2009-05-29 Dark Using Stobes

In order for a strobe to be effective it needs to light the surface of what you are trying to take a picture of. Notice most of the cars only the side is helped with the strobe. The ideal position would be one strobe high (roof level of the tower) and one in front of the car (drivers would not like this, not an option in my opinion).

The strobes create a harsh light which makes pictures look ugly. To soften things up, I've used an umbrella. Better yet, in some of the later pictures of this series I bounced the strobe light off the tower. Frames 45 - 50 were shot without a strobe using a 85mm f/1.8 lens.

The strobes definitely do not like the smoke very much. I kept some of the pics that should have been discarded to illustrate the problem.

For great pictures, the obvious solution shoot during the day hours (too easy, boring).

By the way, I'm not crazy about the light after 7pm, even though its bright. 7pm light is nice for facial shots, but cars are not faces.