Automotive multiple flash image build writeup

[talan]

Here's quite a good writeup on building an automotive photography image using multiple flash exposures (moving the flash around the car)

http://natehasslerphoto.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/image-build-2010-acura-tsx-part-1-of-2/

[fokker]

To be honest his end result isn't exactly that impressive, and comments like: "In this example, I shot about 25 different lighting positions. The reason I do it this way is because I don’t have time (or the budget/equipment) to make everything work all at once. I would rather spend the time post processing then take 2 hours and use an entire grip truck to get it “right” straight out of the camera." Make him sound a bit amateur.

[talan]

To be honest his end result isn't exactly that impressive, and comments like: "In this example, I shot about 25 different lighting positions. The reason I do it this way is because I don’t have time (or the budget/equipment) to make everything work all at once. I would rather spend the time post processing then take 2 hours and use an entire grip truck to get it “right” straight out of the camera." Make him sound a bit amateur.

I don't think this fella is a pro. He's a photographers assistant who shoots when he tags along.

The quote you posted I think he's simply saying you don't need lots of lighting equipment to create some nice images. Using minimal lighting, he can light various parts of the car in individual frames and merge them all together.

[smurff]

liking that writeup, i do the same sort of thing (not very well though) 1 or two strobe to light an area, mutiple exposers merge them later.

one thing i do like is if you dont want to use an exposer you dont have to, you can alter things more freely in PS.
but if you had a full rig you could not really remove lighting from an area so well later, you would have to get it right on site. if you get what i mean

-smurff

[TrevorD]

We have a superb vehicle photographer right here in New Zealand. Bret Lucas of fstop sudios (http://www.fstopstudios.co.nz/car-enthusiasts/) is the person in question, and he suffers from severe Obsessive–compulsive disorder when it comes to lighting. He came down to the South Island to run a two day lighting workshop for the Nelson Camera Club, and told us about how he once stood at the foot of his stairs for twenty minutes trying to work out why the shadow edge transfer created by his hall light was greater in one direction than the other. SET is controlled by the size of the light source, and Bret eventually sussed that the reason for his annomoly was because the light in his hallway was a strip-light, so effectively larger in one direction than the other.

BTW The sort of vehicle shots you'll see on the fstop-studios site were created using a cyclorama, which is one of those large rooms painted white, and without any sharp corners. bret bounces his strobes of the ceiling, but heavy duty studios use a large silk above the vehicle with the lights above the silk.

http://www.fstopstudios.co.nz/studios/


http://thestudio-phoenix.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/Photography-Rental-Bay-1-cyclorama-Phoenix.jpg

For mere mortals like most of us, there is no point in using softboxes etc for vehicle shots, because they have so many curved surfaces it is impossible to cover the 'family of angles' with anything short of a large silk or full blown cyclorama, which is great news because it means we can fire unmodified strobes straight in. Of course specular highlights will be a problem with any shiney bits using this technique, but that's what Photoshop is for.

---------- Post added at 10:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 PM ----------

Hey, sorry to follow my own post, but while we are talking about Bret Lucas, check out his Paint Burlesque (http://www.fstopstudios.co.nz/animated-video/)video. It blew me away at last year's PSNZ National Convention at North Shore, and I suspect the reason it did not win champion AV is that the subject matter made the judges uncomfortable. The young lady - Hannah Tasker-Polard who is sometimes on the TV - is not actually wearing any clothes. It remains one of the most inspirational images I have ever seen.

[smurff]

thats an awesome studio right there!!

-smurff