Making it a bit windy?
Discussion
Hey up, I took a photo of my car near a field a couple of months ago and someone mentioned how it looked like an arid landscape, so I took away some of the houses from the horizon, but there are still some that I can't realistically get rid of (because I'm not good enough), but the main thing I'm wondering is: does anybody know how I can make it look a bit windier?
Say make a small dust cloud or something, as you can see by the tree in the foreground, it was quite windy, but there's nothing to show it...
Thanks,
AL
Say make a small dust cloud or something, as you can see by the tree in the foreground, it was quite windy, but there's nothing to show it...
Thanks,
AL
Andy M said:
I see you paid extra for the optional 'Radio aerial disguised as a tree' coming out of your roof 
LOL! Never thought of that :P
It's just for the effect, preferably a subtle one, that my car's in a deserted, yet slightly windy place. You know, beating the elements and all that, like when they show the new Saab driving to the top of a mountain, a VW outrunning a volcano (think it was VW), anyway... My point is that if someone knows how to do it it might look cool!
? 
for cy88 there, love it!! To the original poster, I can see what you mean about adding wind to the landscape, but I don't think it will add much to the drama of the shot?!
It's a nice location, and a VERY nice car (StuW will be having kittens right now - he loves them to bits!), but perhaps the picture could have done the car more justice. Get lower, and move to the side so the tree isn't poking out the roof.
Having said all that, I'm not great at car photography (look at the link to my site in my profile) so please don't take my advice as gospel, but just a few initial thoughts I had.
There's a great tutorial by Matt on car photography; I'll hunt it out for you and link in a second
Thanks for the links and the compliments about my car 
And Cy88.... er...... subtle!
Laughed my arse off in the middle of the library
, I might actually use that one as my desktop, you managed to make it look windy and get rid of the extra houses in one go.
I took a few more photos that day, but I haven't got them here (on my laptop), so I'll have a look if there's a lower one and see which one you guys think is best, the one above was my second favourite of the lot...
And Cy88.... er...... subtle!
Laughed my arse off in the middle of the library
, I might actually use that one as my desktop, you managed to make it look windy and get rid of the extra houses in one go. I took a few more photos that day, but I haven't got them here (on my laptop), so I'll have a look if there's a lower one and see which one you guys think is best, the one above was my second favourite of the lot...
AL666 said:
loadsa pics
Hi Al,
If I may offer some comments (and I stress, I'm not good at this)....it would be that your location is letting you down. This is something I am very bad at too but simply put, parking the car next to a sign or tree means every shot will contain it and it will be very difficult to get rid of in photoshop. It will distract the eye and cause an interruption in the lines of the car.
Try going somewhere more in keeping with the car and with less 'pointy' scenery.
An example I took at the weekend which I'm quite proud of is this;
Although there is more background elements, they are consistent rather than pokey-out (if you see what I mean. And yes, pokey-out is a technical term).
Hope you take my comments in the spirit with which they were given
TonyHetherington said:
AL666 said:
loadsa pics
Hi Al,
If I may offer some comments (and I stress, I'm not good at this)....it would be that your location is letting you down. This is something I am very bad at too but simply put, parking the car next to a sign or tree means every shot will contain it and it will be very difficult to get rid of in photoshop. It will distract the eye and cause an interruption in the lines of the car.
Try going somewhere more in keeping with the car and with less 'pointy' scenery.
Although there is more background elements, they are consistent rather than pokey-out (if you see what I mean. And yes, pokey-out is a technical term).
Hope you take my comments in the spirit with which they were given
Yeah, I see what you mean, I'll have to have a proper think about where to snap next time instead of just driving around and thinking that somewhere looks like a nice view, so would be nice for car photos....
