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take a photography class. The most important thing about photography is "seeing." Seeing is the ability to know how to compose a photograph, what makes a great photo. People are usually just born with this ability, but I think it can be learned.
Equipment will not really help anyone until they learn what makes a photo.
Not to insult you, but your photos are boring. Your subject is centered and too far away-this is what I get when I ask a stranger to take my/our photo when on vacation-we end up centered in the photo instead of to the side of the photo with the interesting background being the composition.
There is a book called "The Art of Seeing"
Gear makes no real difference, 99% is in the eye of the person taking the photo
Thank you all for the responses! I have been very busy with work and have not been able to check back on this thread, and I am absolutely blown away by the level of feedback I have received! I am truly thankful for everyone that took the time to respond. I will respond to specific comments below.
I will add that I do not really know any of the photography based terms, but I plan to (and have already begun) to look up the terms. This is the best way for me to learn, and it seems like there is a great deal of knowledge shared here, so I'm sure others will learn a thing or two as well. I have read through every post, and each one has taught me something different.
Originally Posted by gsxr_fvr
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?
Thank you for the recommendation on the lens! I will look that one up!
Yes I am just beginning to understand how lighting can effect different shots. If I have "good lighting" in any of the above pictures, it is 100% luck!
Most of the pictures I have edited with the basic photo app on a MacBook. On the M3 pictures, the only one I edited was the first one, but I believe all of the M6 and 911 pictures are edited. Now, when I say that I edited them, I just mean that I messed with all the different adjustments until it looked good to me. I have no idea what any of them do individually.
Originally Posted by ...Max...
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.
With regards to my cell phone camera, unfortunately I do not have a modern cell phone! I am stuck with my 5 year old Note 3! AT&T wants me to basically lease a phone or pay full price instead of the 2 year/$200 upgrade deal that I had been doing for years. At the moment I refuse to do either of the above so I will stick with this POS indefinitely!
Thank you for the recommendation on the lens. It sounds like the 70-200 is one to take a close look at!
I really appreciate your compliment on the first picture! It is my favorite as well, and that is why I posted it first! I will say, and this sounds cliché, but the 991 is so damn good looking I feel like I'm cheating.
Originally Posted by Dewinator
Nice work!
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.
Thank you for the compliment on 2 & 4! I definitely see what you are saying now that I have looked back over the pictures I posted; most of them are the car in the middle 1/9 of the picture. I took a ton of detail pictures and ones with the car to the side, but when I was going through the pictures none of them looked good to me. I think this is an area I really need to work on.
Originally Posted by Ski Porsche
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.
Thank you for the compliment on the first picture! That is very interesting advice regarding photoshop. Really appreciate the input!
Originally Posted by vivekg
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 luck,
Vivek
Hey Vivek,
I really appreciate your input. Those are some awesome pictures of your .2! Your detail shots are exactly what I have been trying to do, but for some reason when I look at them on the computer they never look as good! I will keep practicing as I have time!
Thanks,
David
Originally Posted by MJBird993
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".
Lots of great info here. Thank you! I did not know what DOF stood for, so I looked it up, and just knowing what the term Depth of Field means really makes me think more about how much background I have in my pictures. I will also need to look up how to take a picture in a different exposure!
I appreciate the recommendations on the lens. I will look into those as well!
Originally Posted by Dewinator
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.
Nice! I appreciate the recommendation. I am definitely not opposed to spending less money!
Originally Posted by mb1
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.
Yes, you are 100% correct. Unfortunately I am in such the early stages of learning that I am not familiar with any of these terms, but researching them will get me on the right road!
Originally Posted by vivekg
How about some photography cheat sheets to get the vocabulary.
Thank you for all your help! I will read this tonight!
Originally Posted by hushypushy
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
Thank you for the input! I really didn't notice how many of my pictures that I posted have the car in the dead center until you pointed that out. When sorting through the pictures choosing which ones to post none of the detail shots or pictures with the car out of center looked good to me, but I really didn't notice to what degree! This will be the main area I work on next time I take pictures.
