This investigation presents a photometric study of the Galactic structure toward the Carina arm tangent .
The field is located between 280 ^ { \circ } and 286 ^ { \circ } galactic longitude and -4 ^ { \circ } to 4 ^ { \circ } galactic latitude .
All currently available uvby \beta data is used to obtain homogeneous color excesses and distances for more than 260 stars of spectral types O to G. We present revised distances and average extinction for the open clusters and cluster candidates NGC 3293 , NGC 3114 , Lod \acute { \mathrm { e } } n 46 and Lod \acute { \mathrm { e } } n 112 .
The cluster candidate Lod \acute { \mathrm { e } } n 112 appears to be a very compact group at a true distance modulus of 11.06 \pm 0.11 ( s.e . )
( 1629 ^ { +84 } _ { -80 } pc ) , significantly closer than previous estimates .
We found other OB stars at that same distance and , based on their proper motions , suggest a new OB association at coordinates 282 ^ { \circ } < l < 285 ^ { \circ } , -2 ^ { \circ } < b < 2 ^ { \circ } .
Utilizing BV photometry and spectral classification of the known O-type stars in the very young open cluster Wd 2 we provide a new distance estimate of 14.13 \pm 0.16 ( s.e . )
( 6698 ^ { +512 } _ { -475 } pc ) , in excellent agreement with recent distance determinations to the giant molecular structures in this direction .
We also discuss a possible connection between the H ii region RCW 45 and the highly-reddened B+ star CPD - 55 3036 and provide a revised distance for the luminous blue variable HR Car .