I put the photos up here hoping for criticism and it's what I got, so I'm happy
It's just a bugger that I'll probably not be able to put any of my new-found techniques into practise until it's sunny again!I think a lot of the problems in the pictures above actually stem from the fact that it is sunny. The original one you posted does not suffer too much, but in the rest you've struggled to get something where the shadows are not obliterating the car. I think the last few near the chevrons sign work best.
Try an overcast day ext time. You'll find the light is somewhat easier to handle. If you don't have filters and such, avoid having the sky in the picture (get in close, pick your angles etc) as this will cause the camera to darken your car so that it can cope with how bright the sky is.
Car looks great by the way - you look after it well!
Cheers
Stuart
Try an overcast day ext time. You'll find the light is somewhat easier to handle. If you don't have filters and such, avoid having the sky in the picture (get in close, pick your angles etc) as this will cause the camera to darken your car so that it can cope with how bright the sky is.
Car looks great by the way - you look after it well!
Cheers
Stuart
stuart b said:
Try an overcast day ext time. You'll find the light is somewhat easier to handle. If you don't have filters and such, avoid having the sky in the picture (get in close, pick your angles etc) as this will cause the camera to darken your car so that it can cope with how bright the sky is.
i'll second that - don't see adverse weather as a limitation, in fact some of my fave shots were taken in awful weather (although not as bad as cy88's apocalyptic vision!
) - you can get some really moody shots with stormy clouds and reflections in puddles/road etc. on a technical level, the light and shadows are more even so exposures are better balanced. but if you want to include a clear sky, the best time of day to shoot is when the sky is as dark as the landscape, so both will be correctly exposed, ie at dusk/dawn (or very stormy weather).
another option for dealing with bright sunlight is to experiment with using 'fill-in flash', basically using the flash to reduce the strong shadows you get when shooting in bright sunlight.
stuart b said:
I think a lot of the problems in the pictures above actually stem from the fact that it is sunny. The original one you posted does not suffer too much, but in the rest you've struggled to get something where the shadows are not obliterating the car. I think the last few near the chevrons sign work best.
Try an overcast day ext time. You'll find the light is somewhat easier to handle. If you don't have filters and such, avoid having the sky in the picture (get in close, pick your angles etc) as this will cause the camera to darken your car so that it can cope with how bright the sky is.
Car looks great by the way - you look after it well!
Cheers
Stuart
Try an overcast day ext time. You'll find the light is somewhat easier to handle. If you don't have filters and such, avoid having the sky in the picture (get in close, pick your angles etc) as this will cause the camera to darken your car so that it can cope with how bright the sky is.
Car looks great by the way - you look after it well!
Cheers
Stuart
OK, next time I have time to give the car a proper wash I'll find somewhere to take a photo of it regardless of the weather and see how it turns out.
I don't have much of a clue about photography apart from pointing the camera and pressing the 'take picture button', what's a filter?
I'm not sure my parents' camera's got any advanced features that I could use, it's an OK one, not that expensive, an Olympus 6.1 MP...
Don't worry *too* much about the proper wash either. Yes it's nice for the car to be clean and if you look after it well you will still get nice reflections even if you haven't just polished it to within an inch of it's life. Sometimes a mega dirty full-on-used look can make a shot, even!
So, simply to say don't think you have to spend a day cleaning it before going to play with your camera; just get out there and enjoy
So, simply to say don't think you have to spend a day cleaning it before going to play with your camera; just get out there and enjoy
I always think overcast skies make for more interesting shots - you're less likely to get a washed out whiteness like in some of the rover shots above.
Apologies for posting these again but they're my favorites, mainly because of the sky that day (taken on a lowly Canon s40 as well, with a bit of p'shrubbery)
bigger is better
ETA: just noticed I had some chevrons in the first one too!
Apologies for posting these again but they're my favorites, mainly because of the sky that day (taken on a lowly Canon s40 as well, with a bit of p'shrubbery)
bigger is better
ETA: just noticed I had some chevrons in the first one too!
Edited by cy88 on Wednesday 13th December 20:26
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