With regards to the exposure I really do not know how to control that yet, but will look up tonight. Like I said this was my first time using a camera with a detachable lens, so all I did was zoom in or out and the let the camera do the rest of the work!
Your pictures on your website look incredible! Exactly the look I am going for! Thank you for sharing.
Originally Posted by Bishop200
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.
Really appreciate this. After reading through the comments I am thinking that maybe two lenses would be the way to go. I will look into the ones you mentioned. I agree with you on the tripod - I plan to order one soon!
Originally Posted by NoGaBiker
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.
That is an awesome picture! Camera looks cool too! Thank you for sharing.
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!
Really apprecaite the link. I will check that out. Those pictures, especially the second one, are what I am going to work on next time I get a chance to take pictures.
Originally Posted by DNorby
take a photography class. The most important thing about photography is "seeing." Seeing is the ability to know how to compose a photograph, what makes a great photo. People are usually just born with this ability, but I think it can be learned.
Equipment will not really help anyone until they learn what makes a photo.
Not to insult you, but your photos are boring. Your subject is centered and too far away-this is what I get when I ask a stranger to take my/our photo when on vacation-we end up centered in the photo instead of to the side of the photo with the interesting background being the composition.
There is a book called "The Art of Seeing"
Gear makes no real difference, 99% is in the eye of the person taking the photo
I got a first hand example of someone that has the ability to see a photograph naturally. A few weeks back and the Keenland Concourse (a huge car show here locally) I walked around with one of my friends checking out all the cars. I noticed him taking a few pictures, but nothing much as he was pretty much by my side the whole time. When we got back to my house he uploaded almost 100 pictures that he had taken with his cell phone, and almost all of them looked great. He just has a natural eye for detail, and getting the right angle that I will never have!
Thank you for your input!
Originally Posted by dkuznetsov
Dont worry i suck too
Don't be so hard on yourself! Any picture with a 991 is at the very least a 7.5/10! I really like that picture!
Thank you for the input! I really didn't notice how many of my pictures that I posted have the car in the dead center until you pointed that out. When sorting through the pictures choosing which ones to post none of the detail shots or pictures with the car out of center looked good to me, but I really didn't notice to what degree! This will be the main area I work on next time I take pictures.
With regards to the exposure I really do not know how to control that yet, but will look up tonight. Like I said this was my first time using a camera with a detachable lens, so all I did was zoom in or out and the let the camera do the rest of the work!
Your pictures on your website look incredible! Exactly the look I am going for! Thank you for sharing.
That reminds me of another thing...remember to shoot in RAW. Most of the time you should use 'A' mode, except if you're capturing moving objects, in which case you would use 'S'. M gives you full control (but that's advanced---don't worry about that yet). P is worthless, as are all the automatic modes.
A = Aperture. This is manual Depth of Field control--you set the aperture (based on your desired DOF) and the camera figures out the shutter speed. The vast majority of time you should shoot in this mode. Just remember to adjust your ISO accordingly (higher ISO = more sensitive sensor = shorter shutter speeds needed, but lower ISO = less sensitivity = better colors and less noise).
S = Shutter. This is time control for motion blur of images. You set the desired shutter speed and the camera figures out the aperture.
For the garage, you should get a couple cheap E-TTL flashes and the yongnuo wireless controller that does E-TTL. Experiment with placing one flash behind the car (lighting up the wall) and one bouncing off the ceiling to brighten some of the dark spots on the car.
The outdoor shots are more problematic since the small flashes cannot compete with the sun. But still, those dark spots on the front of the BMW would benefit from having even one of those aimed at them.
As mentioned, messing with camera and lenses doesn't do much if you are outdoors and want everything sharp anyway. To set the DSLR apart you could go for a large aperture and limit depth of field so that only some things are sharp. While it will make the impression of a higher quality photo it is questionable whether it is "better". Messing with light will be more rewarding.
For the coolest toy in the area look into shift-and-tilt lenses. It's not for everybody and you need a laser distance meter and a computer to really work it. But it's a nice thing to spend a half-day with. And most TS-E lenses are very high quality regardless of the shift or tilt functionality.
