The automotive strobist setup pic thread

Not a cloud in the sky this day. Sucked.

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Went out and shot this car yesterday, Used a 7D and 2 manual flashes on the left side of the car at 1/1 to eliminate any shadows, had my camera set at f8 1/400th ISO 160.

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solid pic!^^

anyone wanna give some starter advise on using a single flash setup to light a whole car?

would it be best to setup the shot for a long 10-30 second exposure and click the light off by hand walking around the car? Ive never shot a long exposure pic for anything before.
Or would it be better to set the light on a tripod using my remote trigger and taking 5-15 (or how ever many it takes to light it) separate pics and merging them together?

never shooting something like this, i have a question on camera setups as well. for the first one obviously the shutter would be opened up long, should I keep the ISO around 200-400 to keep the image clean but help a little on letting some light in? And on the aperture, itll be depending on how dark it is outside but even with a long exposure will I have to use a higher, over 9, fstop to not blow out the image.
for the second setup Im guessing the ISO should be set low to 100-200, open up the aperture and keep it under 7, and make the shutter under 1/100 depending on strength of light from flash.

does this sound halfway right for a start on a setup like this?

Bored last night, quick shots between rain showers of my dirty car. Only like the 4th time I've used my flashes.

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CN: Last night I had my first attempt - epic fail. I did, somewhat, stack the cards against myself, but lack of experience is definitely to blame.

I attempted to shoot my friend's '00 Z28, and it did not go anywhere near how I would have liked it to.

Dom87SS wrote in post #13186897
anyone wanna give some starter advise on using a single flash setup to light a whole car?

would it be best to setup the shot for a long 10-30 second exposure and click the light off by hand walking around the car? Ive never shot a long exposure pic for anything before.
Or would it be better to set the light on a tripod using my remote trigger and taking 5-15 (or how ever many it takes to light it) separate pics and merging them together?

never shooting something like this, i have a question on camera setups as well. for the first one obviously the shutter would be opened up long, should I keep the ISO around 200-400 to keep the image clean but help a little on letting some light in? And on the aperture, itll be depending on how dark it is outside but even with a long exposure will I have to use a higher, over 9, fstop to not blow out the image.
for the second setup Im guessing the ISO should be set low to 100-200, open up the aperture and keep it under 7, and make the shutter under 1/100 depending on strength of light from flash.

does this sound halfway right for a start on a setup like this?

Yes, that sounds right. Try both ways and see what works best for you. ISO 100 to reduce noise, plus with your shutter open longer you'll need all the f stop you can get.

dylanhauge wrote in post #13187417
CN: Last night I had my first attempt - epic fail. I did, somewhat, stack the cards against myself, but lack of experience is definitely to blame.

I attempted to shoot my friend's '00 Z28, and it did not go anywhere near how I would have liked it to.

I tried aiming the 2 at the opposite wheel so I could hopefully create a nice big box of even light in front of the car. My thought was that there would be two big boxes of light where the flashes actually hit and the areas whether the edges of the strobes feathered into each other should create a nice spot in the middle with a similar exposure value. 2 problems, well 3.

1) I couldn't get rid of the flare above the rear wheel well. I even had my buddy try and use his hand as a Flag (he is kind short and it didn't work all too well) It also maybe that the VAL was getting lazy and may not have been pointing it as accurately as possible.

2) I couldn't get the entirety of the car evenly lit / separated from the background. I try bumping up the ISO to get more of the ambient off the green wall. Which worked, but it also helped expose the nasty fluorescent parking garage lighting on the car.

3) More obviously, I didn't get the photo I was looking to achieve.

---------

So my question(s):

Would moving the flashes further away from the subject and turning up the power help reduce the hot spots? Or just screw me into harsher light and the accompanying shadows?

Was the issue the angle at which I was firing the flashes or the spot that I was targeting them at, or the zoom amount?

I don't know. I'm lost and need help.

Let me try and help as I'm still learning, but know some things. First and foremost, dont try shooting a black or dark colored car if you're beginner. You'll end up suicidal.

You have to think of your flashes. They produce two big round white spots OO, so picture that on a car. The 'fade to each other' sounds great, but in reality, it's a pain in the ass. You could try something like this

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izthistaken wrote in post #13187558
Let me try and help as I'm still learning, but know some things. First and foremost, dont try shooting a black or dark colored car if you're beginner. You'll end up suicidal.

I stopped after about 50 frames to avoid this inevitable fate.

izthistaken wrote in post #13187558
You have to think of your flashes. They produce two big round white spots OO, so picture that on a car. The 'fade to each other' sounds great, but in reality, it's a pain in the ass.

I get that idea which was why I was trying to "cross-light" it. What do you usually have your flashes zoomed to - and how far are they from your subject? Or is this, like you said, more of a salt-to-taste depending on the car?

izthistaken wrote in post #13187558
Also, reflections will almost always be on the car unless you skim the light along the car. That means more flashes etc. Flash spots are a pain in the ass to take out also if you aren't good with photoshop. Think about a cars surface as a mirror, the flash will reflect the same way.

