Question on photos, and photoshopping

[iampachino]

I seen that earlier a guy had asked u guys how to take better photos and i looked at what u were saying so i went out and tried to get some shots. I was wondering what u thought of these and. What type of camera to buy to actually take some good shots.

Thasnkl Aaron

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/iampachino/Hardparked/P4110399-1.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/iampachino/Hardparked/P4110423.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/iampachino/Hardparked/P4110422.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/iampachino/Hardparked/P4110410.jpg

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/iampachino/Hardparked/P4110409.jpg

[exitspeed]

Actually those are pretty good.

Pic 1. I like the way the curve of the building sort of adds motion to the shot even though it somewhat draws the eye away from the car. The color of the car is a nice contrast against the backround.

Pic 2. My favorite. The angle you shot at it good (not much looks good from 5" off the ground). I'd crop some of the road at the bottom and some of the sky on top, which will make the focus on the car a little better. I wish the sky was a little brighter and the clouds were more detailed or they were some nice fluffy cumulus. I like how the grass points at the front of the car, again drawing the eye.

Pic 3. is probably my least favorite. The graff isn't that good and the building really doesn't add much. I assume you were going for a grunge vs beauty look here. It just didn't turn out that great.

Pic 4 and 5. Pretty similar, bot are nice shots. I like the first one better, just for the angle of the camera. The building in this one is nice and the placement of the pillars draws the eye down and makes you focus on the car. Again because of the color of your car any backround that is light in color will make your car pop.

Good shots though!

[godzillarb]

I think the cloudiness of the kind of sets a shitty "mood" for the photos. Might want have taken the shots later with street lights on, that would probably add more interest but you would need a tripod, or wait till its a nicer day.

Also, I personally shy away from taking pictures directly into the headlights when they're on, like in #1...I think its distracting and makes the viewer wonder why the lights are on instead of looking at the sexy car.

Good start though :)

[chmercer]

i would tweak the colors in photoshop so the car pops more, its blending into the bricks on the last couple

also lower the car a lot

[iampachino]

Yea the car deff needs lowered more. Right now I have Tein Stechs and KYB. Thanks for all of the comments. Is there anyone who can tell me how to photoshop the car lower

[shuey_89240sx]

yeah it's said that in pic. 3. that building is really the only graff.'d building in town.

[TheSquidd]

Pic 1. I like the background , the glass window and such.

I don't like the grass and curb.

Would be nice to see a little more of the side of the car, show at least the front wheel turned left.

Headlights on kill a lot of the color in the paint, I'd shoot without the headlights.

There's little things you can clean up in the area, there's some wierd reflection under the car that could be cloned out, there's some trash or rubbish around the curb, just clean the scene up a little in photoshop. Look up tutorials on the "clone stamp" tool and the "spot healing" tool if you've never used them, they are a photographers #1 tool.

Definitely needs more POP from the paint color, it's a poppy color but the overcast sky and lack of post process work make it drab and dull. Play around with the "Curves" and "Levels" tools, adjust your hue and saturation.


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Pic 2.

Needs more exposure, the car is dark, very dark. Get a tripod and try shooting multiple exposures of a scene, bright, dark, in photoshop you can combine them into an HDR image and get perfect exposure for all the objects in the scene. ie. One exposure for grass, one exposure for the clouds, one for the car.

You should clone out the lamp posts, one is just growing out of your trunk, a huge distraction.

While the sky is somewhat menacing, it's pretty bland to take up that much of your photo. I like the shot composition, but it would only work if you had a much more interesting sky. As it is right now, I'd shoot closer. Remember to prioritize in your photos, what deserves to take up all that space? If the sky is uninteresting, then don't give it half your photo. It's like a soup, and you have way too much vegetables and not enough beef.


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Pic 3.

I like the idea, I see what you were going for. As before, too underexposed and the lighting is drab. Shooting on a bright sunny day might give you harsher shadows but it makes your colors pop much more.

No clear subject here. The subject could be the graffiti, but then why is that car there? If the subject is the car, then why is it cut off? Choose your subject before you shoot, and then emphasize it in the photograph by giving it dominance in the scene. Give it the best lighting.

There's trash under the front bumper, before you shoot always inspect the scene and make sure there's no distractions to clean up. Also, another chance to learn the Clone stamp tool. I would also clone out the green graffiti on the left, and the bottom corner of that sign on the top left. If something is cut off in the scene it distracts the eye.

Maybe shoot a little lower or move a little to the left to eliminate the buildings popping out of the hood of the car.

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Pic 4. and 5.

