Chrome Wheel tips

Hello all,

I’m the Marketing Coordinator for a company that designs, manufactures and distributes custom chrome automobile wheels. For marketing purposes, I'm finding it extremely difficult to photograph these wheels and get excellent results; even when using a large tent.

Because chrome (and the history of chrome in art and illustration) is so interesting, I feel there is such an opportunity for me to take some awesome photographs, but mine always seem to come up just a little short. Because the tent produces the same amount of light on all it’s sides, I typically get bland photographs with little contrast. Some of the finer details of the wheel are lost, and overall the image looks dull.

I think a large light panel and a dark room would be a better way to achieve a more contrasted and interesting result, but I’m having trouble finding one of these panels. I imagine I’m searching using the wrong term; what is the official name for this type of lighting device?

Also any tips on shooting chrome would be appreciated; using a 4'x4' tent has been the best way I have found thus far, but I still think better results are achievable.

Thanks in advance shutter bugs!

Well if your in the Indiana I could be persueded to help you out in person :D

Unfortunately Chrome is extremly reflective and without proper lighting you'll have a tough time. You need to light them but not directly....or you can sometimes cheat using specific gear and ave time. A flash difuser may help, as will bouncing the flash. With the Canon 1D MKII N & 580EX flash I have found chrome wheels fairly easy to shoot with either the Canon 70-200mm or 28-300 lenses.
It's really not much worse than shooting race cars with highly reflective decals, and I now have those down pat by adjusting flash manually.

JS

Could you post an example? I have some experience photographing industrial machinery with exposed steel, aluminum, and stainless components. But my setup was not overly complicated and I was mostly fighting ambient lighting from skylights and mercury vapor shop lights :mad:

Loupey,

Were you meaning me ? If so I'll have to do some digging, I haven't done it in a while.

JS

John, I was referring to GraphixGuy's chrome work. Sorry about the confusion. But I would like to see yours too if it wouldn't be too much trouble. Never tried using a flash in those situations.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loupey

John, I was referring to GraphixGuy's chrome work. Sorry about the confusion. But I would like to see yours too if it wouldn't be too much trouble. Never tried using a flash in those situations.

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I'll see what I can dig up. I did some for a wheel company a few years back as a test. If nothing else I'll clean one of my truck rims and shoot it!

JS

The lighting item most often used is a softbox and I usually use an Octabox so it doesn't create too noticeable a shape. A big softbox, larger than the area being photographed is a very important tool.

One 'trick' to shooting highly reflective surfaces is not only indirect lighting but also back lighting. In the studio you can photograph against a uniformly lit high key background or outside you can shoot with reflectors. Big reflectors. That way they don't show up in the surface as an artifact or object. You also usually wind up shooting at a slight angle as well.

Here's am example of a display rack at a show and a customers bike. The rack shot is greatly reduced in size for this example, but details are still obvious.

My gallery has a couple more stylized shots of chrome wheels.

As you can see from the chopper wheel shot color, of the bike in this case, can also intrude into the photo. Many times the shots are rendered in b/w or gray scale to eliminate false color and tone before sending to the printer.

One issue is that different wheels reflect differently, so accentuating highlights can be an individual setup for each wheel style.

A Circular polarizer or a fine screen filter (even with digital) wll often knock the hightlights down just enough to make the shot work better. Usually though, diffused and reflected light is your best friend in the studio for chrome.

Cameras will also intrude if they are too aggresively sharpening the photo in camera. The highest quality JPEG or RAW is the best way to shoot these with very neutral settings.

Does this give you a start?

GrpahixGuy, you might want to use a black panel reflector to introduce contrast and make it look shiny. Taking photographs using a tent and/or softboxes even out the lighting, dulling out the highlights and shadows.

Hope this helps