MidnighTT

I'm not sure where to post this, so please repoint me if needed. I'm doing a full polish and wax job today on my 996 and want to take some nice pics tomorrow. My car is Midnight Blue Metallic - very dark, but not black. What do you guys suggest for:

1) Background (distant or close, dark or light, building or nature)?
2) Ambient light (noon sun, evening, dusk, shade on a bright day, overcast)?

I'm in the San Fran bay area, so I could go to the coast or the mountains, brown rolling hills or dark green forest.

I'm using a typical digicam, Minolta S414. TIA!

Jeff

cdodkin

Jeff,

Background - subject up to you - keep it away from the car to help it stand out - using a wide angle lens and getting in close to the car will help here.

Alternative is to use a long lens and narrow depth of field to isolate the car from it's backdrop.

Think about how you want the car portrayed - city or country.

Don't go too dark or you'll loose the car in the dark background.

Lighting - late afternoon or early evening is best - the lighting from a flat sky with low sun will make the car look really good - the less bright spots on the paintwork the better.

As the car is dark, it will tend to fool the exposure reading on the camera, and the shots will be over exposed.

Either take a mid grey piece of card with you, and get your exposure reading off of that - or, you can use grass or green trees that are lit with the same lighting, to get you an accurate exposure - they work the same as grey card as far as the camera is concerned.

cdodkin

Low, wide angle, close to the car to separate from background

Late afternoon lighting:

cdodkin

Alternative: - long lens - low viewpoint - early am lighting - narrow depth of field separates car from background

cdodkin

Same low angle long lens approach - tilted camera to add dynamic to the shot and help the car fill the frame

cdodkin

Wide angle - high viewpoint - using the buildings to draw the eye through the shot - overcast lighting - B&W conversion in Photoshop

911URGE

All great tips. Im more of the show me type. A fellow Rennlisters gallery is a nice example of angles, lighting and backgrounds with a dark 964. He played with BW conversion as well.

Puma1824's Gallery

One suggestion though - remove your plates before taking photos since the white CA plates really detract from pictures of dark cars.

Have fun with it and post some of your pic's.

Mike Murphy

At the right angle, with the right clean, wax & polish, your car will look like a mirror. That's what you want to capture, IMO. Late afternoon sunlight is good.

MidnighTT

My car does look like a mirror, which makes it hard to see what color it really is! I'm heading out to an open rural area at about 6:30 this evening to give it a shot. Many thanks for all the tips!

Jeff

cdodkin

So - how did the photoshoot go?

MidnighTT

Well ... poorly. I am not a good photographer. I tried to back away and then use the zoom, but ended up chopping off part of the car. And I have a hard time with the dark car and a bright background. Next time I'll wait another hour.

The dialups will probably ban me for this, but here they come!




Yes, I forgot to take ALL the tape off!




Jeff

San Antonio Mobile Car Wash

The pics look good.

Mike Murphy

still looks good

MoeMistry

Jeff, the car looks great. Excellent work Now we have to get something to treat all the black trim