For the coolest toy in the area look into shift-and-tilt lenses. It's not for everybody and you need a laser distance meter and a computer to really work it. But it's a nice thing to spend a half-day with. And most TS-E lenses are very high quality regardless of the shift or tilt functionality.
Hehe are you really suggesting that someone just starting to explore photography try out tilt/shift? It's like the trickiest thing to do and almost always comes out looking unpleasant to the eyes unless you're doing something like architectual work that needs it.
Personally I think there are too much distracting bakground in your pictures. Especially you do not want unflattering background dominates over your beautiful car. It would help if you crop and blur the background a bit. I went ahead and crop your first picture as an extreme example here. The quality is not good because I cropped from your web picture, however, just showing a different perspective.
Personally I think there are too much distracting bakground in your pictures. Especially you do not want unflattering background dominates over your beautiful car. It would help if you crop and blur the background a bit. I went ahead and crop your first picture as an extreme example here. The quality is not good because I cropped from your web picture, however, just showing a different perspective.
Hehe are you really suggesting that someone just starting to explore photography try out tilt/shift? It's like the trickiest thing to do and almost always comes out looking unpleasant to the eyes unless you're doing something like architectual work that needs it.
Agreed. Tilt/shift is a very advanced technique, and so is artificial lighting for that matter.
Beginners should start, well, at the beginning. Learn the basics before you go all crazy with other techniques.
Originally Posted by siitech
Personally I think there are too much distracting bakground in your pictures. Especially you do not want unflattering background dominates over your beautiful car. It would help if you crop and blur the background a bit. I went ahead and crop your first picture as an extreme example here. The quality is not good because I cropped from your web picture, however, just showing a different perspective.
Uhh...no.
I mean, photography is totally subjective so you can do whatever feels good to you. But in my opinion, you're giving terrible advice.
Super tight crops are not usually a good idea, especially when you do it in post. And fake blur? That is one of the worst things you can do
Hehe are you really suggesting that someone just starting to explore photography try out tilt/shift? It's like the trickiest thing to do and almost always comes out looking unpleasant to the eyes unless you're doing something like architectual work that needs it.
What. Only need one laserpointer, one laser range finder and a couple hundred lines of Lisp code.
Agreed. Tilt/shift is a very advanced technique, and so is artificial lighting for that matter.
Beginners should start, well, at the beginning. Learn the basics before you go all crazy with other techniques.
Uhh...no.
I mean, photography is totally subjective so you can do whatever feels good to you. But in my opinion, you're giving terrible advice.
Super tight crops are not usually a good idea, especially when you do it in post. And fake blur? That is one of the worst things you can do
Your opinion is welcomed. However, I would not give mine if I did not think it was helpful. I stated "I went ahead and crop your first picture as an extreme example". My sample does not suggest there is only one correct way of going about photography, just that I think most his picture shown had a lot of background, I gave him a different perspective to explore.
Your opinion is welcomed. However, I would not give mine if I did not think it was helpful. I stated "I went ahead and crop your first picture as an extreme example". My sample does not suggest there is only one correct way of going about photography, just that I think most his picture shown had a lot of background, I gave him a different perspective to explore.
Here's roughy what I'd do with this one... basic rule of 3rds, put the car just a bit below the horizon, and center the car about on the right 2/3rds line of the photo horizontally.
Edit: Actually to critique my 2 second photoshop job just a little, I'd probably move the frame a little to the left to make the space between the white pillar and the left edge and the white car and the right edge the same if I were to do it again.
Here's roughy what I'd do with this one... basic rule of 3rds, put the car just a bit below the horizon, and center the car about on the right 2/3rds line of the photo horizontally.
Edit: Actually to critique my 2 second photoshop job just a little, I'd probably move the frame a little to the left to make the space between the white pillar and the left edge and the white car and the right edge the same if I were to do it again.
The crop you did was nicely done and what I think the OP could explore, it makes the picture so much more interesting. Maybe in my earlier post I cropped too extreme and ended up not get my meaning across. I also noticed all pictures by OP show tremendous depth of field, that is everything in the picture seems to be in focus. I would suggest OP to explore control of depth of field either by equipment or software.
07-27-2016, 07:21 AM
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