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Photo Booth opinions please

Feb 23, 2012
2
0
First Name
Will
Afternoon everyone! I've been reading through a lot of posts on the site and finally decided to join and ask for some input myself. Currently our dealership is looking to install a more permanent photo taking location. We use our service drive for taking the pics and use a makeshift halogen work lamp to give us most of our light. We don't have any other place to take our pics, and with it being Northern WI we don't have the option to be outside year round. I've included some pics to help assist in seeing what we want to do.

Basically we have two service doors for exiting vehicles and we want to close it off with a large curtain on one side so we don't catch the service area and the service desk in the pictures. We are also looking to tint the service bay doors so we don't have awful lighting during the morning hours with the sun shining through. We are also looking to drop in more lights and lower them farther down. We are planning on painting the walls an egg-shell white color as well as putting down a new grey floor with speckled flakes (like a garage floor coating).

My question is how should the lights be arranged so we do not get the reflections as much on the top part of panels and hoods, and how to best get light into the interior of the cars. We will have enough room to walk around the whole car without moving it. What are your guys' thoughts on what we are doing? Good, bad, ugly?

Thanks,
Will

Location as is now
2012 Toyota FJ Cruiser For Sale | Rhinelander WI .

Current location with no vehicles
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Will,
Have you considered a drop ceiling? I did the studio for: Used Cars Austin Texas Pre-Owned Luxury Mercedes-Benz Dealer The studio is a 25' x 25' garage with an 11' drop ceiling. The garage had 2 painted white walls, 1 white curtain and the garage door. We installed a turntable for speed and to be able to use a small space. The studio is lit with (4) 600 watt prophoto flashheads with softboxes. The flashes supply enough light to be able to do awesome interior shots as well.
Good Luck,
Chris

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It looks like a great area for a studio, are you aiming for professional or just getting photos to have photos? I ask because there is a large portion of dealers that seem to build very light instead of going for what they want and you have a great space, I'd hate to see such a good area wasted on a partial attempt.
You will want defused light, thats a must. Sharpcars (above) builds studios for dealerships, they might be able to help you get what you want. I'd suggest doing it right, virtual show rooms are becoming more important then actual show rooms.

I keep commenting about the great area for our studio is in such a small area, we'd absolutely love that kind of room, the hight is great, makes getting pictures of larger vehicles without shooting the ceiling easy.