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

[shanemono4]

Armin, I'd like your advice! I was just using a little pentax point and shoot for these, but I thought they came out pretty decent. I was wondering what you thought about them? I'm just getting into the whole photography thing, a dslr is next on my list haha

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[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by Sil3nt_Ch4os

What do you think of these?

Not too shabby...I really dig the bridge, but I don't like how that tree is growing out of your roof. Any possible way to incorporate the bridge otherwise, weather it's having your car on the bridge itself or shooting the car from a different angle that's not on the grass and/or in front of the tree? I've never been a fan of the graveyard setting for cars...I know Andrew loves it since it suits his theme, but he knows I give him crap about it I also don't like shooting cars on grass, and it seems like from those photos the tree has decided to continue growing out of your car I also don't like how you cut off the car in the last photo. Overall, also try to make sure you car isn't so close to the edge of the frame...remember, rule of thirds, not rule of nine tenths

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by jpjester

Well I have been reading this post for a little while and really don't have the funds for a great camera. I currently own a Polaroid T737 7.0 Megapixels, nothing to write home about. Anyways, i finally got a chance to clean my baby hardcore and take a few pictures. Of all of them I think I have a few decent ones. Thoughts?

Hey, my old D70 was only 6 MP, so no need to worry about that The exposures for these are all actually pretty good. I'd put more distance between the car and the loading dock to add more depth to the shot, but as I can tell from the last photo, you have a really harsh shadow going on because of the time of day you shot the car. It might benefit you to wait until you have some better light, then try again. Composition is pretty good, but you did cut off the car just a smidgen on the second photo, and the last one is pretty center-weighted. Nevertheless, if you didn't tell me what camera you were using, I wouldn't have even given it a second thought. It just goes to show that you can take good photos with a "nothing to write home about" camera

[anthonyfur]

Originally Posted by SkimSTI

i like the pics anthony. i always have a hard time shooting my buddies black 335i. how are you processing these? im assuming multiple exposures merged together, but what type of settings do you use?

nice ride too man

thanks skim. im processing them in lightroom and photoshop. yea multiple images together for lighting exposures and some for HDR.. so im merging alot of images lol

i use a lot of settings in lightroom, thats mostly where i do the processing for exposure, color, sharpness, highlights, shadows, vig, sat, gradients, brush, and more.

thanks!! i miss my old wheels tho 18x9 gforces..
i wanna trade for some silver bbs' tho

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by anthonyfur

wat do you think armin?? finally some shots of my car!! 04 sti

I can see you getting better with each set of photos you post up Black as you know can be a difficult color to shoot, especially in dark surroundings. It definitely looks ominous in these photos, but the car is lacking some shadow detail, especially in on the front of the car. The silver car also has the lack of shadow detail too, and this should be a pretty simple fix in post processing. As for the softness in the last photo, it looks like you had your focus point set to your front wheels, so everything around it is soft. What lens did you use for this shot? From the EXIF info, I'm assuming you're using the kit 18-200mm? It's quite possible that this lens has a particular softness problem at f/4 at that range as well, so it might compound itself with where your focus point is located. Nevertheless, the photos (and your car) are looking good...keep at it!

[anthonyfur]

edit never mind

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by 05-rsx

Just a select few that I didn't mind from a weekend cruise. Came back through the heavily bushfire effected Kinglake area.

It's not fantastic - with the element diffraction-y thing, and the strange grainyness over the rear car (might actually be reflection on the dash, as it was quickly snapped from inside), but there's something I love about this:

Lighting was far from ideal on these two (nice harsh direct light which make lovely hotspots and sharp-edged shadows), and the 'photoshoot was unintentional (as the others tried to work their GPS's ), so I couldn't reposition the cars

I don't mind this one, but there's something that ****s me, but I can't quite put my finger on it. The front bumper was dirty from rain during the day, which makes it look grainy aswell.

The first shot has a lot of appeal to me for two reasons. 1) You cropped it wide, which is something I personally am not used to doing. I'm used to sticking the the standard 3:2 or 4:3 crop, and thus in my head I don't think about shooting in more of a 16:9 crop instead. It's one of the things I myself want to improve upon. 2) The trees and open road just very inviting for someone who loves to drive. Thus, I like the feel of the photo, but I think that if the glare was gone and there was a little more exposure of the trees and cars, it'd be perfect. With the sun being there though, that was probably going to be impossible.

The scenery is very nice for the middle two, and for not being able to reposition the cars, the composition is very good. As for the last photo, what bugs me the most is the glare off the windshield and the hood. It's an easy fix with a circular polarizer though...that would've let this photo really pop. Overall, good job though!

