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09-29-2008, 05:08 PM | #201 |
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I'd like to hear your suggestions. I don't have a fancy camera so the quality isn't the best but I'm more worried about your thoughts on the overall appearance.
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09-29-2008, 05:11 PM | #202 |
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looks good
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09-29-2008, 05:52 PM | #203 | |
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Quote:
It's cropped a little bit too tight for my tastes, but otherwise not bad at all. Angle's a little too extreme for me on this one, but you've got the wheels turned so that's good. You cut off the back of the car in the photo, and it's hard to shoot at this angle since the sun casts a shadow on the side facing the camera. You can help this by using a little fill flash, but generally you don't want to shoot with the sun at that angle. I like what you did with this one. The only minor critique I have is that if you're doing to do a shot like this, make sure the car is centered in the frame. Not quite the right angle for the sun in this photo. You can tell that it casts a dark shadow on the side of the car facing you, and it causes some hotspots on the car too. The car's also a little close to the left side of the frame, and while I appreciate the patriotism, the flag looks like it's growing out of the car, which is something you don't really want to do. I'd put more of the car in the frame on this shot, at least the whole headlight. It's hard to tell what you're really trying to show off in this photo...I'm guessing the wheels, but if it was the wheels, I'd expect more of an angle of the car to show the face of the wheels more. |
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10-02-2008, 04:02 PM | #204 |
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What do you guys think?
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10-02-2008, 05:32 PM | #205 |
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Looks pretty damn good man, especially given that white is hard to shoot! I honestly don't really have anything to critique photo-wise...if I were to nitpick I'd say just get a little more exposure on that last wheel photo and maybe put a little more space between the car and the wall in the first photo, but that's pretty much it. Good job!
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10-03-2008, 08:22 AM | #206 |
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Thanks man. Honestly, some of your older shots are what originally got me into photography. $3k later; it's all your fault! j/k
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10-03-2008, 11:41 AM | #207 |
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Glad to be of service! Btw I have a friend in North Carolina who's looking for someone who can take good photos of his A3...shoot me a PM if you're interested
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10-03-2008, 07:46 PM | #208 |
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10-04-2008, 06:01 PM | #209 |
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cool thread.. thanx
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10-04-2008, 07:13 PM | #210 |
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Hey I took pictures of my old car in that same spot as your M3!
It's so pretty out there huh? |
10-05-2008, 08:54 AM | #211 |
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I'll have to get some good photos and post them in here. I hope to get our cars waxed here pretty soon, before fall/winter, so I'll do it after that.
Chris |
10-06-2008, 11:04 PM | #212 |
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Armin, do you mind doing a quick write up on diffrent lenses?
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10-07-2008, 01:18 AM | #213 |
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Well, there really isn't anything quick about talking about different lenses I'm a Nikon guy so I can't really say much on the Canon lens side. Was there anything specifically about lenses that you'd like some advice about?
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10-07-2008, 08:55 AM | #214 | |
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C'mon man, you know you can do a lens write up, like what type of lens is best to get what shot and why. You could even use Tokina lenses to keep it unspecific to Canon or Nikon. |
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10-07-2008, 11:17 AM | #215 |
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Like the advantages/disadvantages of diffrent mm lenses, or info about apochromat lenses, process lenses, fisheyes, stereoscopic, and just stuff like that.
