is about 25-30ft so its very open. would you suggest rectangle softbox or octabox? I called Paul C. Buff today and they were reccomending large octabox's.... My boss wants to order this stuff asap so trying to figure it all out

It depends on your goal.

If you just need to light it up and roll in the next vehicle I'm sure you can get by with just about anything. You will have reflections of the warehouse on the windows and car bodies.

If you are looking for something nicer you are going to have to be creative and do some experimenting.

Saying the pics are "for their websites" is not exactly describing what you are interested in achieving.

The light softening effect of a softbox is diminished at a distance, so you will not need them for shooting large objects where the strobes are 10+ feet away. If you want the white warehouse background to look white in photos, you will need strobes to light that too-or else it will look grey. 2 AB400s for the front and side of the car, and 2 AB800s for behind the car will do the trick. A circular polarizer filter is essential to control light reflections on all highly reflective surfaces.

http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=ojf8p405A70

hes gone wrote in post #16470491
=he's gone;16470491]It depends on your goal.

I agree.
I don't think that the octabox is anywhere large enough to put good highlights in the body. If it were me, I'd want at least the standing flat in the 4th image of 1880 Studios + light on a white ceiling.
This dealership has all white walls & only indirect light at the top of the walls: http://theautopalace.c​om/

white venom wrote in post #16470068
I work for a car dealership and they want me to start shooting their cars for their websites, the set up will be in a large wharehouse. The wall will be white concrete and I need some advice on the lighting set-up. I am thinking of doing 2 alien bee 800's with soft box's but need some advice on what kind of soft box's or other set-up ideas. My owner is going to order what I need but with-in reason.

Thanks in advance for the help and suggestions

Buy the book Light Science & Magic.
Farmer

Put your lights very high and angle them down at a nice angle. It helps with avoiding reflections if you don't have a cpl. Especially on darker colored cars.

What kind of shooting are you going to be doing? Do they want the same shot over and over again? Will the space be used for anything else? You could build an overhead panel and hang it from the ceiling, then push a couple of strobes through it to get a similar effect to the Chimera box. You could then make another panel to light the side of the car as well. This stuff will take up a bit of space and require several strobes though.

If you can get the warehouse dark enough you could light paint the cars via a softbox on a rolling lightstand, then light up the background with some strobes (rear curtain sync). Obviously this would be a bit more time consuming but could give you the desired effect with less expenditure up front; assuming they are willing to compensate you adequately for your time. Of course there is the volume issue as well. . . ..

king. wrote in post #16473601
Put your lights very high wind angle them down at a nice angle. It helps with avoiding reflections if you don't have a cpl. Especially on darker colored cars.

Not the worlds best advice IMO.

What a vague question, there are tons of ways of shooting cars.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #16474168
Not the worlds best advice IMO.

It's a start if he's just blasting the lights on the side of the car and getting huge reflections. But according to your "tips," we should all just shoot at dusk and put a weird gradient behind the cars.

Consider a darkened room, an open shutter, and painting the car with light from an LED flashlight. Make multiple images and combine them (with masking) in PS to control reflections and adjust lighting intensity. I've seen some amazing work by Zack Arias and others.

Go to kelby training website, get a subscription and find the Wallace training videos related to photographing cars and motorcycles.

He is one of the best. What he does works. Have your boss look at the videos as well.

Then talk to him about what it will take to do it right.