Armin’s Quick and Dirty Tips and Tricks to Automotive Photography

[sourdeeezz]

You definitely have some sick skills brotha! would love to learn how you make those images look so good!

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[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by fivestringslinger

I may regret this... but I'd like a pro's opinion since I'm just getting started in the photography hobby.

This is my favorite shot I've been able to capture of my car so far.
Rebel XSi, EF-S 18-55mm (yeah, yeah... kit lens), f/5.6, ISO 100, tripod, 0.6 Exposure.

And same photo, after trying out some post production techniques in Photoshop (including a LOT of clone stamping to get rid of the distracting background). Next time I'm going to try and shoot in front of a better background first rather than doing all the work to try and fix it after the fact. Lesson learned. I also went a little overboard with the soft light layer in a couple spots. Made it look a little artificial in a couple spots.

Please be gentle...

First off, I'm not gentle...we don't learn from being gentle

Your processing is pretty good, but the cloning on the back wall is pretty splotchy in places, even making what looks like a North America shape. While you were at it with the cloning, I probably would've cloned out that little yellow reflection off the bottom of the rear door too. Overall, I'd say the front end needs a little more light, and then burning the headlights darker only made it worse. I also don't like how the car is kind of leaning back and is centered vertically in the frame.

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by iron_grenadier

Here are a few of my latest pictures. Any comments and advice are appreciated.

1. This one was taken up a local canyon at approximately 8:00 PM. It feels like the colors are too washed out but when I try to up the exposure the highlights are blown out.


2. This photo was taken at the exact same spot as number 1 but was taken 10 minutes earlier and from a different angle. Would it have helped to turn the wheels to one side or is the composition ok?


3. The picture was taken at about 1:00 PM on a very bright day. Is there anything I could do to improve this style of black and white photo?

Just FYI first of all, it's a lot easier to critique photos if they're a little higher in resolution. 1024px on its longest size is just about perfect. We can't really see details and such when you use photos that are less than 800px wide.

The colors do look a little washed out on the first photo, but I think that sign is a bigger distraction. There's also a big tree growing out of the roof very prominently...if it wasn't such a dark tree, it probably wouldn't be bad at all, but since it contrasts so much with the car, it's very noticeable. I'd be curious to see how much the highlights really get blown out with increased exposure though, since I feel like there's still definitely some room for more exposure if you shot in RAW.

The second photo is exposed well and turning the wheels might help, but it's not totally necessary. The main problem with this photo is that the wide angle lens is making the front of the car very fat, while it slims down as you go back toward the rear of the car.

Your third photo really just needs a better overall location really. I think the contrast is a little too much in this case too.

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by INKMAN

Nothing special. Just practicing.

Gorgeous lighting, but your car is a little dirty I like the first one the best out of the two, not sure if I'm totally sold on the angle of the second one. I think it also might be time for you to start trying to balance the exposures on the different sides of the car, so that the area in the shadows isn't quite so much darker than the area in the light. You're definitely making awesome progress either way!

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by coldmm803

It has been a while since I've looked in here let alone posted. Got to take some photos at a cars and coffee meet and happy with how these came out. Comments appreciated!

Nice subject matter! I think the first photo would definitely benefit from more exposure. It sucks that it's half in the shadow, but since this was at a Cars and Coffee, there's obviously not much you can do about that. The second one could use a little more exposure too, along with a polarized windshield

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by howzmidyktzt

A few shots I took when I was vacationing in Santa Fe last week. Nikon D60 with standard 18-55 lens.

Pretty good stuff. I wish the tops of the gas pumps weren't cut off though, and I'd like to see more of your car than just that one shot Interesting processing on the last shot...I like the vintage style but maybe with a little less purple/magenta tones.

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by SM_Khelben

A couple shots from a recent SCCA Rally

Nice compositions, exposures, and sense of speed. I just wish they were a little bit sharper overall. Otherwise, you're in really good shape overall.