Too much MTV angle, no offense, I did this for years, I've since... kinda learned from my mistakes. It's a hard habit to kick. If your photo isn't interesting enough to shoot it straight, it's not going to be more interesting when the viewer has to tilt his head to look at it.

One headlight is brigther than the other, and once again they are drowning out the color of your photo.

You shot real low to get the whole building in the shot, which is cool, but your car is way too high to pull this off. Shooting that low only really look good on VIP cars and lowriders because there is no gap. Don't photoshop the car lower, take the picture so you don't need to.

I like that tree on the left, If you gave it some contrast and brightened it up a bit I think those light colored leaves would be cool.

I like Pic 4 more, even with that angle on it. There's a huge curb in Pic 5 on the left that just totally ruins the shot. The background is interesting, and lit well, but I think you gave it too much priority, make your subject the focal point of your pictures FIRST then the background is merely icing on the cake. No one wants to eat a cake made of just icing.




Not really my best photo here, just an image for suggestion:
http://www.squidd.org/imagevue/upload/content/Photography%20-%202005%20/Automotive%20Stills/eg6_front.jpg
In this shot I had a really bad ass background, this parking structure was wicked, all kinds of cool lines and lighting, yet I have it blurred out and cropped tight in this shot.

The car is what I'm shooting, the background is cool, but it's merely a means to ground my subject to reality. If it's emphasized it's a distraction. I used to shoot at tons of interesting locations, huge wide shots of giant buildings with a little car in the corner, and the photos are cool. But really, eventually as you develop you'll start seeing different reasons to choose locations, "wow this parking garage has lots of simple shapes that won't distract the viewer".

I removed other distractions from the scene as well, I unbolted the front license plate, and I cloned out some trash in photoshop. I made sure the paint on the car looked good by adjusting my exposure, I brought some microfiber towels and made sure the paint on the car was clean.

Notice I also gave the subject some "motion" by having the wheels turned and gave the photo some slight "mtv angle".

You should have a list of priorities with you as you practice, my list goes as so:

1. Composition
2. Lighting
3. Exposure
4. Distractions
3008787687. background

For some really great feedback and inspirado, check out

http://community.automotivephoto.net/forums/

Sign up, introduce yourself, post your shots, take these guys advice. That's where the pro's go. Seriously industry leading professionals from all types of backgrounds shooting all manner of automotive subjects.

Oh and what do you shoot with?

I highly doubt you need to buy any other camera than what you shoot with. You can shoot magazine cover shots with a disposable film camera if you know what you are doing. It's not the camera that takes the picture, it's the photographer.

You can upgrade later when you feel you've surpassed the abilities of your current camera. Upgrade to an entry level dSLR and start down that expensive and arduous path of lenses, flashes, strobes, battery packs, filters, cables, cards etc etc etc etc. But for now, shoot with what you've got, you're off to a great start already why change and learn a new system?

[iampachino]

WOW........Thanks for the comments. I have a cheap digital camera i am using a cheap digital camera. I tried getting a shot while it was being driven and here is how it turned out

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/iampachino/Hardparked/P4110404.jpg

I dont know how to get a better shot with this camera especially with the delay . Keep the comments coming

Thask Aaron

[TheSquidd]

I dont know how to get a better shot with this camera especially with the delay . Keep the comments coming

Thask Aaron


Ahhh the point and shoot shutter delay, definitely a problem. I used to shoot with a P&S for action shots, I tried a few things and got pretty good at it.

Set to manual focus
Manual exposure

that way the camera doesn't have to do that "thinking" before taking the shot. Also, in tracking shots, make sure to pan WITH the car, what you want to do is point the camera at a specific part of the car as it passes, and follow it through the entire exposure. This will give you that cool blurry background look with the sharp vehicle.

http://www.squidd.org/imagevue/upload/content/Photography%20-%202006/Events%20-%2024%20Hours%20of%20Daytona/hrp_porsche.jpg

Try starting with shutter speeds around 1/125th of a second, and as you get better you can move down to 1/60th or even 1/20th if you're brave.

I will admit though, that is one short coming of the standard P&S camera, the delay. But you can work with it if you practice enough.

[Farzam]

There are a thousand tutorials online, look em up and learn from a professional, not some dried out forum rat.

Pic 1 and 3 are decent.

Pic 2 would be better cropped and with more lighting.

Go out on a sunnier day man.

If you want a camera, I highly suggest Canon products. They work the best IMO for the price.

