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A few pictures of our cars I have taken recently - looking for photography advice
Hey guys, I wanted to share some pictures I have taken over the last few weeks, and hopefully get some feedback on things I can do to improve my pictures as an extreme novice. I actually took hundreds of pictures, but these are the ones that I thought came out the best!
To be honest I will never be even remotely as good as some of the pictures that I have seen posted here and on other boards, and that is not my goal. I have too many other hobbies (pretty much all centered around the cars) that I am more interested in developing at this time. I just want to be able to take good pictures to share with friends and on the car forums.
Right now I am using a Nikon D5500 that I got a few months ago. Before that it was a gopro, and then of course before that it was the cell phone. I have studied the pictures that I have seen posted here and elsewhere that I thought looked great, and have tried to emulate those results in my own pictures. I just have the cheapest lense that came with the camera right now, but was looking to pick up a better one soon. All I will be taking pictures of are cars, and possibly a few "nature" pictures on our vacation coming up. We are renting a beach house, so I would like to be able to take some cool pictures from the back porch looking out over the ocean.
So my two questions:
1. Looking at these pictures is there anything I am doing wrong or right? What can I do, as a novice to improve?
2. What Nikon lense would you recommend specifically for taking pictures of cars like above to get the best results the easiest? I would like to keep the price reasonable, so hopefully under $1k. Right now my main hobby is detailing the cars (thankfully since its a full time job), so I would rather spend all day cleaning them up and then an hour taking photographs, instead of the other way around.
I'll share my 2 cents. It's never the camera, its always the lens that does the magic. 70-200 would be really nice for Automotive photography.
Lighting plays a huge role in photography. Use Sun as a primary light source. Take a look at tons of informative videos available on Shadows & Highlights on youtube.
Also real magic happens in Post processing/Editing which sadly takes longer than taking pictures.
Are these pictures edited or straight out of camera?
Just my 2c, as I'm no more than a former amateur in photography. Outside, in landscape setting, you won't much improve on what the camera in a modern cell phone gives you. You could flatten the perspective with a long lens but that tends to make the shot less dramatic. Or, by using a big aperture, you could reduce your depth of focus so that the background is blurred: a 101 trick for portraits, but why would you want it on a car shot?
Low light and interiors -- that's where you want a bright lens and big sensor (and/or tripod if it fits!). Or if you want to take an action shot on a curve with loaded suspension, the sort that Car & Driver always has -- there you'd want that 70-200.
That out of the way, I love your first picture! Sheer visual drama of bright white against dirty gray.
I like #2 and #4 best with the off-center subjects... I would do that in more shots, aiming for the 1/3 and 2/3 lines. #1, #7, #13 I think could use a little less ground and more sky.
Keep it up, we could always use more car photography on here.
Nice pictures. I particularly like the first one, the way the converging lines draw your eye to the car and the back wall frames it.
I'm amateur at best, but I agree with the lens comment. Also a lot of the wonderful pictures we see in magazines and online are the result of additional lighting (either reflectors or flash/es) and post processing. In a Photoshop class I took the instructor showed us a mountainscape he shot and sold. It was stunning. Then he showed us the original. It looked like an ordinary snapshot--good lighting, but pretty regular looking. He then went through the multi-multi-steps it took to end up with his final result. Your next step could be to buy a book or take a class in photography. And after that get Photoshop and take a class.
I like the contrast of environment you have used. In particular 1, 6 and 9 are to me striking. Others there maybe a bit too much environment. I'm just starting to take photos of cars as well and I do like using a shallow depth of field to sometimes draw the eye away from a busy background to the car or to help focus on a particular part of the car more than another.
I will at some point play with lights, but I think natural lighting works well, just finding it in the right direction sometimes can be hard. Morning and evening light can also be used to good advantage to add some interesting color.
Good comments here. I'd suggest that you use a shallower DOF in some of your photos. For example look at the link in vivekg's post (#6) above. He uses a DOF that is (IMHO) too shallow, and it often makes for an unpleasant result. But some of his shots are quite nice. Experiment to see what pleases you. As you know, digital film is free, so get a nice shot and shoot it with different exposures.
A semi-pro photog once told me "spend the money on glass" and he's right. You can get a very good Nikon lens for under $1000, and that's really all you need to spend. You don't need 200mm. For your DX, the 18-55 gives a decent wide-angle and enough zoom to get the job done and it's sharp enough. I use the Nikkor 24-85mm f3.5-4.5 but I have an FX camera, so it's roughly comparable in zoom to the 18-55 on DX although a better lens.
