A little lighting help

[Darkenergy]

So I was practicing some night shots of my car the other night and I can't seem to ignore the fact that their is always some very harsh light in the picture. i.e. (circled in red):




Does anyone have any tips and hints on how to minimize them other than moving the camera to a different angle?

[Go4Long]

the car guys might have some more input for you, but personally, when dealing with night shots, a bright light is always going to be a distraction no matter what you do, and you're better off to just try to compose your shots in such a way as to not include them.

[AccentAE86]

As it sits right now, your background exposure is really high compared to your car. If you drop your exposure down, it will compete less with your car, and it will also reduce the intensity of those really bright lights to the point where they may not be as much of a distraction. Then you use flash to bring up the exposure of your car. For shooting a still car, I typically have about 5 lights set up. But if you are using a long exposure, you can fake it by having one light and you run around the car popping the flash numerous times while the shutter is open to simulate a multi light setup. If your shutter is open for about 30 seconds and your run fast enough you probably won't even see yourself in the photo, unless you flash yourself.

[dragonone]

here's the revscene automotive photography thread. i think the technique is called light painting.

[pea_soup]

Or if the car is going to be stationary. Tripod. Bracket 5, 7 or 9 different shots at 1F stop a piece. Merge all shots into 1 shot. It will eliminate any crazy highlights and will allow you to tone down the blacks as much as you want without having insane amounts of noise.

[Go4Long]

and then crank all the sliders up...to ELEVENNNNNN!!!!11!!1!!!1!

[Darkenergy]

To merge the pictures I would require photoshop correct?? I just do not have the funds right now to spend a few hundred bucks on a program right now. Would there be a cheaper alternative to merge photos?

[ZeroGravity]

Originally posted by Darkenergy
To merge the pictures I would require photoshop correct?? I just do not have the funds right now to spend a few hundred bucks on a program right now. Would there be a cheaper alternative to merge photos?

To a certain extent, Adobe Photoshop Elements 9 and after should be able to do it.

[Go4Long]

or photomatix...

[pea_soup]

Photomatrix is one of the very best, at least in my opinion. Great value for such a program.

Photoshop also has free 30 day trials.