BMW 330d Touring Sport
Discussion
le gravy noire said:
Jesus! Couldnt you have picked a more aesthetically pleasing brand...koenigsegg?
Not my choice, could be a lot worse than BMW. I'll post some Ecurie work at some point, they are nicer cars, more beautiful pictures.
Anyway's the pics are in the photography forum as photo's, not looking for a critique of the cars...
Critique wise, I don't think there is anything useful I can say that I haven't already said, to be honest I used to take quite a lot of time looking at your photos and trying to make constructive comments (with varied success!) but I found they were generally quite poorly recieved.
They don't really do it for me because they look a bit like snaps where the car just happened to be somewhere and you fired off a few frames, kind of like people do if they see something unusual like a fezza parked in the street if you see what i mean?
I just like car photos to be more considered. God, as they say, is in the details. I will of course concede that the opposite can work if you have a noticeably unique style and eye for composition (lets call this the buggy approach).
Im not saying i get it right either, I am trying to improve my visualisation and execution too.
From a more technical POV i would say that poor lens / focal length selection has resulted in the car just blending into the background in the first two, and the rest are just a car parked in front of some stairs, not much i can say really (although the really blurry foreground 3 up is kind of weird and distracting , 2 up the unusual composition doesnt really make for a balanced image IMO, and i find the reflections in the windscreen the tax disc, and the messy tree shadow on the last one to be rather distracting. I guess I think they just lack cohesion. <shrug>
They don't really do it for me because they look a bit like snaps where the car just happened to be somewhere and you fired off a few frames, kind of like people do if they see something unusual like a fezza parked in the street if you see what i mean?
I just like car photos to be more considered. God, as they say, is in the details. I will of course concede that the opposite can work if you have a noticeably unique style and eye for composition (lets call this the buggy approach).
Im not saying i get it right either, I am trying to improve my visualisation and execution too.
From a more technical POV i would say that poor lens / focal length selection has resulted in the car just blending into the background in the first two, and the rest are just a car parked in front of some stairs, not much i can say really (although the really blurry foreground 3 up is kind of weird and distracting , 2 up the unusual composition doesnt really make for a balanced image IMO, and i find the reflections in the windscreen the tax disc, and the messy tree shadow on the last one to be rather distracting. I guess I think they just lack cohesion. <shrug>
trackdemon said:
le gravy noire said:
Jesus! Couldnt you have picked a more aesthetically pleasing brand...koenigsegg?
Not my choice, could be a lot worse than BMW. I'll post some Ecurie work at some point, they are nicer cars, more beautiful pictures.
Anyway's the pics are in the photography forum as photo's, not looking for a critique of the cars...
ècuire25?
If so i've seen your work. a mate (Aaron Weddell) writes for their magazine.
I can offer just my feeling - desolate - it may sound strange but in my mind they conjour up a 28 days later feeling.
The last image confuses me - too far from the curb to be parked but obviously not moving and why the inclusion of the trees shadow?
Edited to add: Good to see some car pics though
The last image confuses me - too far from the curb to be parked but obviously not moving and why the inclusion of the trees shadow?
Edited to add: Good to see some car pics though
Edited by beyond rational on Wednesday 8th November 17:20
beyond rational said:
I can offer just my feeling - desolate - it may sound strange but in my mind they conjour up a 28 days later feeling.
The last image confuses me - too far from the curb to be parked but obviously not moving and why the inclusion of the trees shadow?
The last image confuses me - too far from the curb to be parked but obviously not moving and why the inclusion of the trees shadow?
Yeah this is a good way of putting it...kind of looks like the car was just left there.
trackdemon said:
I'll post some Ecurie work at some point, they are nicer cars, more beautiful pictures.
Are the wallpapers on their site yours? They're pretty good
www.ecurie25.co.uk/downloads.aspx
le gravy noire said:
Critique wise, I don't think there is anything useful I can say that I haven't already said, to be honest I used to take quite a lot of time looking at your photos and trying to make constructive comments (with varied success!) but I found they were generally quite poorly recieved.
They don't really do it for me because they look a bit like snaps where the car just happened to be somewhere and you fired off a few frames, kind of like people do if they see something unusual like a fezza parked in the street if you see what i mean?
I just like car photos to be more considered. God, as they say, is in the details. I will of course concede that the opposite can work if you have a noticeably unique style and eye for composition (lets call this the buggy approach).
Im not saying i get it right either, I am trying to improve my visualisation and execution too.
From a more technical POV i would say that poor lens / focal length selection has resulted in the car just blending into the background in the first two, and the rest are just a car parked in front of some stairs, not much i can say really (although the really blurry foreground 3 up is kind of weird and distracting , 2 up the unusual composition doesnt really make for a balanced image IMO, and i find the reflections in the windscreen the tax disc, and the messy tree shadow on the last one to be rather distracting. I guess I think they just lack cohesion. <shrug>
They don't really do it for me because they look a bit like snaps where the car just happened to be somewhere and you fired off a few frames, kind of like people do if they see something unusual like a fezza parked in the street if you see what i mean?
I just like car photos to be more considered. God, as they say, is in the details. I will of course concede that the opposite can work if you have a noticeably unique style and eye for composition (lets call this the buggy approach).
