autofocus Loc: North Central Connecticut

they probably will have sufficient light, and probably constant power, and not flash/strobes, and that's good. And being the case, a fast lens will not be needed, but take the 35 with you. Bump your ISO up some, and you'll probably be living around f/5.6 - f/8. And as mentioned above, NO direct flash to be used, the end result will look like crap with blown out hot spots.

autofocus Loc: North Central Connecticut

a few examples of what you can get with the light that's "given to you"...shots from Hershey Auto Museum with lighting that is probably worse than what you will get, both shot RAW at 800 ISO, hand held, and no flash:
A Nice Thirty Two Studebaker... by Vince Montalbano (autofocus), on Flickr

1948 Tucker by Vince Montalbano (autofocus), on Flickr

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

I think you are right Vince. The light will be the showroom lighting, which will be plentiful. I've been shooting a lot lately with a floating/auto ISO. That way I can control DOF and shutter speed, and let the ISO go as low as possible. But that should not be a problem here I'm thinking like you and Robert, f8 or a little less. CPL to stop reflections....I have a strobe, but will probably not use it... And if I do need to light up some shadows, the on camera flash is sometimes good for that. This is a first for me....I have shot a wedding or two, I did a catalog for a ceramic company one time, but this is different. Don't want to mess it up.

Thinking of carrying two cameras, one over each shoulder. One with the 35mm and one with the 18-140mm, which I will probably use most, since I won't need a fast lens most of the time.

Looked at your shots. Very good work.

autofocus Loc: North Central Connecticut

thanks Frank, remember, you will probably lose a stop or so with the CPL, and if you are lucky enough to have a white ceiling or wall don't hesitate to use your speedlight bounced to help with some even fill. No question that these can be tricky lighting scenarios, but thank goodness we can make adjustments on the fly viewing, and using the histogram. Auto ISO sounds like a good call, hopefully you shoot RAW, and some exposure and noise corrections can be handled in post, good luck man, and post some for all to see.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

ok, so we did the shoot last night...the place was lit up by the fluorescent lighting, then they had one studio light at each station. There were 4 stations in all, three inside and one outside.

There was a lot of reflection, and I could not get it out with CPL or movement. Most of the shots were at 18-24 mm because of tight quarters. I had the camera set for manual with auto iso. Most ended up around 3200, and grainy. I played around a little with some and can make them a lot less grainy and still be OK, but most are just snapshots. There were no pros other than the photoshop employees and all they said was get low, tell the models what you want, and tell us where you want the light, and no flash, But there were SO many people there it was almost impossible to get good shots anyway. I had fun, I learned a lot and drank some good champagne with some good snacks. One thing is sure, I need to work on exposures. Next time I will go full manual.....Thought auto ISO would be good with all the different lighting.

Too packed to change lenses (did not want to chance getting bumped and drop the lens), so shot all with my 18-140 Nikon 3.5-5.6. attached are a few.

When I left I took a couple night shots of one of the main streets.

The Male model

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74 Jag

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1974 Jag

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Nice hood ornament

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Snake Charmer

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Another nice hood ornament

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frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

A few more.

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Fast moving bus came into view

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autofocus Loc: North Central Connecticut

you did good Frank, this is not easy with all the reflections and the different light sources. So, flash was not permitted, even bounced off the ceiling? You also got to see some pretty snazzy automobiles, and some pretty models as a fringe benefit :) Shooting low was good advise from the folks from photoshop...a great way to give that low, sleek look. I will often shoot sitting or kneeling on the grass at car shows to get that look. Were you shooting RAW and auto white balance? I don't know if you are familiar with use of the white point eyedropper in levels (the one on the right side) If I'm not shooting with a white card I will find something in the image that is supposed to be white, and click on that with the white eyedropper. It's one of my favorite tools in photoshop. Not only will it give the image a real pop, but it can help fix any color shift from lighting you may have. You just need to use it in concert with the histogram and that histogram needs to have a little room left on the right side of the curve...do it on a layer, and if you push the histogram too much off the screen on the right side just back off the amount in the layers palette until you have a good histogram. It does a great job when images might be a little underexposed.
Vince

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Vince, thanks for the kind words. I was a little (lot) disappointed. I've done a lot, but this was entirely different, and I'd say, the hardest for me.

I did shoot "auto white balance" but some photos still we're yellow. I also shoot raw. Some I fixed in post, just as I did grain......I needed to go through and chill, then edit what is left. I've never used the white dropper. I usually just change the Kelvin till the white is right or close. I'll try your technique. Thanks.

The lighting was always changing.... Some guys wanted red light, some red, etc. Which was added with colored lie bars.

Flash was not allowed in any form, as there were so many there (100 or more) and flash would affect anyone shooting at the same time.

It was fun, and a learning experience. Next time I will know what to expect and make some changes.

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Large fun !

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Yup!