[anthonyfur]

Originally Posted by Verdugo

I can see you getting better with each set of photos you post up Black as you know can be a difficult color to shoot, especially in dark surroundings. It definitely looks ominous in these photos, but the car is lacking some shadow detail, especially in on the front of the car. The silver car also has the lack of shadow detail too, and this should be a pretty simple fix in post processing. As for the softness in the last photo, it looks like you had your focus point set to your front wheels, so everything around it is soft. What lens did you use for this shot? From the EXIF info, I'm assuming you're using the kit 18-200mm? It's quite possible that this lens has a particular softness problem at f/4 at that range as well, so it might compound itself with where your focus point is located. Nevertheless, the photos (and your car) are looking good...keep at it!

thanks armin i appreciate that. yea it is tuff but my car is black and i really wanna get better at shooting black cars for that reason lol. yea thats wat i was going for, a ominous/dark kinda scary theme or watever ahha.

so should i just bring lighten up the shadows more so there not so dark?
actually i was using a 35-70mm f4 lens, and i think the softness of the silver car is because of the merging of the photos maybe? cuz my whole car seems more focused than the silver one..

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by shanemono4

Armin, I'd like your advice! I was just using a little pentax point and shoot for these, but I thought they came out pretty decent. I was wondering what you thought about them? I'm just getting into the whole photography thing, a dslr is next on my list haha

Not bad for a P&S! You've got some good rule of thirds going here, so that's a definitely plus. What's up with the guy in front of the car, and what is he doing? On the second photo, typically I'd have the car positioned so that it's facing toward the middle of the frame, to look like it's going into the photo, rather facing outward. Overall though, you've got a completely wide open parking lot, and you just happened to pick the stall where you've got the tree there to grow out of your roof With all that open space, you're free to be creative...you don't have to park in any of the parking stalls

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by anthonyfur

thanks armin i appreciate that. yea it is tuff but my car is black and i really wanna get better at shooting black cars for that reason lol. yea thats wat i was going for, a ominous/dark kinda scary theme or watever ahha.

so should i just bring lighten up the shadows more so there not so dark?
actually i was using a 35-70mm f4 lens, and i think the softness of the silver car is because of the merging of the photos maybe? cuz my whole car seems more focused than the silver one..

I hear ya And yeah, I would definitely lighten up the shadows, and honestly I don't even think an HDR is really warranted in this situation. Since black and silver (at least in a parking garage) are inherently dark already, there really isn't a high dynamic range to bring out in this situation. If the car was white or yellow, I can definitely see it more probable. I'd be curious to see what you (or I) could do with just standard RAW file in Aperture Priority Mode with the lowest f-stop you got (which I would assume to be f/4).

One thing I should mention too is that a lot of lenses aren't very sharp at the wide open end of the range. Typically, it's not until you get to the really expensive pro-level lenses where you can get ultimate sharpness wide open. Even my 85mm f/1.8, which by far is my sharpest lens, isn't the sharpest wide open at f/1.8...if I stop it down to f/2.2 or f/2.8, it's tack-sharp, but f/1.8 can be a little soft, depending on the situation. On the other hand, my 17-55mm and 70-200mm are both stupid sharp wide open at f/2.8, but even still they're not as sharp as my 85mm at the same aperture.

[Verdugo]

Here's a little change of pace for everyone, if anything to show you why I've been relatively absent from this thread in the past week:

http://www.arminausejo.com/2009/08/3...erani-wedding/

I've been stupid busy processing photos, and just only finished them tonight.

[anthonyfur]

Originally Posted by Verdugo

I hear ya And yeah, I would definitely lighten up the shadows, and honestly I don't even think an HDR is really warranted in this situation. Since black and silver (at least in a parking garage) are inherently dark already, there really isn't a high dynamic range to bring out in this situation. If the car was white or yellow, I can definitely see it more probable. I'd be curious to see what you (or I) could do with just standard RAW file in Aperture Priority Mode with the lowest f-stop you got (which I would assume to be f/4).

One thing I should mention too is that a lot of lenses aren't very sharp at the wide open end of the range. Typically, it's not until you get to the really expensive pro-level lenses where you can get ultimate sharpness wide open. Even my 85mm f/1.8, which by far is my sharpest lens, isn't the sharpest wide open at f/1.8...if I stop it down to f/2.2 or f/2.8, it's tack-sharp, but f/1.8 can be a little soft, depending on the situation. On the other hand, my 17-55mm and 70-200mm are both stupid sharp wide open at f/2.8, but even still they're not as sharp as my 85mm at the same aperture.

yea i have a couple non hdr edits but i was kinda liking these more but ill go back and mess around with other ones more.

can i send you the first photo of my car in raw and see what you could do with it?? i would love to see how it would come out!

so which one would you recommend using out of my lenses, 35-70mm f4, 50mm f1.8, 28mm f2.8?? all the lenses are pretty old, manual focus since i spent all my money on the camera it self ahah but i plan on getting a nikon 18-105mm for a semi-daily then 70-200mm f2.8 and more

[iluvdrt]

Here are a few pics I have whored out a lot. I have not had the time to play a lot (deployed), but I have reading a boat load. When I get back I plan on getting an SLR (but truthfully I love my powershot 110IS).

