Lighting a car outdoors

roxics

roxics

Veteran
Ok I need to shoot a car, possible a few cars outdoors. This is actually going to be a photo shoot so neither the car or lighting need to move.

I've seen those big white silk diffusers that balance on a couple of C stands over the top of things, creating a diffused ceiling. What are those called? What equipment do I need to set them up? I think something like that will be my best bet. Any other suggestions welcome.
 
OK - you've got alot to handle here.

Most (not all) cars are shot in a studio and added into a background in post. Or, large flashes are used and/or diffusion frames (what you asked about). Diffusion frames come in many different stops and many different sizes. Ones used for cars are almost always larger than the car itself so that no hard light hits it AND so you can get all those sexy reflections. In a studio that is not too hard, but on location this is very hard. You need a experienced crew with the right gear. It takes very little wind to blown down a much smaller diffusion frame.
My advice is to shoot it on an overcast day where the clouds will act as your diffusion frame.

Good Luck!
 
Roxics,

You're talking about Fisher Lights which are huge soft boxes filled with tungsten lights basically. There's a video interview here with the guy that owns the Fisher Lights company in a studio (South Bay) where they use them to shoot car commercials. Might be interesting to you to see how they do it:

http://www.2nd-unit.tv/

Go to the Past Episodes and look for Season #1 and episode 10 is the episode talking about Fisher Lights and South Bay Studios.
 
Fisher lights, yes although there are other brands and often many diy set-ups. Adaptation and innovation are important traits in this field (as Cool Lights obviously knows with all he does).
 
Yes and how many people can really afford a setup like that? It's amazing how huge those things are and you can just imagine how much they cost to setup and use. For your part and getting down to what's reasonable, doing all of this outdoors will be the toughest part I would say--as Wilson noted before.
 
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roxics said:
I've seen those big white silk diffusers that balance on a couple of C stands over the top of things, creating a diffused ceiling.
Click to expand...

Those are called silks and you get them from local rental houses they come with frames and C stands. What part of the country are you from?
 
Well - they are called by many different names depending on the thickness. Silk is a common one, 1/4 silk another, grid, light grid, ect. Yes, most rental houses have them, but I would advise using combo stands, which are much beefier than c-stands, and lots of sandbags.
I am from MN.
 
Just wait until the sun passes the horizon at the end of the day. The sky will become a huge softbox. You'll have to work fast, but it really works quite well. Try it and see.
 
Yeah, they are actually rarely used with C-stands if you are flying anything larger than a 4'x4' frame. Common sizes include 8', 12, and 20.' I always feel safest with a high walker, and utilizing its tie-down rings, but I often use mombo combos, or even combos if its an 8'.
 
For shooting cars outdoors a common setup would be a 20'x20' silk, or light grid, a 20x20 frame, 2 high rollers, and at least 16 35lb sandbags and a box of rope. Wilson was right about the having right crew, usually you have at least one man standing by watching the rig the whole time it is up, and if the wind is gusting at all it should probably not be flown in the first place. You should tie down each corner with rope at an angle of about 30 degrees, and use bullpricks (24" tent stakes driven in the ground with a sledge) or additional piles of sandbags roped together if you are on concrete. This will really make your contrast ratio much more workable and get rid of many harsh reflections. Flat scotch tape (as opposed to the more common glossy scotch tape) can come in handy to reduce reflections of door handles and other chrome parts, as well as dulling spray. Keep in mind with the 2 high rollers and the 4 corners roped off it can reduce the angles you can shoot from before getting a rope or stand in your shot.
 
Can anyone give me lend me some advice on lighting the interior of a moving car at night? Im going to be using a car mount and be shooting a couple mediums and close ups with a few lines, but im not really sure how to plan the lighting for this. Thanks very much.
 
People usually use battery powered (or 12v powered where you power off the car lighter) type lighting for this kind of stuff. Either small fluorescents or LEDs of some kind both lend themselves to this. A typical setup is to put a light on the dashboard shining toward the driver and other ones somewhere else for the passenger(s).
 
I use the mini kinoflo kits, powered off of the power outlets in the car. (Cigarette type) You can also tow the car and put tungsten lights on the tow truck and light up the car from the exterior. I have used a power inverter before on the backseat floor to light up full sized kino bulbs on the dash and on the floor in the backseat as well.
 
Vidled's would be great here, or any 12volt lamps. If you are handy you can find larger size 12 volt bulbs (auto stores) and use your car battery. The key is flagging and shaping the light. You want to make it believable so most people make it look like it's coming from the dash. You can also attach lights to the outside of your car, but safety is always key. Pick a well lite road, and perhaps that will help.
Good luck!
 
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