Balancing light inside and outside a car

mercphoto

I was hoping for better with this shot:



Much more reflection from the windshield than I was hoping for. I've done this before with my convertible and did not have that problem. Now I'm wondering if the problem is because its so dark inside a sedan. Could this shot be easily fixed by placing a flash inside the car to add light inside? And if so, how? I don't know of any flash cords that long (to reach from the front hood, where the camera is, to inside the car).

LiquidAir

Use a circular polarizer to cut the reflection. A fill flash in the car wouldn't hurt either.

mercphoto

LiquidAir wrote:

Use a circular polarizer to cut the reflection. A fill flash in the car wouldn't hurt either.

Polarizer could help the reflection but I think there's still an issue that inside the car is too dark compared to outside the car. Time to get the wire snips and the soldering iron and extend the lenght of my flash cord!

LiquidAir

mercphoto wrote:

Polarizer could help the reflection but I think there's still an issue that inside the car is too dark compared to outside the car. Time to get the wire snips and the soldering iron and extend the lenght of my flash cord!

The highlights on your driver look fine to me, but the shadows are way too dark. This is a perfect application for Pocket Wizards or one of the cheap eBay equivalents. You might also consider a the much simpler solution of putting a reflector in the car.

pathfinder

Bill -

You might try to borrow an ST-E2 - Canon's IR controller - at this distance from the bumper to the dashboard I think it will work fine - even through the windshield. Avoids a dangling cord.

If I get a chance later this afternoon I will try mine and see if it will trigger a 580ex inside a car in bright sunlight. If it will, it will give you ETTL control of lighting on the drives face. Worth a try.

mercphoto

pathfinder wrote:

Bill -

You might try to borrow an ST-E2 - Canon's IR controller - at this distance from the bumper to the dashboard I think it will work fine - even through the windshield. Avoids a dangling cord.

If I get a chance later this afternoon I will try mine and see if it will trigger a 580ex inside a car in bright sunlight. If it will, it will give you ETTL control of lighting on the drives face. Worth a try.

Thanks. And yes, that is one reason I don't want the Pocket Wizards because I'd lose ETTL. Canon's system would keep ETTL. As per the cord I already have a very long remote shutter cord that I use blue painter's tape on so a flash cord would not be a huge deal. Unless I got wireless shutter release too...

wxwax

Be safe.

Hate to lecture, but driving a car and firing a flash into your face and taking a photograph would seem to be incompatible activities.

mercphoto

wxwax wrote:

Be safe.

Hate to lecture, but driving a car and firing a flash into your face and taking a photograph would seem to be incompatible activities.

Good points. I should point out I was the passenger, not the driver. Speeds were very low (shutter speeds long). And we were so far from people we didn't see another car for nearly an hour. Also, I plan to aim the flash from the side, not the front.

pathfinder

Bill,

What Waxy said. Be safe.

But I know you are a big boy.

Ok, we got that lawyer talk out of the way

I went outside and placed a 430ex in its little mount on the dashboard of my Ridgeline, and stood in front of the truck, and fired my ST-E2 at the strobe through the windshield. If the body of the strobe is facing away from the IR trigger ( the little red window on the base of the 430ex ) I could not get reliable triggering. But if I could fire the IR trigger at the red window - whether straight or angled, I could get reliable firing, even from 10 feet away.

So I suspect, that using an ST-E2 will work. I would put your camera in Manual Mode with High Speed Synch turned on on the flash, dial in a little -(minus) FEC, strap a foamie white diffuser to the flash head, and give it a go. Maybe a little white paper in the drivers lap or in front of the speedometer to reflect light into the driver's face.

Drive safely and let us know how this works out. Try it in a large, empty parking lot at low speed.

How did you have your camera mounted on the bumper, and how did you trigger it? I think it is focusing on the windshield wiper or the base of the window, and not the driver's face. Manual focus, perhaps, also?

mercphoto

pathfinder wrote:

How did you have your camera mounted on the bumper, and how did you trigger it?

This: http://filmtools.com/gripsuccupca.html
Plus a remote shutter cable, a 3-stop neutral density filter, and 1/10 second shutter speed.