A night at the museum- Photographing in museums and indoor car shows.

 Many of the rarest and most exotic cars are displayed indoors at museums and indoor car shows. As a photographer, the challenge of shooting indoors is complicated by a number of things. Often access is limited with most cars roped off. Vehicles are often displayed very close to each other making a full view difficult. Much like an outdoor show, other people can be difficult to shoot around, and finally lighting can be a mix of several types of artificial light sources. Lighting can also be uneven if it is a temporary show. Good lighting for a convention or rodeo is often very poor for an automobile.
Here are a few simple tips to help you bring back good images.

• If possible, I like to go on a slow day, typically mid-week and as early as possible. Like " A night in the Museum, I once was able to get a curator of a collection to lock me in for a few hours to shoot a private collection in exchange for a couple of prints.
• Before you get wrapped up in the cars, step back and assess the light sources and quality.
• Take time to try several test shots at various white balance settings and with and without flash.
• Once you are comfortable with the white balance and color, bracket your exposures so you have a range of detail through shadow and highlights to work with later.
• If a full image of the car is not possible, look for a dramatic detail and angle to shoot such as the Lamborghini in the lead photo. This allowed me to shoot under the ropes and not include the crowd of visitors.  A Lamborghini always draws a crowd.
• Be patient and allow for people to move on, or go to another subject and return later.
• Get a range of full view, details and high and low angles.
• Have fun, remember you're there because you love cars and photography. If it's not a paid assignment, relax and enjoy the venue.
• Finally, when you download your files, use the multiple exposures to find the best shot to work from. You can employ a number of techniques and HDR within your editing software to fine tune the images to suit your vision.

I hope these tips will make your next indoor shoot more enjoyable and successful.
Michael.
  See other images at: www.stillslife.net  or Stillslife on Facebook.

Cruising the hood

Attending a car show can be an overload of makes , models, beautiful paint , wheels and engines. It's pretty easy when you get home and down load your photos you have a lot of front 3/4 views from about 10 feet back. To me it's often the smaller details that tells the story of the vehicle more than the overview . Car people are all about the details.

One of my favorite details are the hood ornaments that are the symbol and often the history of the brand.   

When you see an interesting hood ornament, resist the urge to take a quick picture. I like to walk around the car to  find a simple uncluttered background to isolate the ornament. Sometimes this is best accomplished by shooting upward to use the sky as a background as shown with the purple  Pontiac.

The lead photo of a 1932 Pontiac emblem was parked next to a black car giving me a perfect black background.

The Jaguar is a busier background, but I felt having the curve of the fender echoed the curve of the cat and tells you it is a Jaguar show.

 It's good to look at the reflections in the hood. You don't want to see yourself and your camera staring back at you. Often if it's a nice sky with clouds as shown in the Plymouth Mayflower, it adds interest to the photograph.

Another approach I take is to shoot a range of exposures. This allows me to use these later in Light Room to pick the best overall shot to work with. Not every shot will work, but the main idea is to experiment and see what works for you.

Hood ornaments are a great conversation starter with the owner of the car. This is when you will really enjoy the show by connecting with the car owners and hearing the story of their car. That's often when you really get to know the story the hood ornament tells.

Check out other hood ornaments on my web site www.stillslife.net  or StillsLife on Facebook.

Regards

Michael 

 

                                                                                                                                                                            

Cruising the hood.