Pic of my car - Help?

[jolly]

Hi all.

I am more a lurker in this section, mainly admiring the great shots most of you post up!

I do like taking photos, but I'm somewhat of an amateur! This is a pic I took today of my car just down the road from my house. I do like it but because at the moment I only have my phone camera (Nokia N73) I'm limited. Looking to buying a digital camera during the summer. But for a phone I don't think the quality is bad at all.

I know its a bit cheeky but could anyone touch this up in photoshop for me? Anything would be appreciated just to get a feel of what the pic could have been. It would be much appreciated!

[scotia_steve74]

Good pic as is in my view.

Just a little cropping and other adjustment to make it a bit funky...

Edited by scotia_steve74 on Friday 13th April 17:08

[beyond rational]

I like the first one, the location looks great, keep trying

[bulb763]

from a phone Its a great pic, very pleasing to look at, good colours. Maybe crop out some of the foreground, and perhaps lose the sign if possible.

Like this


small curve adjustment along with the crop and sign removal

[Mr Noble]

That never came off a phone!! Its so sharp!! Very good.

I would just do what bulb did, def remove the sign, very distracting.


I suggest you get a camera asap as you obviously have the Photographers gene!!

[stuart b]

Blimey - I think I'll put the Nikon in the bin then Nice one.

What I don't get is how they manage to cram an f2.8 into a phone but if you want that in an SLR lens its an arm and a leg and the size of a bazooka

Stuart

[beyond rational]

stuart b said:

Blimey - I think I'll put the Nikon in the bin then Nice one.

What I don't get is how they manage to cram an f2.8 into a phone but if you want that in an SLR lens its an arm and a leg and the size of a bazooka

Stuart

I'm guessing phones don't really have a lense or much of anything to stop light? Sensor, aperture, thin glass/plasitc cover?

[lowdrag]

The problem is simple - the photo is too good as it is. A wonderful photo with a phone camera. What I've done is taken the sign out and cropped, removed barrel distortion and genrally sharpened it up, but it loses so much. The way the blurred foreground leads the eye into the picture, the angle of the Mini on the slope, the whole composition follows the rule of thirds. I've done what you asked and will willingly forward you a high resolution copy by email if you want so you can get it printed but overall I stand in admiration and awe. It would have been difficult to do better - no, to equal what you have done - with my professional equipment.

[VxDuncan]

As the sensor in the phone is very small you don't need a very long focal length lens for the same field of view / zoom factor. THerefore it's easy to make a short FL lens cheap and fast as it's a lot smaller. Similar to why four-thirds camera kit is so cheap - focal lengths are shorter and it's cheaper to make everything. Of course the smaller sensors introduce more noise...

THis is my take on the image btw. Prefer a tighter crop to concentrate on the car. Also adjusted colour balance, levels, sharpened and went for a top gear style vignette to avoid the distraction of the sky. All the above may be overdone as I'm on the laptop and I struggle to see sharpness and colour well on LCDs!

[bulb763]

lowdrag - how do you even begin to detect barrel distortion when there are no straight lines to speak of?!

[jolly]

Many thanks all for what you have made some changes to the pic, I really really do appreciate it!!

Also thanks for the kind words about the photo, I took about 20 or so pics from various angles, but when I saw this one I was really chuffed, it stood out straight away. I didn't change any settings on the camera at all, it did the blurred fore ground itself, but I think it works really well!

The phone is a Nokia N73. The camera details for anyone who wants to know:

Carl Zeiss Tessar 2.8/5.6 AF 3.2 megapixel (which makes no sense to me at all!)

I do need to buy a digi cam but need an all rounder for holidays, car snaps, nights out etc etc so I don't think it would be practical for some huge thing at the mo, even though I would imagine that would be a better option!

The location is great, and the best thing is that its only down the road! .

I also like the way that one tree has its leaves but the other doesn't, and the shore in the background.

Anyway I've rambled on enough. Once again thanks folks.

James.

[dubnut71]

Kinda proves its more about whats behind the camera (or nokia!) than the cam itself sometimes!!

good work fella, and also good work to the shopped versions, I think they are all good!!

GC

[VxDuncan]

Carl Zeiss glass eh? in a phone? Blimey! Kinda helps to explain I guess. Sure there's a fair whack on chromatic abberation and off-centre it's not as sharp as it could be, but for a phone it is amazing!

You obviously have an eye - get a decent camera quick and keep experimenting!

[chris.mapey]

I thought I add my comments.

Great shot, and I can't think of much else to do with regards to processing.

I also have an N73 - stunning camera, and I have now flogged my compact camera, and rely on my phone for most occasions, and wheel out the Nikon on "special occasions"

Chris

[jolly]

Thanks for the further positive comments, much appreciated.

Got to agree for what it is the N73 is great, its good in low light on nights out aswell.

Here are some more pics that I took today, the silver MINI belongs to my brother. Not really very happy with them, when I compare it to the first pic I posted. We tried to go to the same location as the orginal pic, but it was crammed with tourists / walkers (and their cars) so it was impossible to get a decent angle / pic.

Here they are:







Too much glare on the silver MINI in this one...



I think this one is quite good...





James.