[MDRracing13]

Hey guys, I'm looking for some photography / editing tips for my pictures. I'm a photographer at a used car dealership, mainly BMWs. We have a photobooth inside our dealership. We used to just use the overhead lighting, but on Monday by boss decides to surprise me with a new Nikon D700, with wireless flashes set up in all 4 corners of the booth .
The problem is.. the reflection of the flashes / ceiling ruins some of the pics. I tried positioning the cars in different spots to get the flash out of the reflection, but honestly that is way too time consuming. Is there a way I can re-position the flashes or something of that nature?

Here are some pics that I took with this setup. The hanging flashes/strobes are not there anymore. They were not needed. The X5 came out pretty decent, but look at the 7 series and the g37, the reflections are ruining the pics

[Teshi]

1st things first, eliminate as many reflections as possible.

Get yourself a circular polariser and a tripod. Take multiple shots of the car with the filter in different positions. If you find that it doesnt help eliminate every reflection, look at where each flash is placed. Ideally you want them in the corners facing up. The 7 looks better than the X5. The exposure seems a lot better.

The rest of it is just going to be dodging and burning in Photoshop.

[Jhayd11]

Other than buying a Chimera light diffuser that would be the size of the car, I would start with avoiding all direct light. The diffusers are not spreading the light around enough to hide them.

If you are creative, you might be able to cheaply replicate some tricks from here.

[MDRracing13]

Awesome, thanks guys!

[Diver]

Try bouncing the flashes off the walls.

[MDRracing13]

I have a black X3 waiting for me in my booth for tomorrow. I'll try it out! I can't aim it at the ceiling because the mount does not go low enough. So I'll try the walls. I'll let you guys know how I make out. Thanks again.

[MaximusJ]

Cool job!

[Caspita]

I would tell you to try losing the softboxes for the flashes and just shooting bare bulbed.

[MDRracing13]

Thanks Maximusj.. its awesome to have this setup as an every day use! I've taken a couple nice pics of my 335 in my booth, but I just bought it so it's stock for now. Once I pay off my credit cards, it's time to start modding the thing!
Caspita, I feel like bare bulb would still show a decent amount of reflections. I'm definitely going to try to reflect the flash off of the wall/ceiling tomorrow to see if that helps. I hope that if they're faced at the ceiling, it will take away some of the reflections of the ceiling lights, even tho they aren't lit. I'll keep you guys updated!

[UdubBadger]

how'd you get that job? Fuck I'd love to get paid for some quick work like that.

[BillLee]

try the bare bulb. i never used softboxes when shooting cars.

Originally Posted by UdubBadger

how'd you get that job? Fuck I'd love to get paid for some quick work like that.

+1!

[MDRracing13]

I tried turning the flashes to face the wall today. There was not enough light and it was not worth it. I'll definitely try to take the soft boxes off when I go back on Monday

I'm VERY lucky to have this job! It's exactly what I want to do, and I love going to work every day. My friend/neighbor works there and asked me if I wanted the job one day, after begging him for a year! I was in the dealership the next day applying. And they legit just asked my name and if I had experience.. I said yes, they handed me a camera and I started that second. I'm also the advertising administrator. I run the websites (auto trader, cars.com, and our website), and also a salesman when needed. I'll eventually own the place haha

[UdubBadger]

you need to also consider the placement of lights relative to where you are standing and the angles on the car. If you have the modeling lamps on thats the best indication on how/where they will show up in the shots.

Either that or get really good at your healing tool in photoshop

[boymonkey]

If you're bouncing the flash off the walls/ceiling, you'll need to adjust their power if you're not getting enough brightness. Try it with and without softboxes to test the brightness and spill. You could also try using the softboxes without the front panel to allow more light and reduce spill.

[Caspita]

Originally Posted by MDRracing13

Caspita, I feel like bare bulb would still show a decent amount of reflections. I'm definitely going to try to reflect the flash off of the wall/ceiling tomorrow to see if that helps. I hope that if they're faced at the ceiling, it will take away some of the reflections of the ceiling lights, even tho they aren't lit. I'll keep you guys updated!

Originally Posted by MDRracing13

I'll definitely try to take the soft boxes off when I go back on Monday

Although logically it may seem like there would be a decent amount of reflections, it doesn't come close to using any form of modifiers. I've been shooting cars from quite some time now, and the only time you could really get away with modifiers is when the color is matte, when you're shooting interiors, or when you're light painting.