Some half decent pics

[PinkFatBunny]

Evening,
Had a guy take some pictures of my car with a decent camera (anyone remember the Park Road thread a while back?), makes a lot of difference compared to a digital compact. Was a bit last minute hence the half washed car, but still some very nice pictures.
Also changed my username on here, was AdamMitch, now PinkFatBunny (the same name as my Limited) in case any of you think I've sold the car.

enjoy
Adam

[snapper8v]

Hi Adam,
Tell me to mind my own business, nice, but technically very wrong I'm afraid . Too many reflections from the trees. Number 3 too dark and numbers 4 & 5 burnt out sky. The lighting conditions were too contrasty on that day. It's O.K. having a decent camera, but knowing how to get the shot that you want.........

[wijit]

I thought the reflections work quite well myself. Trees are a good contrast when there is something so modern there. I agree with the point about light though.

[slomax]

snapper8v said:

Hi Adam,
Tell me to mind my own business, nice, but technically very wrong I'm afraid . Too many reflections from the trees. Number 3 too dark and numbers 4 & 5 burnt out sky. The lighting conditions were too contrasty on that day. It's O.K. having a decent camera, but knowing how to get the shot that you want.........

^ this

They are okay photos, but for someone who is meant to be a professional or at least semi-professional, they are a bit mediochre. He has also managed to photograph himself in some of those photos in the reflections....


I am no photographer, but i don't try. I leave that job to my brother

[Balmoral Green]

snapper8v said:

Too many reflections

Or maybe he just has a very, very, shiny car

[PinkFatBunny]

I think I'm going to have to invest in an SLR and have a play. He did comment that it was too sunny on the morning of the photos.

[J_S_G]

Looks to me like a little Photoshop post-processing has been going on. Would guess at about a +30 contrast and a +15 intensity had been applied to those. Hence the burnt out sky yet still VERY black car.

Quite like the tree reflections to a point, and the colour of that against the car. Capturing your own reflection not so good.

More relevant point: car looks luuuurverly!

[PinkFatBunny]

Can someone please post a pic of the 'ideal' car photo, ie post photoshop like you see in Top Gear/Evo.

I'm ok with Photoshop and thinking of investing in an SLR. I think the pics above look good (i'm not a photographer), so if someone could show me the difference between a very good pic and an average pic I'd be quite interested.

cheers
Adam

[slomax]

Take a look at snapper8v's website which is on his profile, very impressive stuff. My brothers website is www.myoptix.co.uk and he has an automotive section on there.

[Minel]

I always thought I took a decent pic here... I'm most def not a photographer and the camera was a REALLY cheap digital one from years ago. What do you guys think? (ignore the plate masking lol)

[Eviltad]

Off topic, have you defected from West Yorks now? and ace Limited name.

[Efbe]

Minel said:

I always thought I took a decent pic here... I'm most def not a photographer and the camera was a REALLY cheap digital one from years ago. What do you guys think? (ignore the plate masking lol)

is that HDR?

because the look most seem to be describing going for would be a combination of exposures

[14-7]

If you want to look at proper car pics pop over to the photography section on the forum. Plenty of people with excellent skills for doing proper car pictures.

The OP's car pics look burnt out and over exposed unfortunately (although lovely paint work). I don't think they have been overly done in PS but rather they haven't been taken properly from the outset.

[Minel]

Efbe said:

Minel said:

I always thought I took a decent pic here... I'm most def not a photographer and the camera was a REALLY cheap digital one from years ago. What do you guys think? (ignore the plate masking lol)

is that HDR?

because the look most seem to be describing going for would be a combination of exposures

I wouldn't know where to start to make it HDR mate

[Efbe]

Minel said:

Efbe said:

Minel said:

I always thought I took a decent pic here... I'm most def not a photographer and the camera was a REALLY cheap digital one from years ago. What do you guys think? (ignore the plate masking lol)

is that HDR?

because the look most seem to be describing going for would be a combination of exposures

I wouldn't know where to start to make it HDR mate

easiest thing to do ever these days. unfortunately most photographers seem to think it's essential to take a decent photo.

but to make it simple, for a HDR photo you WILL need a tripod. setup the camera, ready for the shot; then there will be a setting to change the exposure settings an any half decent camera, not even neccesarily a dslr.
this setting allows you to take 3 photos instead of one. one with lower exposure, one higher, and one in the middle.
Example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_dynamic_range_im...

the lower exposure means that one picture is able to capture greater detail in the sky as it is letting less light in so you don't get a whiteout. the higher allows you to get detail in the dark areas, usually foreground, and the middle gets everything else.

You can then combine these pictures using Photoshop. iirc CS4 comes with it built in so you don't have to do it manually, if not there are some pretty good independant programs you can use out there.



If you've got an Iphone4, then there is actually an option on the main camera screen now to do HDR pictures, though I don't know how they do it, I wouldn't have thought it is proper HDR.


When doing HDR, you can also play around with the tone mapping. some people love this type of photo, however they do get boring very quickly. This type of result can be produced:

warning: these highly tone mapped pics will get very boring very quickly

[PinkFatBunny]

Eviltad said:

Off topic, have you defected from West Yorks now? and ace Limited name.

I'm in Alderley Edge for 6 more weeks then back to sunny Halifax as my lease is up and I'd rather spend the £££££ per month I spend here on my car instead!

[snapper8v]

HDR is a marmite subject, if done well, it really does enhance the image. I've tried with the 350Z, but it's a very small file, thus I couldn't do a great deal with it.



Here's the original of my car:-



And now a quick, 5 minute HDR session:-



HDR is just like any other type of software, you need to spend hours practicing and writing everything down so that you can remember how to do it again!