For me, shooting a car is difficult because you have so little control over lighting. Add to that all of those reflective surfaces and a limit to where you can place the car, and it takes forever just to prepare for the shot. I try to minimize the background clutter.
Also, don't forget the "magic hour", which is right before sunset or right after sunrise. It gives you a special, soft light, that sometimes adds drama to your photo.
Me, personally, besides simple cropping, I don't do any post processing, but that's primarily because I'm lazy and I spend all day in front of a computer for work, so I don't want to do it for "fun".
Good comments here. I'd suggest that you use a shallower DOF in some of your photos. For example look at the link in vivekg's post (#6) above. He uses a DOF that is (IMHO) too shallow, and it often makes for an unpleasant result. But some of his shots are quite nice. Experiment to see what pleases you. As you know, digital film is free, so get a nice shot and shoot it with different exposures.
Totally agree with the advice here. I did overdo the DOF on a few shots, though some are on purpose because I happen to like them that way ( and have versions that aren't as shallow). If you are in a location where you can play then definitely get a feel for many settings by trying out the full range of aperture while on a tripod. Of course where you focus changes what parts of the scene are going to be in focus. The more you get a feel for this the less post processing. I am still getting a feel for including the whole depth of the car while blurring the background ( very different depth for a vehicle compared to people :-) ).
Glass is important, but if you like primes there's no need to break the bank. For instance the $240 Nikon 50mm f/1.4G is one of the sharpest, clearest lenses ever built. I use it way more than my $1000 lenses. Ken Rockwell's site has great reviews of like every lens.
A lot of the responses here assume that the OP understands the basics of photography, lenses, exposures, depth of field and the like. Vivek, for instance, clearly understands how to manipulate an image by altering focal lengths, exposure times etc. (I really like the photo of the rear of the car with a shallow depth of field). I think that the learning curve is pretty steep and will require a lot of effort on the OP's part if he/she is really serious about getting high quality images.
1. Looking at these pictures is there anything I am doing wrong or right? What can I do, as a novice to improve?
2. What Nikon lense would you recommend specifically for taking pictures of cars like above to get the best results the easiest? I would like to keep the price reasonable, so hopefully under $1k. Right now my main hobby is detailing the cars (thankfully since its a full time job), so I would rather spend all day cleaning them up and then an hour taking photographs, instead of the other way around.
1. Work on your exposure; it's extremely inconsistent. Some shots are over-exposed and some are under-exposed. Also, try experimenting with your compositions. A couple shots are creative, but most are very basic "here's the car in the middle of the frame" shots. Try some different locations...parking garages are literally the most played-out location in the history of car photography.
2. Get a Nikon 50mm, or perhaps a 35mm since you have a crop body. I shoot with Nikon bodies and I only use Nikon lenses and filters...I haven't had good results with "off-brand" lenses and filters throughout the years. Filters? No, not Instagram---for car photography, you want a Circular Polarizer.
Source: I am a professional automotive photographer Check out my site: http://star-road.co
Hi OP,
a couple of things to mention: with a white car I would buy a neutral grey card and meter off it manually. I think for car photos where you are including a lot of background, a wider angle (perhaps 28mm) would be excellent. For closer shots an 85mm or 105mm using a wider aperture 2.8, 4, 5.6 to isolate the car from its background. I know that it is not fashionable, but a tripod is your best friend. I hope that this helps.
Glass is important, but if you like primes there's no need to break the bank. For instance the $240 Nikon 50mm f/1.4G is one of the sharpest, clearest lenses ever built. I use it way more than my $1000 lenses. Ken Rockwell's site has great reviews of like every lens.
Quoted for truth.
Last year, after owning some big-sensor compacts and of course DSLRs, I finally gave in to Ken's fantastic review of the Fuji X100T and bought one. Aside from being the best looking camera to emerge since the advent of digital, it has a nice big sensor and a crisp 2.0 lens. About a 35mm, semi-wide-angle. That's it. Zoom by foot.
I've been shooting almost exclusively with it now since November and I am in love again. OMG, who knew holding and operating a camera could be this fun. It's like I'm using a Leica film camera again. And the discipline required when using the fixed lens has really changed my perspective.
Take a photography class. Concentrate on the image. Don't always put your main subject in the center. Don't always put your main subject in focus! Experiment with dramatic angles and shallower depth of field. Have fun!
07-26-2016, 09:33 AM
A few pictures of our cars I have taken recently - looking for photography advice
Check out my site: http://star-road.co 
