Assignment 2: Location Lighting Car (in class demo)
I really enjoyed working with the professionals for this in class demo because I got to have a better understanding of how to work with strobes. I have had som experience, but I still learned a lot from working with Roger, Steve, and Erick. I loved experimenting with each different technique that each professional used. They all have their distinct styles and I had a great time finding which one was my favorite.
The photo on the left was Rodger and I working with strobes. I focused my camera on the front wheel and we played around with the setting of each of the lights until we felt like it looked good. I edited this in post production by retouching the car so there wasn’t as many unwanted reflections.
The photo on the right has no strobe lights, I was playing with the natural light and planned to make it look cool in post production. I masked out the wheel and played with the color balance and also touched up the car to get rid of unwanted reflections.
Below are behind the scenes photos. The circles are where the lights are located, and the CMU instagram page posted me and roger working together!
This was after the sun had set and I was moving around the lights with Roger. I was mostly working with him because he had all the Nikon gear so it paired well with my camera. We had a great time moving things around until I felt that it was just right. We struggled with the wheel a little bit because there was one part of it that was always brighter than the rest. Overall these photos were my favorite to take.
I did some retouching in post production to get rid of blown out highlights and distracting things in the background.
Here is a diagram of the lighting set up, and a photo of Cris’s set up because we had similar shots. I did not use the umbrellas though.
Assignment 2: Location Lighting Car (outside of class)
Cristin and I went to the Soaring Eagle parking garage late at night to get a cool edgy vibe from all the concrete around the car. We had some mishaps with batteries because the checkout people did not give me any, so we had to speed to Walmart 10 minutes before closing to get some batteries. I really enjoyed playing with all the different lighting set ups and experimenting with which lighting makes it the most dramatic. Overall I LOVED this assignment, and I would definitely use this kind of lighting in the future, not just with cars.
This first image has three lights lighting the car. One on the front, side, and in the back. I chose this angle because it shows the entirety of the car, while also giving it a sports car kind of look. I edited it in post production by making the lights cooler, and retouching the car because bugs were splattered all over it. I did not have time to professionally clean the car, but it was wiped down.
SETTINGS: f4.5, 1/125, ISO 400
A: 1/16 at 50 mm
B: 1/8 at 50 mm, with umbrella
C: 1/64 at 50 mm
I had Cristin hold light C because we did not have enough light stands, and I also used some ambient light from the parking garage lights overhead.
I really like taking photos of the wheels of cars, and since mine had some dirt on them because it’s an old car, it gives it a rustic and hardcore look. I used one light for this, because I wanted to get lots of drama and contrast. I played with some different angles of the light, but I ended up choosing this one (shown below) because it really captured the feeling I was going for. I did some editing in post production with lighting and color correction, and I retouched the spots where bugs were splattered.
SETTINGS: f4.5, 1/125, ISO 400
A: 1/16 at 50 mm, with umbrella