First shot is of my Lego when I first got it (dont mind the Impreza badge, it came with it, but has since been fixed). I took this pic with a Powershot A75. I think it is one of my best.

F/4.5
exposure 1/100
13.44 mm focal



Next pic was with my Digital Rebel (regular Rebel)

F/9
exposure 1/160
25mm



Here are a few others...




The shadow killed this one.



Not sure what could have been done about this one.




Thanks for the awesome advice a nd CC'ing!!!

[Forgiven]

05-rsx Quote: I don't mind this one, but there's something that ****s me, but I can't quite put my finger on it. The front bumper was dirty from rain during the day, which makes it look grainy aswell.

As previously noted the reflections are there, but what distracts me is that passenger visor....one of those little things that could have been fixed.

[clbd39]

Originally Posted by Verdugo

Here's a little change of pace for everyone, if anything to show you why I've been relatively absent from this thread in the past week:

http://www.arminausejo.com/2009/08/3...erani-wedding/

I've been stupid busy processing photos, and just only finished them tonight.

Great shots!!! very creative lol

[anthonyfur]

armin here is the new edits, no hdr and more detail

[J-Rod 555]

Here's a couple from the auto-x weekend...

[blue-sun]

Detailed my brother in law's Tundra yesterday and took a few pics that I kinda like. These were all with a Canon powershot G5 set on Auto

I wish I woulda got the camera out of the reflection of the mirror. I just love the sky in the mirror.

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by iluvdrt

Here are a few pics I have whored out a lot. I have not had the time to play a lot (deployed), but I have reading a boat load. When I get back I plan on getting an SLR (but truthfully I love my powershot 110IS).

First shot is of my Lego when I first got it (dont mind the Impreza badge, it came with it, but has since been fixed). I took this pic with a Powershot A75. I think it is one of my best.


Thanks for the awesome advice a nd CC'ing!!!

Pretty good shots! You're right about the shadow on that particular photo, and the first one is quite good despite how I feel about shooting on grass. I really like the autumn leaves photo, but the shadows are a little too pronounced. As for the last photo, I probably would've had the cars pointing toward each other instead of in the same direction, or have one car facing the opposite direction so we see the rear of the car. There's also another car sneaking into the photo on the left as well. Good work so far, keep it up!

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by anthonyfur

armin here is the new edits, no hdr and more detail

I totally dig these more. There's shadow detail, yet you still maintain the ominous look

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by J-Rod 555

Here's a couple from the auto-x weekend...

Pretty good! The wide angle helps give the shots some idea of space, however I'd like to see some close crop shots too. The sepia tones are nice, but the shadows are very pronounced, which I think takes away from the shots since you don't get a sense of motion from seeing the wheels spinning. I like the overall feel of the shots nonetheless

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by blue-sun

Detailed my brother in law's Tundra yesterday and took a few pics that I kinda like. These were all with a Canon powershot G5 set on Auto

I wish I woulda got the camera out of the reflection of the mirror. I just love the sky in the mirror.

The truck is definitely clean, you did a good job Now, time to take it out to a nice location or maybe some action shots, along with taking it off auto mode...otherwise, they're just high quality snapshots in my opinion.

[blue-sun]

Originally Posted by Verdugo

The truck is definitely clean, you did a good job Now, time to take it out to a nice location or maybe some action shots, along with taking it off auto mode...otherwise, they're just high quality snapshots in my opinion.

yeah I should have taken it to a better place but it had been a long day in detailig and I was tired, dirty and sweaty.

Any newbie tips for which setting to use if not using the Auto setting?

[Verdugo]

Originally Posted by blue-sun

yeah I should have taken it to a better place but it had been a long day in detailig and I was tired, dirty and sweaty.

Any newbie tips for which setting to use if not using the Auto setting?

I actually recommend to most people to go straight to the manual mode and play around with all the settings, so you can see how each setting affects the photo. Digital is a luxury since we're not wasting film by taking test photos. When I first got my DSLR, I played in manual mode for a good 3 months before trying the other modes just so I could learn what everything did and how each change would affect my photos.

[shanemono4]

Originally Posted by Verdugo

Not bad for a P&S! You've got some good rule of thirds going here, so that's a definitely plus. What's up with the guy in front of the car, and what is he doing? On the second photo, typically I'd have the car positioned so that it's facing toward the middle of the frame, to look like it's going into the photo, rather facing outward. Overall though, you've got a completely wide open parking lot, and you just happened to pick the stall where you've got the tree there to grow out of your roof With all that open space, you're free to be creative...you don't have to park in any of the parking stalls

Haha thanks Armin! I honestly didn't even realize the tree comin out of the hood.... but the first pic my friend was taking some also, I didn't worry too much about it but I really liked the lighting after seeing it haha