Lights, or HDR?

mercphotomercphoto Registered Users Posts: 4,550 Major grins
edited July 16, 2009 in Technique
If I can ever get my car photography biz to hit second gear I have to start wondering about lights. Already in many cases I wish I had about three flashes, a flash meter, and some Radio Poppers. But there is obvious expense, plus the learning curve in setting up the flash powers and balancing exposures. The other route is to bracket three exposures and do a mild HDR, where the intention is to get a more realistic look, not a fake surreal look that too many people do with HDRs. You know, to highlight detail in the darks without blowing out the brights.

HDR would be an expense (I'd probably get an Aperture plug-in) and a learning curve (which, conveniently, could be done at home easy enough). But it feels like the better solution overall.

Thoughts?
Bill Jurasz - Mercury Photography - Cedar Park, TX
A former sports shooter
Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
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Comments

  • Tim KamppinenTim Kamppinen Registered Users Posts: 816 Major grins
    edited July 15, 2009
    One thing to consider is that if you're doing HDR the image will only be as good as whatever light you have to start with. With lighting gear you can construct your own light to suit the cars you're photographing.

    Anyway, you can download a trial version of photomatix that will allow you to see if you like it (it just puts a watermark on your finished image) and then decide from there. You might decide to do both, since the cost of the program is pretty minimal compared to the cost of lighting equipment.
    http://www.timkphotography.com
    http://blog.timkphotography.com
  • mercphotomercphoto Registered Users Posts: 4,550 Major grins
    edited July 15, 2009
    Good input, and maybe HDR isn't the solution I think it is. Giving a trial version a spin is an excellent idea.
    Bill Jurasz - Mercury Photography - Cedar Park, TX
    A former sports shooter
    Follow me at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bjurasz/
    My Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/mercphoto?ref=hdr_shop_menu
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited July 15, 2009
    I agree with Tim.....the more lights you own the more you can do about shaping the light just as YOU want it......then you can use a good HDR program to make the every so slightly over /under exposed areas jump out...................
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • speedracer04speedracer04 Registered Users Posts: 159 Major grins
    edited July 16, 2009
    Like other people said the i think the lights are a better option, HDR tends to give the paint a weird look (at least to me), especially if it is matallic because it makes it looks very fake. Of coarse that is not always the case but a full feature all in HDR would be to much i think.

    I would like to get some lights to but for now my SB600 does what i need
    Speed-Photos
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