Setting up a Photo Booth

[mcampo2501]

Mike, I found this while reading through the early pages...I am pretty sure it is what you are looking for.

http://www.dealerrefresh.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Photography-Guide.pdf

Thank you Grant, that was what I was looking for. Couldn't get it to work for me...

@Joe - Are you saying that eVox is considering such a program? That is exactly what I think the industry needs. The problem is that not everyone has the budget for 6 figure photo booths. I love the idea that a company would take a dealer's budget (be it $5K, $50K, or $150K) and provide them with the best option available. Branding this would be an added bonus for the vendor and the first to market would find themselves in an industry standard position that would be hard to compete with. I wish I had the capital and the know how to start such a venture myself...

I guess in the mean time, I'll just throw up some walls and hope for the best!

 

[joe.pistell]

Mike,

I gave them the idea several times and it went no where. They're missing the boat IMO.

 

[flosho]

Here is my first real rough sketch for the booth design.

I'm still not sure exactly what kind of light configuration I want. Dealer made uses longer tubes in a outline pattern with a crisscross (4 squares that make up 1 large square)

 

[KrisAnders]

I'm new hear and just wanted to share my booth set up. 30x30ish 4 banks of 5 tube daylight florescent lights, would like to get 2 more banks of light grey curtain. Still need on camera flash for dark cars usually bounced off ceiling.

 

[KrisAnders]

they're are defiantly some flaws in my setup. need a polarizing filter for reflections and would like to get some sort of on flash diffuser or soft box for the interior shots. shooting at 1000 iso going to try and push that further so i dont have to shoot at 25 f4 and 10 f4 for interior shots. f4 is the max fstop on the 12-24 lens i use.

 

[SDA]

Hey everyone,

Commercial Photographer checking in. I see some nice setups here and would love to share some of mine as well as my knowledge in lighting as that seems to be the main topic people are not always sure about.

Where I work we are currently going into another rebuild of our booth as the current one just doesn't have the right look to it and is plagued by not only outside light getting in at certain times of day, but also the wind sometimes blowing the silk we use apart and seams showing. We are located in a downtown 6 story building that is basically a show room and 5 stories of converted parking garage space.

I will grab some photos off our site and share them when I get a chance.

 

[Eley Duke]

While we do not have a photo booth and we outsource our photo's and I will be first to admit they are not the best I wanted to comment. I buy all our used cars, and I buy online from Ally Smart Auction to Manhiem and everywhere. I get frustrated with a lot of pictures of cars because of the lighting in photo booths. Too many glares and reflections, background blends, floor reflections or annoying floor patterns that are...annoying. To me the natural light and natural setting pictures are always better to view. I am buying just like a consumer buys, maybe even more picky since I have a much bigger interest in buying front line ready vehicles and I am a stickler for paint.

I always wanted a booth, but no room, one day it hit me I don't need one when I was really frustrated trying to view a grey 4Runner and couldn't make out a lot of the paint details. Looking at hundreds of vehicle photos a day has proven to me that if I get frustrated looking at these pictures, how does our customers feel. My next project will be to look at bringing our pictures in-house, but still taking outside in the natural light. I say save the money on the indoor and find you a great place outside. Now if you're a highline dealer maybe the booth is the way to go, but being a muscle car and performance car junkie, nothing looks better than a great outdoor shot with it in its natural setting.

Just my opinion.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

3-4 (or more) days behind in photos due to inclement weather - for dealers with some inventory and watching their days turned, it proposes a challenge.

It's hard to beat natural lighting but your reliant upon Mother Nature to serve it up.

 

[TomLaPointe]

3-4 (or more) days behind in photos due to inclement weather - for dealers with some inventory ... It's hard to beat natural lighting but your reliant upon Mother Nature to serve it up.

Natural light is WAY overrated. unless you do all your cars in the morning or evening, the light is too hot -- especially here in Florida. A camera on auto can easily end up over or underexposed. When I shot premium photos for ebay on the beach, the exposure changed with every passing cloud

 

[Eley Duke]

3-4 (or more) days behind in photos due to inclement weather - for dealers with some inventory and watching their days turned, it proposes a challenge.

It's hard to beat natural lighting but your reliant upon Mother Nature to serve it up.

Totally agree Jeff.

Natural light is WAY overrated. unless you do all your cars in the morning or evening, the light is too hot -- especially here in Florida. A camera on auto can easily end up over or underexposed. When I shot premium photos for ebay on the beach, the exposure changed with every passing cloud

In honest opinion I don't think so Tom. Pick up your latest copy of Motor Trend, Car & Driver, or any of the car magazines, how many vehicles are shot inside, barely any. Sure they do some photo-shopping, but the point is a car's natural environment is outside, and while it poses issues with lighting, weather, etc, its still its natural environment where people expect to see a car.

For me, the worst photos are the photo shopped ones with crazy backgrounds or vehicles floating that are not natural, the dealer may think it looks cool, but does the majority of your customers? Same with a photo booth, there are some really bad booths and picture taking going on. Then again there are some really good things happening.

Takes these for example, I've been looking for several 4Runners lately. Put yourself in the customers shoes and ask yourself which one would keep you coming back looking at the pics more? Again, just my preference and opinion. But I think cars should be in a natural element, weather it on the lot or next door with a pine forest back ground looks a lot better than some of the booths I see and the lighting problems. If these are any of your booths, sorry, not trying to offend anyone but these are 2 that I saw in my 4Runner search that stood out to me with indoor booths.