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LIGHTING A LAMBORGHINI (Black on Black)
I will be photographing a BLACK on BLACK Lamborghini in my studio in the next few weeks with a female model. I've photographed cars before and am very experienced in photography as well as theatrical lighting/stage design. Cars and people, I often believe are the hardest things to learn how to photograph well. Cars are not a standard in my work and I am always looking to "solve problems" with lighting and challenging myself. I realize that black on black can have it's negatives, but I see it as a positive where I will be able to control reflection much better. It will be a Black Lamborghini in front of a large black velveteen fabric background/floor. It will of course be cleaned, detailed, and polished. My question for this forum topic is: How best might I light a black on black Lamborghini and what types of studio lighting should I be using (renting)? I have access to about anything which leaves me with a LOT of options. Unfortunately, I don't have a big 10-20 foot light bank to suspend above the car. I really want to use "MY" studio space and overcome the obvious challenges and make the somewhat impossible happen in an unlikely environment. Please--ONLY experienced photographers or individuals with real answers and solutions post here. Please don't offer your "I think..." or "I once heard..." comments unless they are supplementing a logical answer. Thank you, everyone in advance. Jan 28 09 10:59 am Link I have no idea. But if I were doing it, I'd make sure I knew what I was doing. So, you could either get a black model car ( not the cheap ones ) and practice some lighting, or you could find another black car to test lighting on before you roll in the fancy car and model. Oh, and make sure they model doesn't have any metallic parts on her outfit if she's going to lean up against the car. Jan 28 09 11:04 am Link basically from my experience cars are one big reflective surface...so they reflect what you put in them....usually a white cove or cards. I'm not sure why your not shooting on white and dropping the car into black. I"ve seen the real pros create a black outline around a car....painting black on the cove to just cover the edges, which then allows the white areas to "fill" the car surface. Hope this helps a little...Dana Jan 28 09 11:10 am Link Here's a couple links for you: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/sho … hp?t=70290 http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/esearch/ar … 1003828875 http://www.studiolighting.net/lighting-automobiles/ Basically, you need BIG Softboxes. Rim Lighting the car and overhead. KMR Jan 28 09 11:15 am Link Have you looked into a studio that has a Fischer light? Jan 28 09 11:17 am Link For shooting black on black, you'll need to emphasize the edges with highlights to prevent the car from melting into the background. Grid your lights to minimize spill onto the background and increase contrast. Since you don't have a huge softbox to mount over the car, I'd suggest building a large scrim. You can build the frame from PVC piping and use ripstop nylon to shoot through. Mount it above the car and use a two or three strobes on booms. Flag those to minimize spill onto the background. Jan 28 09 11:19 am Link http://www.jamescallaghan.co.uk/ Have a look at Jims work, photographer I assisted some yrs ago. This will give the op an idea. Jan 28 09 11:23 am Link Thank you, everyone. Please feel free to continue. The thought of renting an appropriate space also entered my mind, naturally. I'm a bit inspired by the challenge of all this and overcoming obvious obstacles with creative solutions. It's not a commercial shoot--just an opportunity which was presented to me and I'd like to have a lot of fun with it and turn out something unbelievable. Jan 28 09 11:29 am Link The fact that you cannot use a large overhead lightbank is somewhat limiting. Would you have the possibility to paint the ceiling white? Otherwise, a wide lightbank or softbox at the end of the studio, in back of the car, outside the field of view of the camera would serve to separate the back of the car from the background. (By back of the car I don't necessarily mean the physical back but rather the side of the car opposite from the camera) In addition, large white reflectors or lightbanks on the side(s) of the car will create highlights to separate the black car from the black background. Use an equal or similar approach for the front. The main lighting approach should be to use reflections to separate the car from the background. That, unfortunately, requires large reflective surfaces or large softboxes or lightbanks. You also want to pay special attention to the wheels and tires. With a black car and a black background, the tires can easily get lost. To get separations, I have often used a light hidden on the opposite side of the car from the camera to light the floor underneath to separate the tires and also the bottom of the car from the floor. With light or chrome wheels, use reflectors to light them. Black rims might require a spot to light them properly. Don't forget to turn the headlights and the parking lights as well as the side markers on. It will add to the shot as a whole. Especially headlights will look dead if not on. Finally, you might need additional lighting to separe the interior from the otherwise dark inside of the car. Jan 28 09 11:30 am Link IMO and just IMO Cars are big, models