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by imac6471

Need some advice on a few things. Just bought my first DSLR and went out shooting the other day. I was in auto just to see how it comes out. My car came out underexposed but the rest looks pretty good. What are some settings that would be good for shooting a black car while the sun is out? Shooting a black car in general? Is shooting midday with sun out a no no? Any input is greatly appriciated

First off, take it off auto. You won't learn anything about your camera if you're just using the auto setting. Second, I have a whole section in my 2nd post on this thread regarding shooting in midday sun. The best thing to do is...don't. Black cars require a little more playing around with settings and such. Depending on your camera, you might have to set it to spot metering so that it gets the black car exposure correct, but you run the risk of blowing out the highlights all around it. This becomes even more of a problem if you're shooting a black car in the middle of the day. If you absolutely must shoot a black car in midday sun, your best bet is either going to be taking multiple exposures and combining them later in post-processing, and/or using some sort of artificial lighting to get the exposure to match. For artificial lighting, you're going to need something strong, and your built-in pop-up flash won't be enough.

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by 07LegacyGT

haven't thrown anything up here in a while...one i like quite a bit. Upshift flame is tough catch sometimes on a high revving V8 N/A.

Nice stuff, love that first shot especially. They're both technically good, but I feel like they still need some more punch in some way. I'm not sure if that's a processing thing or something with composition.

[07LegacyGT]

idk how you would give it more punch...any suggestions.

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by 07LegacyGT

idk how you would give it more punch...any suggestions.

You've definitely got a good base to start with...some post-processing could help quite a bit. Bump up the saturation a little, add some creative ND filter to the sky and/or road, adjust curves to bring out more detail/contrast in the car and the road around it...there's definitely some things you can do. Check out Alex Wong's shots on 500px...he's amazing and does wonders with motorsports photos:

http://500px.com/emotiveimage

[Verdugo]

I've been really busy lately helping with planning Forum Fest 2013 on Saturday up here locally, so please excuse my absence from here in the past few weeks. Here's a couple photos that I took when we started pushing the main marketing campaign for the show last month, with a little Kodak Portra 400 UC style processing:

[Saleen326]

A few shots of my most recent panning practice. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

1/125 sec
f/18.0
200 mm
ISO 200

Rose Cup Races 8 by Saleen326, on Flickr

1/125 sec
f/18.0
200 mm
ISO 200

Rose Cup Races 3 by Saleen326, on Flickr

1/125 sec
f/18.0
200 mm
ISO 200

Rose Cup Races 2 by Saleen326, on Flickr

[fivestringslinger]

Originally Posted by Verdugo

First off, I'm not gentle...we don't learn from being gentle

Your processing is pretty good, but the cloning on the back wall is pretty splotchy in places, even making what looks like a North America shape. While you were at it with the cloning, I probably would've cloned out that little yellow reflection off the bottom of the rear door too. Overall, I'd say the front end needs a little more light, and then burning the headlights darker only made it worse. I also don't like how the car is kind of leaning back and is centered vertically in the frame.

That's about as honest and gentle as I could have asked, actually! At least you didn't tell me that I suck at life and to go... I was kind of expecting that. This is NASIOC, after all.

But seriously, though. Thank you for the review. I missed that door reflection, and I agree that the cloning is FAR from spectacular, as well as burning the headlights - but keep in mind this was (literally) my very first attempt at it. I'll be sure to take my time and mind the details more next time.

I agree 100% on the framing now that you've pointed it out and I'll pay more careful attention to that in the future. Over time, I've noticed that centering things up too much is a bit of a bad habit of mine. As far as the car leaning back on an angle? Well... it was. That particular section of the parking garage was the only area that was free of other cars and it was a ramp up to the roof level. It probably wasn't an ideal place to try and shoot given the slope and the busy background. Lesson learned.

Aside from trying to position the car better and use the existing lighting, would you suggest using a diffused fill flash in situations like that?

Thank you again. I'll be ordering a set of wheels soon and once those are on I wanted to try and shoot again. I'll see if I can put what I've learned into practice.

