A Greg Haag YouTube channel?
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Behind the scenes
- Thread starter danlindberg
- Start date
Greg Haag
Well-known member
Until I can get some video, this may give a sense for what I am doing for those who have asked. I have included a few sample images, maybe this will give added clarity. There are many different approaches you could take that would vary from what I do, my style is definitely a work in progress. I will try to put together a list of key photoshop related things in a separate post in case that might benefit someone.
- Compose and focus using manual focus mode. I usually start at ISO 50, f16 and 6 seconds. This will vary throughout the shoot, you will develop a feel for this.
- Be sure to take note of which lights you use on each shot (for future white balancing). White balancing is CRITICAL!
- Create Fill Light layer moving bright light behind, above and to the sides of the camera (good to have but I seldom use)
- Light paint larger objects first with LED panel or light stick, I generally find the color saturation best to skim the light at 2-3 feet above the edge of the car with the light beam toward the floor. Experience has taught me to get more images/variations of this then I think I need.
- Light paint the ground with light at low angle for added texture (sometimes I use this but not always)
- Light small things you want to stand out, such as, badging, tire treads, tire/rims, ect., with your small lights.
- Light the interior as well, be sure and open the windows before beginning. I do this with one of my small lights.
- For you exterior lights you can turn on and photograph or light with a small flashlight. I usually turn on and photograph unless some of the lights don’t work.
- Finally, I remove my backdrop and light the wall (usually with my large LED panel on a painters pole trying to skim across the wall to show texture)
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Abstraction
Well-known member
Are you doing a composite or are you doing everything in a single shot (other than light painting?)
Greg Haag
Well-known member
A composite, I am unable to get anything I have been satisfied with in a single image.
A little experiment with two flashes.
So XCD 30mm, 907X, ISO 100, F16, 16 second exp. I used 1 Godox TT350N under the engine, and one Godox AD200 pointed towards the white ceiling. Everything in manual mode the flashes controlled by a Godox X2TN controller. After tripping the shutter, I moved to the AD200 and pressed the manual flash button 6 times, which of course triggers the smaller flash too. No other lights on in the garage.
Currently I do not have a continuous light stick.
So much more to learn by 'doing'. Thank you, what do you think of my 'boring' Prius generation 4 engine compartment image? I am not used to manual focus, I think this is not quite ther, butthe focus peaking was indicating great focus.
So XCD 30mm, 907X, ISO 100, F16, 16 second exp. I used 1 Godox TT350N under the engine, and one Godox AD200 pointed towards the white ceiling. Everything in manual mode the flashes controlled by a Godox X2TN controller. After tripping the shutter, I moved to the AD200 and pressed the manual flash button 6 times, which of course triggers the smaller flash too. No other lights on in the garage.
Currently I do not have a continuous light stick.
So much more to learn by 'doing'. Thank you, what do you think of my 'boring' Prius generation 4 engine compartment image? I am not used to manual focus, I think this is not quite ther, butthe focus peaking was indicating great focus.
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Digitalcameraman
Active member
Racetrack Playa
Phase One IQ4 150
XT w/ 32mm HR Rodenstock Lens
Could have spent days here.
Phase One IQ4 150
XT w/ 32mm HR Rodenstock Lens
Could have spent days here.
Greg Haag
Well-known member
Thats awesome Stephen, I am so glad to see you dove right in!! Really any light source can work for this process, on an engine even a basic flashlight can do the trick. I have light painted 2 cars with flash, the challenge was controlling the light so that I did not wind up with an image where the lighting was too flat. I found that skimming the flash across the vehicle in conjunction with a little backlighting seemed to work best for me. If you have a grid or snoot for your flash it will help when photographing especially in small places like the engine, if you don't, you can make a snoot with some black construction paper and tape. This is a vehicle I shot in a warehouse where there was a lot of light contamination that I was trying to overpower with flash, it was at the very beginning of my light painting journey. Looking forward to seeing more images from you!!!
Greg Haag
Well-known member
Beautiful image Chris!! I love your BTS shot also! I am headed to Death Valley for 7 days in late February, can't wait. Hope you post more images from there!
Greg Haag
Well-known member
Stephen,
Yes that is the finished image. Regarding bouncing flash, for this process I never do that except for a fill option in case I don't get enough light on something. I try to be pretty surgical on my lights, the image of the Bronco above is not a good example of this but is was about all I could find with flash. I don't remember the exact number of images on this, but it usually ranges from about 18 to 30. The camera is stationary throughout the entire shoot and I shoot tethered to reduce any chance of movement. Regarding software, I generally shoot tethered into Capture One then white balance, tweak, select and output to JPEG's. Then I load the files into Photoshop as layers and blend them there. I would imagine there are other alternatives to adobe but I am not familiar with what the options might be. If there is a way to do this process in Capture One, I am not aware of it.
Good Luck!