For $150ish you can get a Canon Powershot A540 which is a really basic camera, but it's an awesome camera for the price and gives you something to work with.

http://a403.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/38/l_a4ce795515cf892baff0f09030d3e7aa.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c285/Farzam/GPS.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c285/Farzam/1.jpg

$150 camera, not even a bit edited, and I bet some quality was dimished when uploading.

When you wanna step it up...then come back.

[s13rookie]

Wow, you guys had a lot of good advice. I will have to try some of your tips in the future, that is-once i get a car thats picture worthy

[TheSquidd]

I recommend if you are serious about upgrading your camera, and are serious about photography you need a DSLR type camera, with removeable lenses and such. It's pricey but there's no substitute for a DSLR.

I'm not gonna go into the Nikon vs. Canon debate, both make great products.

I shoot Nikon.

[exitspeed]

^
Nikon's new D40 ($500 with lens street price) is probably one of the best bang for the buck DSLR camera's on the market right now.

It's a good body to start with if you don't want to start investing $1000+ on a body + len.

For around $1000 you can get a D40x that just came out and that is a 10.2(?) MP camera with lens.

If you wanna get serious about photography and don't want or have a ton of money to get started, these are some of you best options.

[TheSquidd]

^
Nikon's new D40 ($500 with lens street price) is probably one of the best bang for the buck DSLR camera's on the market right now.

It's a good body to start with if you don't want to start investing $1000+ on a body + len.

For around $1000 you can get a D40x that just came out and that is a 10.2(?) MP camera with lens.

If you wanna get serious about photography and don't want or have a ton of money to get started, these are some of you best options.

My friend has the D50, it's really a fantastic camera for the price, only complaints are that some of the features are only accessible from the menu, as opposed to the D70 which has all the features accessible from buttons on the body.

Another great option, find a D70 kit, with the 18-70DX lens, that's what I have. I bet they are like 400$ by now, but very hard to find. The kit lens is amazing sharp and the autofocus is really fast.

If you buy a Canon kit , they give you this 18-55 kit lens that sucks total arse. Nikon's kit lenses you'd be perfectly fine keeping for the life of your body. Not to be pro Nikon or anything, lots of people shoot Canon, in fact MOST event photographer I see at the track shoot Canon. Just not me ^_^

Ebay is a GREAT resource for photographic equipment like used lenses etc.

You can also check out

bhphotovideo.com
keh.com

Used lenses are as good as new if you get the right ones, really the only thing that wears out in DSLR's is the body itself, but even those can shoot for years. You might want to consider buying someone's used setup.

[theicecreamdan]

WOW........Thanks for the comments. I have a cheap digital camera i am using a cheap digital camera. I tried getting a shot while it was being driven and here is how it turned out

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o121/iampachino/Hardparked/P4110404.jpg

I dont know how to get a better shot with this camera especially with the delay . Keep the comments coming

Thask Aaron

Just a little bit more to the right on that picture. I think my eyes would have at least liked to see the curve in the yellow line as well. Parts of the brain are really fascinated by incomplete shapes, seeing that curve just drop off the edge of the paper will hold people's attention over there instead of on the car.

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/1567/psingvx9.jpg
This is really rough, but I took away some distraction, and did a little bit with the water on the car. This is only using clone and blur tools.

and get off the ground. I think you're shooting from a little bit too low, until your car is lower. You're not trying to shoot the underbody.

[Farzam]

This is how I find new angles.

I go alone in my driveway.

I scratch my head.

I hold the camera in the fucking weirdest looking positions. Just spastically. Then I take a picture.

I review....and then I find cool angles that way.

[Pank]

Notice I also gave the subject some "motion" by having the wheels turned and gave the photo some slight "mtv angle".



I agree with everything you posted, but this. While it doesn't hurt initially, b/c you can rotate in post, I would say keep your horizons level unless it looks completely intentional otherwise (ie, diagonal car on hydraulics, level with car, leave BG diagonal). While the slight tilt does make the civic look like its cornering, the lack of a driver and motionless wheels ruins that effect, as does the uneven pavement/concrete.

that is a nice fucking honda, though

[TheSquidd]

The great thing about photography, is everyone can see it differently!

^_^

I dunno. I shoot a lot, both ways, and for some shots I just don't like the straight level shot. It lacks dynamics, motion.

http://www.squidd.org/imagevue/upload/content/Photography%20-%202005%20/Automotive%20Stills/Cadillac_CTSV.jpg

That car doesn't really POP to me, not that adding 5 degrees of tilt would fix that, but I think in certain situations it helps.

Then again if everyone shot the same way, photography wouldn't be as fun.