[INKMAN]

Originally Posted by Verdugo

Gorgeous lighting, but your car is a little dirty I like the first one the best out of the two, not sure if I'm totally sold on the angle of the second one. I think it also might be time for you to start trying to balance the exposures on the different sides of the car, so that the area in the shadows isn't quite so much darker than the area in the light. You're definitely making awesome progress either way!

My car is never clean. I always have a problem getting the lighting even on the car. The first shot was actually shot towards the son which is why the shadow is so noticeable on the back. Any tips?

[avidworks]

So... Shooting at or close to wide open (I only have a 17-50mm f/2.8 and a 50mm 1.8 and want to be able to get a little background separation)... is there an "easy" way to gauge how much of the car will be in focus depending on distance? I know there's the DOF calculator, etc., but it's pretty complicated. I usually end up shooting around f4 or f5.6 because anything less I end up with a lot of out of focus or partially focused images (I definitely notice it more if I shoot wide open and recompose after locking focus, I need to get out of that habit as I know the smallest shift in the focus plane will affect the image at those apertures).

I've certainly improved on it quite a bit recently, just looking for some helpful tips to find the limit.

This shot was 50 mm, f/1.8 and was pretty happy with the result.

http://i.imgur.com/wKmORQC.jpg

[SkimSTI]

Originally Posted by _adam

So... Shooting at or close to wide open (I only have a 17-50mm f/2.8 and a 50mm 1.8 and want to be able to get a little background separation)... is there an "easy" way to gauge how much of the car will be in focus depending on distance?

there is no magic number behind this. it is all relative with your distance to the subject as well as the focal length of the lens. if for example, you are 20 ft from a car and you shoot at 2.8, you could have nice seperation with a good part of the car in focus (as long as you have a good distance in your background)... however, stand 5 ft in front of the car and shoot with 2.8 you will have a very thin plane of focus.

just have to play with it. if you want good separation, find a big open area. even at 5.6 it would have quite a bit of blur in the background.


another example for this. i shoot a lot of macro. generally between f11-f16. and the focus is extremely thin being inches away from subjects.

worry less about your f stop and worry more about your locations. also, consider other forms of separation... color separation. light separation. all these things can be equally as appealing as blur separation if done properly. honestly, if you would have gotten closer to your subject, you could have shot at f4-5.6 and had a really blurry background. but you shot further away and used a larger aperture. not only did this not get the separation you wanted, but it also blew out the sky and lost detail.. f1.4-f2.8 is more ideal for those low light situations, to be able to get your shutter speed up for a sharp image.. if you want to shoot wider mid day, invest in an ND filter.


not the greatest example, but shot at F4, with good distance between the background and subject. (backdrop was probably about 60 feet away at least)

[avidworks]

I hear ya. On that specific shot I was trying to get the pallets in the background in the shot, so I guess that's a bad example for that post. All valid points, though.

[rsutton1223]

Descending The Blue Ridge by rsutton198 | oneninety8.com, on Flickr

[DNut]

Finally bought a circular polarizer, although I'm still getting used to it.


Went for a drive early this morning:

[Max713]

Caught this guy sitting in the parking lot at the track today. No control over placement, cool truck nonetheless.

[silve225]

[Saleen326]

My most recent photo shoot. 2008 BMW 535i w/Dinan stage 2. Trying a few detail shots and a side profile. Let me know how I can improve. Thanks.

Nikon D7000 w/18-200mm
13 sec
f/8.0 @ 130mm
ISO 100

BMW 6 by Saleen326, on Flickr

Nikon D7000 w/18-200mm
2.5 sec
f/8.0 @ 60mm
ISO 100

BMW 3 by Saleen326, on Flickr

Nikon D7000 w/18-200mm
2 sec
f/8.0 @ 112mm
ISO 100

BMW 2 by Saleen326, on Flickr

[askthierry]

I have been using my phone for pics and get some good results. any tip on app and software to get the best of it

[SkimSTI]

while i've gotten a little bit of feedback already, from the man, Armin.. i thought i'd share what ive been working on recently. More composite work. definitely feeling a little more confident with this stuff... now just for a bit more fine tuning. happy to see myself improving as years go on.