Cars in the studio!

My boss wants to do studio shots of the cars that we sponsor, as well as a few customers willing to pay for the shoots. We will probably have to break it down into two days just cause im sure each car is going to take a bit of time. The studio im renting for the job provides lights with the rental but they want to know what kind of lights i want?

I have searched and everything i have seen says softboxes(biggest possible) and reflectors etc but they want me to be a bit more specific as to what kind of lights im looking for?

ANY advice at all would be greatly appreciated. im going to rent the studio once for a few hours myself before the actual shoot and practice lighting my WRX on my own so hopefully that helps.

This sounds like an expensive session, so whatever you decide be sure to have a dress rehearsal using a car other that those special cars.

There are softboxes made that are large enough, but they are very special purpose, are tremendous in cost (thousands of dollars), and it is very unlikely you will find any studio equipped with such gear.

So you may have to get buy using the very largest commonly available (about 4 feet X 6 feet or so) and use several.

Another reasonable option would be to construct a huge ad hoc diffusion screen from available materials like a thin white backdrop and aim multiple flash units at this diffusion panel in equal installments across the diffusion panel.

But if you want a large depth of field over something as large as a car you will need a lot of flash power.

Enjoy! Lon

Ya i do believe that is the largest sized box they have available. The studio has a cyclorama which i will paint white to help with the light and i was planning on making some sort of diffuser or scrim if possible. The shoot for our website isnt going to be until next month sometime so in the next week or two im gonna go and practice on my car. thanks for the tips!

Chimera has softboxes far larger than 4x6', and probably far exceeding the expense budget that your boss has in mind !!!

There are several studios in the Metro Detroit area that focus on automotive. Here is one that I can think of http://blueskystageren​tal.com/ ---You might want to call them and tell them what you are doing and see if they can offer a suggestion.

Check out these light boxes:
http://www.chimeraligh​ting.com/products/f2ov​erhead.cfm