Like UltimateLurker said, nothing specific, just everything. |
10-07-2008, 03:40 PM | #216 |
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Okay...bear with me then, 'cause it will be anything but quick
What's the right lens for me? The beauty of having a DSLR is the ability to change lenses, given the type of photo you want and the situation. However, the multitude of lens options can be quite daunting, so it really helps to at least know what all the numbers and letters mean. Each of these numbers and letters can help guide you to figure out if the lens you're looking at is indeed what you really need. First and foremost, let's take a look at focal length. Focal length is determined by the length in millimeters noted on the lens itself. The reason why lens manufacturers decided to measure this is millimeters isn't important for our needs, but if you're truly curious, feel free to do the math with Bob Atkins here. The main point to remember is that a short distance means you get a wider angle, whereas a longer distance gives you more zoom power, or "telephoto". For example, taking a photo at 12mm will give you a wider view than taking a photo at 180mm. Here's a couple photos to show this difference: 12mm 180mm To further complicate things, the majority of the DSLRs out there use a sensor that crops the frame a bit, so the focal length is a little different between a typical DSLR and a film camera or "full frame" DSLR. However, that difference doesn't really become a factor unless you're doig large prints and need every extra pixel of space to maintain resolution. So what will work best for automotive photography? Actually, both do. Since the majority of automotive photography will be done outdoors, you have the freedom to use long focal lengths since space is not an issue. Wide angle shots will allow you to show off a nice background behind the photo, or where space is an issue, such as at a car show. If you don't have much room to take photos, the wide angle will be a better choice, such as in this photo: On the other hand, you can use a telephoto shot (combined with a low aperture) to really single out a car from its background. If you're shooting motorsports, you'll no doubt need a longer focal length lens to capture shots like this, since safety (especially on a track) becomes an issue: Constant vs. Variable Aperture Along with focal length, the other thing to consider when choosing a lens is its minimum aperture, and the type of glass being used. This also determines if you have a "fast" lens or a not-so fast lens or even slow lens. Generally speaking, a fast lens is a lens that has a low, constant aperture, typically f/2.8 or lower. This is particularly important when it comes to zoom lenses. For example, my 17-55mm f/2.8 allows me to shoot wide open at f/2.8 at the wide end at 17mm, and also allows me shoot wide open at f/2.8 when zoomed to 55mm, and every range in between as well. On the other hand, my old D70's kit lens was a variable aperture, 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5, which means that at 18mm, the widest I could shoot was f/3.5, but when zoomed to 70mm, the widest I could shoot was f/4.5. Why is this important? Well, remember that the wider the aperture (lower f-stop), the more light you're allowing to go through your lens and to your sensor or film. Since f/3.5 is a smaller hole than f/2.8, there is less light going into your camera. With less light going in, the longer it'll take to auto focus, thus the lens isn't as "fast" as the f/2.8. This also becomes and issue in low light situations, since a lens with a wider aperture will allow you to shoot photos without having to increase your ISO as much or need a tripod when there's less light available. Moreover, keeping the aperture constant is important since when zoomed to 70mm or more, having a lower aperture allows you to have a greater depth of field and again, allowing for more light to enter the camera. Most motorsports photographers that are shooting cars at high speed will no doubt be using a big zoom lens at constant, low apertures, such as f/2.8 or f/4. Of course, you do pay a higher cost for constant aperture lenses, but once you use one, you can easily spoil yourself after only a few minutes of use. A lens with a variable aperture may cost less than half the price of a constant aperture version. Types of Lenses There are a good number of different types of lenses out there, so I'll try to break them down as simply as possible: Zoom Lenses -- Zoom lenses are any lens that allows you to change the focal length. Most people use these since it allows freedom in composition. The lens that came with your DSLR when you bought it or any of the point and shoot cameras out there is a zoom lens. While you do have freedom to zoom in or out for shots, generally the price you pay for this freedom is sharpness of the photo and higher minimum apertures. Prime or "Standard" Lenses -- Primes are lenses that have a fixed focal length, such as 50mm. They do not allow you to zoom, so you actually have to move around quite a bit in order to get the composition you want. While this may seem inconvenient for some people, I've found that shooting with primes has helped me get better at composition, since I actually have to move around and change angles or positions to get the shot I want. On top of that, generally standard lenses are much faster than their zoom lens counterparts, and allow for greater depth of field thanks to their lower apertures, such as f/1.8 all the way down to f/1 or f/1.2. To add to this, prime lenses tend to be