I get these ideas, which is why I had my buddy try to use his hand as a barn door, but I was still getting the hot spot. I also tried re-positioning and changing the zoom/power levels but I couldn't figure it out.

izthistaken wrote in post #13187558
All the adjustments that you mentioned, are things you need to go out and try for yourself to fully understand how they work. For me it seems every car I shoot it's different, but I'm still trying to get down how to shoot cars at different angles etc.

I know, but I was hoping I would have some more ammunition in my arsenal to help combat these next time as opposed to just "experiment." Thanks for the tips though, they have been added to my huge AutoStrobist Evernote.

Big diffusers are also nice, but then you need to power to shoot through them. There was a blog post on strobist that I want to try. Looks like it might work.

The 'blocking' of the flash wont work because it will screw up the rest of your light as you probably foudn out.

Flashes zoomed I think like 35mm?

I remember reading (ITT) about a few of the guys on here here were trying to make something similar with the material they use for a sail on a sail boat.

If I am aiming them at the ground in front of the car, how will putting a gobo on the side to block those crazy photons going to screw up the rest of the shot? I'm under the impression that the hot spot is from the flash not being aimed properly. If I shot it at the ground, I thought the light coming from the side (those crazy photons) of the strobe is whats creating the hot spot, I'm probably off though.

I want the car to be illuminated by the area of reflection light I am creating on the ground in front of it, and I think the hot spot is a direct reflection of the flash head itself.

edit2: Matt - Thanks again for all the help/advice.

Dylan: I've had the same problem. My car isn't black, but close enough. I tried to light it with strobes and failed, then I tried with different scrims but didn't really get what I wanted. Now I've basically "given up" and started to play around with light painting.

This is a first attempt and it was really difficult to get the lighting even, as you can see in the windows. Though, I'm more pleased with this than with any of my strobe shots. Might be worth trying?

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dylanhauge wrote in post #13187417
CN: Last night I had my first attempt - epic fail. I did, somewhat, stack the cards against myself, but lack of experience is definitely to blame.

I attempted to shoot my friend's '00 Z28, and it did not go anywhere near how I would have liked it to.

I tried aiming the 2 at the opposite wheel so I could hopefully create a nice big box of even light in front of the car. My thought was that there would be two big boxes of light where the flashes actually hit and the areas whether the edges of the strobes feathered into each other should create a nice spot in the middle with a similar exposure value. 2 problems, well 3.

1) I couldn't get rid of the flare above the rear wheel well. I even had my buddy try and use his hand as a Flag (he is kind short and it didn't work all too well) It also maybe that the VAL was getting lazy and may not have been pointing it as accurately as possible.

2) I couldn't get the entirety of the car evenly lit / separated from the background. I try bumping up the ISO to get more of the ambient off the green wall. Which worked, but it also helped expose the nasty fluorescent parking garage lighting on the car.

3) More obviously, I didn't get the photo I was looking to achieve.

---------

So my question(s):

Would moving the flashes further away from the subject and turning up the power help reduce the hot spots? Or just screw me into harsher light and the accompanying shadows?

Was the issue the angle at which I was firing the flashes or the spot that I was targeting them at, or the zoom amount?

I don't know. I'm lost and need help.

Never aim the flash right at the car - get them up as high as you can, and aim them at the ground. If you have a background like a wall that isn't lit, then use a separate flash between the car and the wall to give it a little kick.Don't try to light the wall and the car from the front with the same strobes. Also, when starting with a dark car, try shooting at dusk or a little earlier rather than in pitch black. It will make it a bit easier.

To light more of the car evenly, pull the strobes away and up the power. If at full power already, open your aperture a little.

Another option is if you are in a garage that has a low enough ceiling, you can try bouncing your flash off of it and onto the car. The point is, a car is a huge reflective surface that you don't want to light directly. Bouncs the light off of a white wall, or ceiling, or have it feathered at the ground enough that it's not beaming the car right on.

Here's a link to some of my car shoots.

Hope this helps!
James

default wrote in post #13192319
Dylan: I've had the same problem. My car isn't black, but close enough. I tried to light it with strobes and failed, then I tried with different scrims but didn't really get what I wanted. Now I've basically "given up" and started to play around with light painting.

This is a first attempt and it was really difficult to get the lighting even, as you can see in the windows. Though, I'm more pleased with this than with any of my strobe shots. Might be worth trying?

Good effort, but it looks too much like a composite. Maybe increase your shutter speed to allow more ambient light in to closer match the strobes on the car. Try not painting as much - it's ok if the entire car isn't lit the same or has some shadow.

GwagDesigns wrote in post #13184592
Went out and shot this car yesterday, Used a 7D and 2 manual flashes on the left side of the car at 1/1 to eliminate any shadows, had my camera set at f8 1/400th ISO 160.

What were you using to sync your flashes at 1/400th?

2 580ex ii's - one directly in front of the car and the other on the side a little in front of the rear wheel.

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