Im not saying i get it right either, I am trying to improve my visualisation and execution too.
From a more technical POV i would say that poor lens / focal length selection has resulted in the car just blending into the background in the first two, and the rest are just a car parked in front of some stairs, not much i can say really (although the really blurry foreground 3 up is kind of weird and distracting , 2 up the unusual composition doesnt really make for a balanced image IMO, and i find the reflections in the windscreen the tax disc, and the messy tree shadow on the last one to be rather distracting. I guess I think they just lack cohesion. <shrug>
Well I asked for it
Its probably worth giving the BMW shots some context - there is no structured brief, I don't have a lot of time, I'm limited on locations and I need to drop 200 or so shots to the client for them to choose from. Believe me I'd like to have the time to just plan 10 key shots but without knowing intrinsically whats required I'm having to adopt the approach I have. I'm not sure what your alluding to with comments being poorly received in the past - the one instance I recall is when you basically said 'load of sh!t' about the stuff I took @ GFoS rather than something constructive.
I'd disagree that the cars look as though they'd been parked just anywhere - some thought has gone into these, or at least as much as possible given the constraints I'm working with; however I will admit that I'm getting a little frustrated with the difficulty I seem to be having with the creative process recently - like photographers block, if you see what I mean. If you've got any advice on how I can develop this and move onto the next step I'd love to hear from you, feel free to mail me steve@trackdemon.co.uk if you like.
My feeling is I need to take a step back from the camera, slow down, look, think, conceptualize before executing the shot - using the one commodity I don't seem to have enough of currently, ie time. Locations are proving challenging too.
Edited by trackdemon on Wednesday 8th November 20:30
Number 2 was the most interesting, but the car was facing the wrong way round. Your eye was drawn to the vanishing point in the distance rather than to the car.
The other shots were pretty boring.
But respect for posting them in the first place. I haven't been that brave........yet.
The other shots were pretty boring.
But respect for posting them in the first place. I haven't been that brave........yet.
Edited by sparkythecat on Wednesday 8th November 22:37
JonRB said:
I thought BMW diesels always had downward-pointing exhaust pipes? 
The new ones which comply with the latest Euro emissions regs have straight pipes. It makes it very hard now to play spot the engine on the de-badged ones.
About the pics, I think that colour doesn't photograph too well.
Andy M said:
trackdemon said:
I'll post some Ecurie work at some point, they are nicer cars, more beautiful pictures.
Are the wallpapers on their site yours? They're pretty good
www.ecurie25.co.uk/downloads.aspx
Lee Brimble shot the brochure and the wallpapers, I remember dicussing it with him in a departure lounge in Portugal.
trackdemon said:
I'm not sure what your alluding to with comments being poorly received in the past - the one instance I recall is when you basically said 'load of sh!t' about the stuff I took @ GFoS rather than something constructive.
When I said that the comments are poorly recieved I mean that for as long as I can remember making comments about your shots you have replied with some form of excuse for why the shots arent great or the best that you can do etc. Literally every time: the light was shit, there wasnt enough time, the brief was crap, the car was crap, the location wasnt what i wanted, I didnt have enough time, the car was the wrong colour, I didnt have enough time, the owner was in a hurry, there wasnt enough time etc.
I just think that coming out with excuses is a bit of a cop out. No one ever has enough time, the situation is never perfect and there are always difficulties to overcome. Being a photographer is as much about overcoming these difficulties as it is the other aspects of the game.
If you are struggling for time consider your approach: where are you losing time? what is taking so long? Is it that the locations are bad or is it that you arent making the most of them? Are you turning up prepared to make the most of the time you do have? Have you got a prioritised shot list so you can straight away start knocking the shots you need out? Do you have the shots sorted in your head before you press the shutter or are you umming and erring walking round the car firing stuff off in the hope that you will land the one you need? Shooting cars necessitates a structured approach and preparation, because you should control the elements of the image not the other way around. I've suggested all this before.
I did a shoot for car a fair while back and the art director rang me afterwards and told me how disappointed he was with the shots and that he was going to have some of it reshot. As it happened it was a real nightmare on the day, just about everything went wrong: not enough time, cars were late and filthy, all sorts of problems. I didn't make any excuse for it, I just had to take it on the chin, apologise, and work through with him what I could learn from the experience and how to improve from there. The point being that magazine readers, art directors, whoever, don't look at a set of images and think, poor photographer, looks like he really struggled with the light, and editors dont print "sorry the shots arent that good the weather was bad and we ran out of time" on an article. All the matters is the end result and doing the best you can with what you have available, because ultimately thats what you get judged on.
If you are shooting these for a paying client, you should agree the brief before you start shooting. They may not know how to articulate what they want, or they may be looking to you for suggestions, in which case seize the initiative and tell them what you think would be best.
I'm sorry to hear you are struggling for inspiration. Buy some magazines and get inspired i guess!
Matt
Andy M said:
trackdemon said:
I'll post some Ecurie work at some point, they are nicer cars, more beautiful pictures.
Are the wallpapers on their site yours? They're pretty good
www.ecurie25.co.uk/downloads.aspx
OT, but the first one, with V99 LAM, what is going on with the light on the window next to the far left hand lamp on the building?
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