Shooting Automobiles

[Mark Suszko]

In the “anyone else” category, the nominee is…me?

I was thinking about the same as what you illustrate in the photo, but I wonder if you’ll need a polarizer to moderate reflections on the windows. Across the bodywork, yes, you want the big white source. Across the windows, I’m not so sure… also, the model in your illustration is heavily tinted in the glass.

Might want to put a little light under the body or bounce it off the floor from low behind, to get a scatter along the ground.

Do you have a hazer or fogger? Those windows could turn real pretty with some haze, at the right time of day.

[Todd Terry]

Mark I never think of you as “anyone else”…

Dunno about the polarizer… sometimes you don’t see TOO many window reflections in high-end auto photography, but sometimes you do… sometimes you’ll see huge washes of white reflections… so, I dunno.

The model in the illustration was just an image ripped from the net to have a car to stick in the 3D model… it’s not representative of anything real.

Yeah we have two hazers and a fog machine and I agree that would be potentially cool… but this is a huuuuge room (no idea of the cubic feet, but it’s way up there). Also while that classic sun-streaming-through-the-Grand-Central-windows shot would be awesome… we can’t pick a “right time of day” or magic hour to shoot… we have eight spots to shoot and a bazillion setups so we are going to be shooting constantly for three days, whatever we do has to look good ALL the time.

Interesting idea to scatter light under the body, hadn’t thought of that.

T2

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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Bill Davis]

Todd.

You’re definitely on the right track.

Ideally, you need soft sources that are larger than the object being lit.

The “full tilt” solution is to fly a lighted softbox over the car that’s larger than the car itself. I know that often impractical, but they do make rigs specifically to do this. (google “car softbox” to see examples)

The result of that approach is smooth wide highlights that caress the cars curves and help define the shape.

As you know, the key with anything reflective is that you’re not really lighting the surface, you’re managing the reflections of the instruments on the reflective surfaces of the subject – so the broader and more consistent those light emitters, the fewer hot spots and glints you’ll be fighting. So bring lots of stands and cross poles and bolts of “duv” so you can mask stuff that the camera angle is reflecting off the car body that you don’t want to see.

Good space. Have fun with this!

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[Rick Wise]

Todd, just saw your post. I’ve shot a few cars for glamor. The first rule to remember is every car is a giant curved mirror. So you are right about having very, very large lighting surfaces. You are trying to get smooth highlights that slide along the curves. There are special lights made just for this purpose, but clearly not available to you.

I think I’d fly the biggest white/bleached muslin I could find just above the top of the camera frame at its widest. Then given the height of that room I’d find a lighting unit I can fly way above the muslin to given even, spotless illumination of the muslin.

An alternative, possibly: rent some “chicken coops” (cheap); bottom them with 1/2 grid cloth, and line them up over the car per the above. Someone might have to make a trip to your now distant supplier….

Then I’d probably add another giant white surface (possibly a series of 4×12 foamcores) to put a reflection into the side panels. Or, possibly, light up the wood those panels “see.”

You may have to take down and restring those christmas lights as they are likely to show up as white dots all over the sheet metal. Otherwise, the wooden structure itself should prove helpful.

If the windows are far enough in the background, they will just be blown out highlights that probably will look cool on your C300.

From the angle in the location photo, make sure all clients and gear are to the left where they can’t show up as tiny reflections later. So many tears….

Do take pictures and let us know how it all works! Knowing you, the results will be fabulous.

Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com

[Todd Terry]

Thanks Bill…

Yeah it’s a fun space. Challenging, but fun.

I can’t fly a big actual softbox (nor do I have one), but I can easily fly a 10×10 or bigger (maybe two lashed together) over the car (pretty easy to rig in there)… and was thinking a couple of other 10x10s on the ground in other places for reflection sources… either backlit silks, or front-lit white solid grifs. I probably can’t do much more than that… my available inventory of really big frames and solids will run out by then, and I have to use what I have.

It will definitely take some experimenting… unfortunately I will only have about a half day to set up and tweak before we have to pull trigger… then shooting constantly for the next two and a half days.

T2

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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Rick Wise]

Fabric? Like a large long bolt of white muslin pulled tight at each end? Two frames together will probably show the frame lines. It is possible that you won’t see those lines in reflection, but it is also possible you will…. A half day will be tight, jammed….

Possibly a bolt of mus plus two-4 frames…. The overhead needs to be larger than the car by quite a bit, as well as any side reflections. The higher up it is, the larger it needs to be.

Rick Wise
Cinematographer
San Francisco Bay Area
https://www.RickWiseDP.com

[Todd Terry]

Thanks Rick…

Yeah good idea, I think I’ll just run get some extra full sheets of foamcore to keep as extra sources and use them as needed… as I think my real frames/solids will be exhausted pretty quickly in the setup. As for insturments all all the other assorted gak I have to use what I have… no time nor budget for the trek to Nashville to get anything else. Darn them, they just moved.

Yes as I mentioned in my first post, Job 1 will be striking those Chrismas lights. They would actually look good as practicals if this was a night shoot, but in the daylight they just look awful and are in the way to boot.

I was thinking blown-own windows too… I know you’ve shot C300 as well, so glad to hear you think that will work. My sample shot above is a still from the C300, but with only available light of course.

By the way, the opposite view is gigantic solid glass doors (big enough to drive a train through, x3)…

That’s actually a pretty cool view, but I’ve thinking it might just be TOO much glass… I mean, there’s blown out, and then there’s BLOWN OUT.

I’m not sure what my camera blocking will be, just haven’t decided yet…

T2

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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Mark Suszko]

Can you wet the floor down between takes?

[Todd Terry]

While that would be über-cool, I seriously doubt they would let us… nor would it be wildly safe/practical.

Parts of the floor are fairly slick/polished concrete and would likely be fairly reflective on their own. The other sections are where the train tracks used to be but have been removed and filled in… that concrete finish is not as smooth/reflective.

Great thinking, but I believe in this case a fire hose or water truck is best left for exteriors…ha.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Mark Suszko]

Well I had been thinking more along the lines of a bucket and mop/ squeegee broom, but whatever:-)