are not big as when they are put up against cars. So either research shots that you can do, or have space between the model and the car. As far as lighting, the best studios I've seen for this have HUGE softboxes and scrims above a seamless wall, just pop light up there and you're golden. I wouldn't really worry about the black on black. Or just do a composite shot if you don't need the model interacting with the car. Jan 28 09 11:33 am Link I forgot to mention, there is an excellent video by Dean Collins where he photographs a black Porsche. (With Porsche now having a controlling interest in VW/Audi, and VW/Audi owning Lamborghini, the cars are even in the same family) Jan 28 09 11:33 am Link Check out this pic if you haven't already seen it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7211625@N06/462135050/ Just two speedlights and radio triggers. You could set up something similar then light the model separately, depending on placement. Check out some of the other images in the "cars" set associated with the above photo, most of them give lighting set ups as well. Jan 28 09 11:34 am Link I'd ask Bruce Talbot or Roger http://eyeofmiya.com ( He has a studio for rent as well in LA)  Good luck!Jan 28 09 11:35 am Link I used 2 Profoto 600R's.....1 60" Softlighter Umbrella w/ Diffuser & 1 Zoom Reflector w/ Grid for light rim lighting Jan 28 09 11:37 am Link Since you don't have a space for it, something I've seen with cars that could look really cool with the Lambo is using a parking deck. At least that way you'd have some light, and then could add some more with what you have. The trouble would be finding one you could use without getting in trouble. Jan 28 09 11:38 am Link I recomend the op hires an experienced freelance car assistant. He may waste his whole day otherwise and still not get a shot. Or spend a week on PS retouching and still not getting a result. Jan 28 09 11:38 am Link Do you want to do a rim light effect with it? Or actually have the car well lit up? rim light, i mean, you know this, get some heads on the midgy-c's and just hard light it from the back. or, superclamp up the ceiling and hang some scrims for the well lit stuff with maybe a spot or something like that on the girl. it depends on what you want to do. Jan 28 09 11:47 am Link You could also go the route of composite. By that I don't necessarily mean to take two totally seperate shoots, but light for the car with model in place, then light for the model with car in place, splice later. That will give you the most realistic approach. Also, it totally depends what you're doing this shoot for. If you're doing it for a client who had a super high gloss finish they are looking for, you'll likely light it all a little differently than if you want to get a little grit out of it. Either way I approach any automotive photograph just like I would a portrait. Make it unique with your own lighting touch. The techniques all listed here should point you in the right direction! E Jan 28 09 11:54 am Link Wow! Thank you, everyone for the great advice. I get so frustrated with the goofballs on MM who ruin it for everyone else so often in other forum topics. I wasn't expecting so much good information. Please continue if you so desire. As I mentioned before, this is a fun opportunity that has been presented to me (vs a commercial client), so I have 100% creative liberties and the time to plan it. There is no deadline or date this has to be done either. I definitely want to learn from it as well as enjoy the creative process and passion I have for it. (forgive me for sounding cheesy). If possible, I'd rather spend the investment on lighting, scrims, etc. properly than renting a huge facility. At the same time a properly constructed/lightbank existing studio might be the way to go. I want to see if I can do it in my space. And regarding my space--I have about 900-1000 sq ft with an 11 foot ceiling to do this in. The ceiling is actually currenty white, but I was thinking of masking it with black and manipulating the light (and suggestions many of you have given). Naturally, I want amazing results and as one person said, approach it like a portrait and make it unique to my own style. I am solid with Photoshop, but would prefer to spend as little time necessary in Photoshop and get the photo correct the first time. In other words use Photoshop as a "tool" to "enhance" the image vs completely overhauling the image (as so many inexperienced photographers typically think they need to do). Jan 28 09 12:17 pm Link SOUTH BAY STUDIOS go rent a stage there.. they have fischer banks and can fly large 20 x 30 flats with thier hydraulic ceiling system. Shooting cars is A bitch to get right on one sheet of film. If its a shot thats supposed to emphasize the car your gonna have to think about a composite as your final shot. Most good car shots are composites where the camera is locked down and the lights and big reflectors are moved around to light each plane of the car surface and the detail individually A typical car shoot can commonly involve 1 light the top metal surfaces ( hood and trunk) 2. light the windows 3 light the side of the car facing tht camera 4. light the front side of the car facing the camera 5. highlight the grill 6 light the wheels 7. composite all of it together In your case step 7 might be shoot the model and step 8 might be composite it all together. Anyway south bay studios has everything you need to do the job right they are the premier