much sharper than zoom lenses as well. Macro Lenses -- A very close-up view of a fly's eyes or a bee's wings is typically taken with a macro lens. These lenses allow you to zoom in very close on a subject and are specialized to having a very small focus distance, allowing you to get such striking photos. These aren't used too often in automotive photography, but can be put to good use when taking engine bay photos or any photo that needs you to focus on a small, specific subject. Fisheye Lenses -- If you ever watch a skating video, you'll no doubt see fisheye lenses in use. These are the lenses that bend the image so much that everything looks a bit round, with a black round border around the image. This works well to get a very wide angle shot, but generally aren't very good for automotive photography because the image is so distorted. Often times you'll see these with focal lengths such as 8mm or 10.5mm. There's a time and place for fisheye lenses, but that usually isn't with automotive photography. Apochromat Lenses -- These lenses tend to usually be used only for scientific use (such as astronomy), but lens manufacturers have put it to good use in some of the glass that they use. These lenses (or the glass used in the lens) is designed specifically to reduce chromatic aberrations in photos, also known as purple fringing. A more detailed explanation can be found on DP Review. If a lens is using this special type of glass to reduce this, they'll have a specific designation for it, which they also lump in with other features such as giving better color tones, contrast, and sharpness. For Nikons, you can find these features in their "ED" glass, Canons in their "L" glass, and Sigmas in their "APO" glass. Process Lenses -- Process lenses are lenses used primarily in the printing industry to give 1-to-1 images for reproduction. With the invention of the scanner, the use of process lenses has gone down dramatically, but you can still find them out there. However, they usually aren't available for 35mm or DSLR cameras, and you'll usually only see them available for large format cameras. More information on process lenses can be found here. Shift/Tilt Lenses -- Primarily used for panorama photos and architecture, these lenses are great for keeping the proper viewing angle with little distortion, but are highly specialized and typically not used for automotive photography. They take time and patience to set up but when properly used, can really take some unique photos. Stereoscopic Lenses -- I haven't seen a 35mm/SLR version of a stereoscopic lens, but it is a pretty old technology. It's hard to beat the description of this lens and type of photography that's posted here on Wikipedia I think that just about covers it. Just as I said...not going to be quick |
10-07-2008, 03:45 PM | #217 |
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^good write-up armin...
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10-07-2008, 03:54 PM | #218 |
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Oh one other thing...there isn't going to be one lens that you can use for everything. Here is my list of lenses, and I have used each and every one for automotive photograph (but not necessarily at the same photography session):
Nikkor 17-55mm f/2.8 Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 Tokina 12-24mm f/4 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 Nikkor 85mm f/1.8 Nikkor 60mm f/2.8 Micro |
10-07-2008, 06:58 PM | #219 |
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Thanks alot, I got alot of usefull info from that.
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10-07-2008, 09:00 PM | #220 |
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well i finally picked up a flash, 550EX, now i just have to figure out how to use it. i know i should/need to go remote
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10-07-2008, 10:26 PM | #221 |
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How do you get the pics with the loooong drawn out lights? Is it your lense which is set at a slower speed to close or what? Here is what I mean...
I'm talking about the cars lights; how they are like streaks. Also, what do you think of these couple of pics I took at a Car Show (I JUST got into photography) |
10-07-2008, 10:30 PM | #222 |
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you need to set a LONG shutter speed and small aperture... ex like 15-20 second shutter and F/22 or more
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10-07-2008, 10:52 PM | #223 |
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Wow, I appreciate the the effort you put into that post Armin, very good info!!!
A few more questions... Is it safe to say that for automotive photography, ***402;2.5 is the lowest one should go without seeing softness in some areas of the vehicle, and for this reason, the ***402;2.8 lenses are the most prized by automotive photographers? Secondly, why would someone choose an 80mm ***402;1.8 over a 50mm ***402;1.8? What would be the benefits of using the 80, increased background blur when racked out? Lastly, what's the secret to getting nice, clear pix of a moving target...at night, or is this even possible? |
10-07-2008, 11:30 PM | #224 |
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My guess is with a flash and really long shutter speed, dont quote me on it though
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10-07-2008, 11:30 PM | #225 |
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i mean shutter speed
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