Torque and Chrome

photography lighting question?

Im shooting custom motorcycles, what is the best way to keep the softbox and other lighting reflections from showing up bikes gas tank in the photos? Also In some parts of the chrome you can see me and the camera in the reflection also, is there a way to avoid this besides photoshopping it out?

Public Comments

1. There is one lighting method used by studio photographers. They build a light tent, put the reflective product inside, light it and shoot through ports strategically placed around the tent. It can take up to three or four 500K to 1000K lamps to light your bike. An alternative is to shoot using umbrellas and softboxes and use black reflectors strategically placed so any reflections are darkened and less noticeable.
2. use difussion screens (big ones) between the softboxes and the bike, you can dress all in white or all in black and have only the frount of the lens exposed - use old sheets or something - whichever colour you choose black or white it will show in the image so make sure it says something or nothing you can construct a light tent to drive the bike into also, i would use screens and flags have a look on youtube theres proberly a tutorial there best wishes
3. I don't know if it such a good idea to try to completely remove the highlights of the softbox from the motorcycle. In most of the bike pictures that I saw, they are there. This separate the dark areas of the bike and defines the reflective quality of the surface. In order to remove yourself from the reflection on the chrome, the areas along side and behind you would have to be dark or black. This could be achieved by putting put black sheets of muslin behind you or shooting thru a crack in the muslin. This way there's nothing to reflect. I don't recommend shooting this with an umbrella. The lighting would be less than ideal for bike pictures. Usually when they shoot cars or things like this, the softboxes are usually much much larger than the object. This gives a long softbox reflection off the object thru out the length of the object. In a studio type setting. I don't know how elaborate or creative you're looking to achieve but there's a thought.