car shooters stages here in LA give them a ring Jan 28 09 12:28 pm Link try to get some reflections on teh edges of the car bringing out teh cars shape against the black background, get a HUGHE white board or material for top reflection Jan 28 09 12:40 pm Link 'And regarding my space--I have about 900-1000 sq ft with an 11 foot ceiling to do this in. The ceiling is actually currenty white'. Just bounce the lights of the ceiling and a few cans of dulling spray. Profiles are the easiest to do. Jan 28 09 12:42 pm Link I'm not very fond of cars lit with large soft boxes, I like a hotter light with a gradient fall off. When ever I'm called on to shoot a car, I use at least one 20 foot fly with double silks for a canted overhead source, and a 12 foot fly with a single silk for the main. I use Profoto strobes. Jan 28 09 12:49 pm Link I love Bob..well not literally but he know what it takes to do a car shot. Edit; also needed an assistant that is built like a gorilla. Jan 28 09 12:53 pm Link I would consider shooting the car like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtMQtAz2 … re=related then shoot one with the model on the car, but lighting her perfectly. I think that to get both without a full overhead 10x20 bank doing a merge of the exposures might give you the best result. It also gives you some awesome car pics as well. Jan 28 09 12:55 pm Link If your married to using your own stage i suggest you start by painting it all black. Your shooting a black car which is gonna act like a mirror so youll need to basically put it in a black box to control all the errant reflections. Black out everything. Stay away from using small light sources. if you can build some wall flats and bounce lights off the flats to create your main lights. If your intention is to make the car look as good as the model your gonna have a hard time lighting it in your studio. 11 ft cieling = 5-6 feet between the top of the car and the roof of the studio.. really not enough space to get your lights where you need them to make the reflections look good. Jan 28 09 01:00 pm Link Dean Collins has some amazing videos on this. You should check them out. He shot a black Porsche with water underneath it. The only hint I can give you is that when lighting a reflective surface, you don't light the surface, but what the surface "sees" incident angles. Pretty easy to find this out, use a lazer pointer. Another tip is using hair spray to act like false highlights on windshield wipers and tires. http://www.amazon.com/Dean-Collins-Ligh … 090&sr=8-2 -Phen Jan 28 09 01:04 pm Link Even if you decide to use your own space. I highly recommend you go look at south bay studios. They really are the best place in the country to shoot cars .. they have everything a car shooter needs.. big stages completely blacked out.. Monstrously huge light sources of many different types. And all the car prep facilities right on hand. You should consider touring there spaces before you make your decision where to shoot. Jan 28 09 01:08 pm Link I've wanted to try car photography, but alas, my studio is on the second floor. Sorry if I'm the first goofball to chime in, but before I would decide on the lighting strategy I would inform the owner that I must have an opportunity to drive the vehicle first, just so I could really get to know the soul of the vehicle. Kind of like a pre-consultation for a portrait client. Jan 28 09 01:08 pm Link Wow, what a great thread full of information! I've learned a lot today just reading. Thank you to all the thread contributors. Jan 28 09 02:19 pm Link Matt Knowles wrote: Matt--I LOVE YOUR IDEA THE BEST! Absolutely the pre-requisite for the perfect auto photoshoot! Jan 28 09 02:43 pm Link Matt Knowles wrote: build a ramp and jump the car. Jan 28 09 03:24 pm Link Car photography has more what I'd call tricks in it than any other form of photography. Jan 28 09 03:29 pm Link c_h_r_i_s wrote: Its late and I feel like a good argument. I've shot cars, and I've shot tractor rigs such as Peterbilt and Kenworth. I've shot jewelry, and clothing and appliances... matter of fact, I can't think of too much I haven't shot. But until you've shot dental implants for Sulzer Calcitek, while being art directed by a woman from India, and the 3/4 inch implant will be enlarged to 20 feet on a trade booth wall, and they want every facet and crystalline coating nuance to pop, you haven't shot shit! Jan 28 09 03:56 pm Link light paint it. It's really going to have to be burned in. Maybe hit the model with the strobe then light paint with a mag light or halogen flood. Jan 28 09 04:06 pm Link ARabbit wrote: EXCELLENT IDEA! I've actually been planning to do something similar (not cars) for a while in regards to the same technique. I can't believe I didn't think of that. Thanks! Jan 28 09 04:09 pm Link Here's what Patrick Rochon would do: [html]http://patrickrochon.com/works/images/PATRICK_ROCHON_works_13.jpg[/html] It's not black. I mentioned that you're going to have to hit the black hard. This photo is untouched from film. Jan 28 09 04:19 pm Link Sorry. Try this:  Jan 28 09 04:21 pm Link You're welcome. It's all experimental so you might not want to thank me yet.  Jan 28 09 04:25 pm Link ARabbit wrote: WOW! One of my accounts/clients in my day job (the one that pays for a lot of overhead and provides benefits--yeah--that one!) is Mattel/Hot Wheels. I've never seen artwork from Mattel as great as that! Thank you for forwarding. Amazing work! Jan 28 09 04:26 pm Link |
