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Posted
Beautiful builds, beautiful pics - they almost look retouched. Is the light box entirely black to get that gorgeous floating look?

The sweep used is black. One large diffused light source above the car with white scrims (reflectors) used to fill in the shadows on both sides.

Posted

Well, I can't just pick one.

The bug, being an odd ball, has that Cool look to it..

Of course, there is the 58 Impala.

OO and the Roadster.

The Beamer..

heck, they all look great..

Posted

DJ,

How about doing a thread on photographing models? MCM had a good article a couple months back that you could expand on for us.

Thanks,

Gary

Posted
DJ,

How about doing a thread on photographing models? MCM had a good article a couple months back that you could expand on for us.

Thanks,

Gary

I built a partial box out of 1" PVC. It is a square at the top with 4 legs that extend down. I can clip or tape the sweep to the back cross bar and I can clip the lights to any of the two side top bars or the top bar along the front.

I purchased several of the metal light holder reflectors from the hardware store. I also purchased CFL's that have high lumen values (no longer a problem with todays ditgital cameras). That is the measure of light output and it is printed on the label. Get the highest lumen value you can find. Place the bulb in the reflector then find some sort of material to cover the front of the reflector that will hide the bulb and diffuse the light. Try to make it as white as possible to not color the light any more than need be. I just used paper towels.

You then need to construct some reflectors that you can bounce light into the areas that are in shadow. I used some scrap foam core board (white), cut som shapes about twice the size of a model then taped on the back some angles cut to help it stand up. Bring those in just outside of the view of the lense and look at the car to make sure you are filling in the shadows. Since it is reflected light you will achieve a very nice gradiation of the light down the sides of the car.

One thing I did wrong on these is I did not have enough room to move the camera back. The further back you are the more depth of field you get. That in addition to useing smaller F Stops.

Set the camera up on a tripod and use the self timer to shoot and avoid camera shake.

Also preset your white balance for the light source. Then no matter what color of car you shoot the color will be correct.

Last set the shutter speed and f stop for the light position and don't mess with it unless you move the lights.

It is best if you have a photo program to remove the dust you can't get off because even though the light source is larger that the car it is still small compared to they typical dust speck and that amplifies the dust. It is called specularity. If you can get a medium sized soft box then dust becomes less of an issue.

Hope this helps.

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