Yes that is the finished image. Regarding bouncing flash, for this process I never do that except for a fill option in case I don't get enough light on something. I try to be pretty surgical on my lights, the image of the Bronco above is not a good example of this but is was about all I could find with flash. I don't remember the exact number of images on this, but it usually ranges from about 18 to 30. The camera is stationary throughout the entire shoot and I shoot tethered to reduce any chance of movement. Regarding software, I generally shoot tethered into Capture One then white balance, tweak, select and output to JPEG's. Then I load the files into Photoshop as layers and blend them there. I would imagine there are other alternatives to adobe but I am not familiar with what the options might be. If there is a way to do this process in Capture One, I am not aware of it.
Good Luck!
Bugleone
Well-known member
Greg,.....The finished image of the 4x4 made me sit straight up in my seat!.......exactly the treatment I was searching for to shoot vintage commercials and military from the first half of the 20th cent. here in the UK. I can use a large farm building with plenty of room but roof skylights mean 'only on a dark night', which would not be a problem...some questions in no particular order;.........
1) Presumably you have to be careful when 'painting' the subject to not get your body between light source and lens(?).......do you light from behind the vehicle?
2) Is there much 'artwork' to touch up the image after assembly in PS?
3) Are the 'dark highlights' added in software after completion?
4) Presumably, you need complete blackness for this(?).
5) in the earlier pix the car is apparently on a glossy painted floor,....is this in a studio or just a well perpared garage?.......wet floor?
1) Presumably you have to be careful when 'painting' the subject to not get your body between light source and lens(?).......do you light from behind the vehicle?
2) Is there much 'artwork' to touch up the image after assembly in PS?
3) Are the 'dark highlights' added in software after completion?
4) Presumably, you need complete blackness for this(?).
5) in the earlier pix the car is apparently on a glossy painted floor,....is this in a studio or just a well perpared garage?.......wet floor?
FloatingLens
Well-known member
I bet! Great impressions!
How hot would it be there during winter? For me Death Valley equals exactly 122 degrees.
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Greg Haag
Well-known member
I have a warehouse where I keep my Airstream travel trailer, I had an epoxy treatment put over the concrete to make it easier to maintain and it has a gloss finish. I do sometimes mop the floor if I want more of a reflection of the car on the floor.Greg,.....The finished image of the 4x4 made me sit straight up in my seat!.......exactly the treatment I was searching for to shoot vintage commercials and military from the first half of the 20th cent. here in the UK. I can use a large farm building with plenty of room but roof skylights mean 'only on a dark night', which would not be a problem...some questions in no particular order;.........
1) Presumably you have to be careful when 'painting' the subject to not get your body between light source and lens(?).......do you light from behind the vehicle?
Here is an example where I let too much light fall on me and you can see the ghosting that occurred as I was walking along the vehicle
2) Is there much 'artwork' to touch up the image after assembly in PS?
A rough estimate is that it takes me 2 hours to setup and shoot each angle of the vehicle and about the same amount of time in post processing. I generally shoot tethered into Capture One then white balance, tweak, select and output to JPEG's. Then I load the files into Photoshop as layers and blend them there. In Photoshop the I sort the images into the order I prefer, usually a darker image with no ghosting or light contamination showing is what I use as my base layer. Then all subsequent images I lasso the portion of the image I want to use, then add a layer mask with that portion showing and change the blend mode to lighten. I then brush off any portions of that I don't like and move on to the next image and repeat the process. Once I have gone thru all the images, I go back thru image by image turning them off and on to see if anything is showing I would like to remove. Then I save the large file with layers, and then flatten and save another file as JPEG. I will then crop as desired and process the image to my taste
3) Are the 'dark highlights' added in software after completion?
Not sure what your asking on this one, could you clarify please?
4) Presumably, you need complete blackness for this(?).
Yes, that is correct or at least enough you can overpower it with you lighting.
5) in the earlier pix the car is apparently on a glossy painted floor,....is this in a studio or just a well perpared garage?.......wet floor?
I hope this helps, it sounds like a great project!
Thanks Greg!
Bugleone
Well-known member
Greg,..Thank you so much for the detailed reply!..very useful!
I probably did not explain myself adequately,......I'm interested in the dark areas on the 4x4...the raised bonnet flute and the dark area above the windscreen...to me these are 'dark highlights' as I use dark cloth to make dark reflections in bodywork etc.
The problem with farm buildings is that the floor is tamped concrete so lines of ridges....hoping to make a PS mask for floor areas in images.
Thanks again!.........Brilliant sequence,...I'm waiting on that video!
I probably did not explain myself adequately,......I'm interested in the dark areas on the 4x4...the raised bonnet flute and the dark area above the windscreen...to me these are 'dark highlights' as I use dark cloth to make dark reflections in bodywork etc.
The problem with farm buildings is that the floor is tamped concrete so lines of ridges....hoping to make a PS mask for floor areas in images.
Thanks again!.........Brilliant sequence,...I'm waiting on that video!
Greg Haag
Well-known member
Been doing experimentation with a combination of LED continuous light sources blended with gelled flash, here was tonight’s version. I am not sure where all the time spent on this leads, but my oldest daughter and I have a a lot of fun with it. I think it will possibly make me a better photographer, because it is forcing me to gain a better understanding of shaping with light.
Cambo 1600 IQ4 150 90mm
Cambo 1600 IQ4 150 90mm