[oneintheory]

thanks. i use artificial light. typically shoot at f/8 or f/9 when shooting cars.

[The1]

Originally Posted by oneintheory

thanks. i use artificial light. typically shoot at f/8 or f/9 when shooting cars.

doing this will add a mountain of sharpness to your photos, Also, don't just point it at the car, aim your focus point at the spot you want people to see first, like the edge of the hood near the headlight. People don't want their eye drawn to a mirror.

That being said, single point autofocus is great for doing such things, if you leave everything in "auto" the camera is taking a wild guess about what you want in focus, or it will choose several points in the shot and take an average, this can lead to less sharpness.

tripods do wonders, if you have a few of them, and you have a few external flashes that you can mount on the tripod, you can have some fun with the lighting.

don't park the car under signs if you can help it.

don't be afraid to get a little closer to the car, i'm seeing a lot of unnecessary background, this is just making the car look like an object that happened to be in the picture, rather then the star of the show.

As others have said, find a nice clean white surface, fill the frame with it and take a picture using the light that you will be using in your shoot, this sets the camera up nicely, you'd be amazed how well shots come out after. Easiest is a nice clean white sheet of paper.

[Aries326]

Originally Posted by M_Six

As others have stated, parking garages just don't cut it for car pics (unless you have über-talent like John Z). The light is awful, the background is awful, and so on. The reflections alone are bad enough. Also, your car has very cool angel eye lights. Use them to add some color and light to the scene.

#5 wasn't bad, but the rule of thirds also states your subject should always be "entering" the picture, not "leaving" it. #5 has way too much wasted space behind the car. I cropped some out, but from now on try to have the space in front of your car, even if the shot is from behind.

I'm not advocating Photoshop as an excuse to take bad pics either, but you can greatly alter the looks of a pic with it.

That's pretty sweet! I don't have the equipment to take shots like that but I think I've got a lot of input from you guys to vastly improve my shots the next time around. I've got this week off so I'm definitely going to find a spot to shoot my car at the lake with the leaves changing color.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by Aries326

That's pretty sweet! I don't have the equipment to take shots like that but I think I've got a lot of input from you guys to vastly improve my shots the next time around. I've got this week off so I'm definitely going to find a spot to shoot my car at the lake with the leaves changing color.

I didn't take that shot. You did. I just adjusted it in Photoshop.

[Aries326]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I didn't take that shot. You did. I just adjusted it in Photoshop.

I guess what I wanted to say is I don't equipment to take shots like that without fixing it up in photoshop. The only way to take a shot where the car is enshrouded in darkness would be to use special lights that only light up parts of the car like in that video posted earlier in the thread.

[rodi]

just get a tripod and a flashlight.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by rodi

just get a tripod and a flashlight.

You and Thoreau, rodi. Two of a kind.

[Aries326]

Originally Posted by rodi

just get a tripod and a flashlight.

Really? A plain old flashlight will do? I'll have to try it out.

[oneintheory]

Yeah. It takes practice to avoid hot spots, but it works.

[Aries326]

Thanks for all the tips, guys!!! Unfortunately, it looks like the rain and lousy weather is here to stay until next year. The Bimmer is going to be covered up for the winter. Already I can't wait to get the new rims and tires this spring, take some shots and hopefully they get the seal of approval.

[Aries326]

So, we finally had some good weather after a miserable two weeks and my car was originally put away for the winter but I couldn't resist driving it today. I brought it out and took some shots. Nothing special. Same old angles. I need to get creative with my angles and composition. Anyway, here are the shots. I played around with the shots using Aperture plug-ins. I hope you guys can comment on what I did do or didn't do right. Thanks.

[oneintheory]

you should research the rule of thirds. i, for one, can't stand the off-kilt horizon shot, but i suppose that's all taste. however, you're supposed to have plenty of leading space in front of your subject. you want it to be entering the frame. having it 'exit' the frame is generally considered to be compositionally weak.

[Aries326]

Originally Posted by oneintheory

you should research the rule of thirds. i, for one, can't stand the off-kilt horizon shot, but i suppose that's all taste. however, you're supposed to have plenty of leading space in front of your subject. you want it to be entering the frame. having it 'exit' the frame is generally considered to be compositionally weak.

Yeah, I think you're the one who mentioned before about not "exiting" the frame. I don't know why, I just find that shot visually appealing. Maybe it's because I use those shots on my laptop screen and I sort of like the way it looks like the car is coming out of my screen. Anyway, I tried to straighten out the off-kilt horizon shot. I actually like it. Thank for the tips.

[claritycheck]

I actually liked this picture, so I played with the lighting a bit.

[Aries326]

Originally Posted by e for effort

I actually liked this picture, so I played with the lighting a bit.

Wow, that's pretty cool. What program did you use to play around with the lighting?

After hanging around these forums two months, I know why people prefer the M bumper. I could just imagine my car with one. This look is definitely too tame looking.

[claritycheck]

I used photoshop. Alternatively when I was new to the post processing stuff, I used a program called "Photoscape" and it was really easy to navigate and edit with. It's free, so if you're interested you should take a look at it! Best thing is that it's really straight forward and noob friendly.

[Aries326]

Originally Posted by e for effort

I used photoshop. Alternatively when I was new to the post processing stuff, I used a program called "Photoscape" and it was really easy to navigate and edit with. It's free, so if you're interested you should take a look at it! Best thing is that it's really straight forward and noob friendly.

I just checked out your blog. Nice pics you've got there!

[claritycheck]

Originally Posted by Aries326

I just checked out your blog. Nice pics you've got there!

Thank you!