Studio car photography has been growing at a fast pace in recent years. Mainly for commercial purposes as well as the increase of car and vehicle manufacturers, there has been a huge demand for car studio photography. Many big companies have their own setup for car studios for still photography and making commercial videos of new models of vehicles.
However, many other companies use rental services for Studio car photography as they don’t want to invest in their own studio facility. In this article, we will discuss the car photography studio setup basic elements with other related things.
Studio car photography
Studio car photography differs from outdoor photography in many ways. Outdoor car photography deals with the subject in the natural environment whereas Studio car photography is more of an artificial setup with more control of the background environment, lighting, and reflections. Hence it has got much more advantages than the cost of investment.
The main feature of a car studio is the freedom of using controlled lighting. For car studio photography, entry of outside natural lights is restricted and different sets of flash and continuous lights are utilized for the illumination of the space as well as the subject car or vehicle for the perfect composition.
Reflectors are used to project soft light onto the subject car and to fill shadows properly so that shape and curve lines are visualized for taking perfect snapshots of the vehicle. We will describe the basic elements of studio car photography in the following part of this article.
10 Things to consider for car photography in Studio
Car photography in studio is a somewhat difficult task as you need to have plenty of space with the required decorations and accessories. Below are things that need to be considered before the setup of car studio photography.
- Size of the studio
- Entry and exit of vehicles
- Cleaning facility close to the studio
- Placement of car(Fixed base or rotating base)
- Enormous lighting arrangement
- Top and side background panels
- Reflectors arrangement
- Comfort environment for photographers
- Post-production tools
- Sufficient manpower for assistance.
Keeping these 10 things in mind, we would like to give elaborative details of all the basic elements and focus on how to build a car photography studio.
Basic Elements for studio photography(how to build a car photography studio)
Shape and size of the Studio
Shape and size matter for studio car photography as you need to place the vehicle inside and put a lot of reflector panels and lightings around the vehicle. The studio should have sufficient entry and exit routes for the movement of the vehicle without disturbing the surrounding setup. Moreover, you need more space for placing a tripod and other accessories for indoor shootings.
For commercial studios, a prefabricated building structure is recommended for the placement of movable top ceiling panels or reflectors. Hence you need at least 10×15 meters for the core studio and some more overall area for operations. Many studios invest in rotating platforms for the car for the convenience of 360-degree photo shooting.
You can choose your own garage or some motor vehicle workshop to build a car studio on a budget. We will discuss how to build a studio at a low budget in later sections.
Lighting arrangements and setup(car photography studio lighting)
Car studio lighting is the most important issue for studio car photography as it can be controlled manually as wished by the photographer. No outside light is required for indoor car photography. Many artistic snapshots can be taken with a variance of indoor car photography lighting for the focus subjects. Lighting and reflections are the playing tools for a studio photographer to make spectacular visualization of the car.
You can watch the Youtube video from Carl Taylor to get a glimpse.
Studio lighting is of two categories
- Strobe lighting(flash):
Generally, these lightings are synced with the shutter speed of the camera to project lights when required. These can be Battery or electric-powered lights and are available from renowned lighting manufacturers. Battery-powered lights can be portable but are more expensive. Broncolor, Bowen, and Elinchrom are famous brands for strobe lighting.
- Continuous lighting
These can be put on or off manually as desired by the photographer. These are used to illuminate a specific part of the vehicle to highlight it or to remove shadows from the subject. Tungsten lighting is a cheaper solution for continuous lighting. Softboxes, Lamp reflectors, and angle reflectors are very common studio lighting for car photography. Now-a- days LED lights are popular for continuous lighting for low power consumption and less heating.
Reflectors Setup for studio car photography
Reflectors are another important things that you will need for any indoor studio photography. You need to set up many reflectors in the studio for car photography as the car is quite a large subject. Reflectors soften the light and illuminate the subject such that it looks beautiful in snapshots.
Softboxes in many sizes are used in the studio. They have a white or silver glazed surface for the reflection of lights on the subjects. Umbrellas are round shaped made of soft material with a white or silver color surface for reflection of light.
Lamp reflectors and angle reflectors are also very commonly used in the studio with metallic surfaces for reflection.
Portable reflectors both made of soft and hard materials are very widely used in the studio. They can be handheld or fixed with clamps attached to the movable stands. These are widely used for portrait photography and can be used meticulously for car photography to lighten any part for taking stunning images.
Rear and side panels setup
White color drywall panels are extensively used for car photography studios for background objects which also purposefully serve as light reflectors to illuminate the car. Many professional photographers use huge movable white color top panels with linear and tilting movement to use indirect light for car photography.
As the car is a shiny object, it is recommended to use reflected soft light rather than direct light to avoid reflections from the subject. you can try polarizers with your lenses if you get such reflections.
Tripod and accessories
You need to have at least one functional tripod for taking pictures in the car studio. Handheld photography is not recommended for studio car photography. So you need to use the tripod or gimbal as much as possible. A tripod or gimbal is one of the best camera accessories that is a compulsory requirement for any kind of photography whether indoor or outdoor.
Other accessories are lenses and polarisers for taking crispy images.
Platform ladders may be used for taking snapshots from higher angles.
Camera setup (best settings for car photography)
It is not necessarily a higher-end camera that is required for a photo shoot in studio car photography. So a mid-level DSLR or mirrorless is sufficient to produce clear and crispy images if the lighting and other setup remain in acceptable conditions. However, a camera with built-in stabilization can give sharp images for studio photography. You need to sync your camera with the strobe or flash lighting before you start the photoshoot.
You can take pictures from low angles from front and side views. Also, you can shoot at 45-degree angle views from different corners of the car. 360-degree photo shooting is very popular for commercial purposes.
For shooting any interior part like the steering wheel, the seat, or the dashboard, you need to make sure the lighting level is sufficient to see inside details and you need to adjust the camera settings accordingly to extract clear and shiny images.
Post-production works
As a car photographer, you need to be skilled in post-production work on the computer. So, when you finish your shootings, take your images on your computer or laptop. Now open your images in lightroom or photoshop for necessary editing works.
There are many features in the software to make the images brighter and more beautiful. If you can master the technique, you can produce eye-catching and attractive images like a professional car photographer.
How to set up a studio on a budget
It is not possible for a beginner or mid-level photographer to invest in setting up a commercial studio for car photography. Even many companies don’t want it either. So people ask about low-budget studios for car photography. Here are some tips
- You can use your garage or workshop for temporary shootings.
- Put white color side and rear dry walls
- Arrange one or more lighting with reflectors
- Use some LED continuous lighting.
- Use your camera and tripod.
- Arrange someone for assistance.
- Do some light painting and car photography.
- Give time for post-production with lightroom or photoshop
Frequently Asked Questions:
How do you make a simple photography studio?
You need the following equipment to make a simple photography studio
- Your garage or similar space.
- Your camera, lens, and accessories
- A Flash and continuous lighting
- A softbox reflector or more if available
- A tripod and ladder
- A computer with photoshop
How do professionals edit car photos?
Most professional photographers use lightroom or photoshop for editing their captured photos. Many photographers take photos n RAW mode and edit them in lightroom for final versions.
There are many features in lightroom to edit shadows and make the images sharp. Also, there are many filtering effects that can make eye-catching images.
How do you photograph a car in a studio?
First of all, You need to ensure enough lighting for car photography in the studio. You need to use flash lighting and some continuous lighting. Use some softbox reflectors with stands. The studio needs preferably be white background with a white side panel.
You need to use a tripod for taking photos. You can take pictures from low angles from front and side views. 360-degree photo shooting is very popular for commercial purposes.
For shooting any interior part like the steering wheel, the seat, or the dashboard, you need to make sure the lighting level is sufficient to see inside details.
How do I build a cheap photography studio?
Below are some tips-
- You can use your garage for temporary shootings.
- Arrange white color side and rear dry walls
- Arrange one or more lighting with reflectors
- Use some LED continuous lighting if possible
- Use your camera, lens, and tripod.
- Arrange someone for assistance.
- Do some light painting and car photography.
- Do post-production with photoshop
Conclusion
Car photography studio setup is a challenging task but not very hard to execute. One needs to pay attention to providing adequate lighting for illuminating the subject for snapshots. There is a big role for the reflectors in the studio for bouncing and softening the light to the subject.
Although a commercial studio is very expensive to buildup, one can find a suitable free location and convert it into an effective studio by arranging necessary lighting and reflectors. Also one needs to learn photo editing work through software for the final touchup of images.
If you have any queries, just leave a message below.
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