I need some help

[tHeEnD...]

Yes, I know...cars are my thing... I really need some help though, pics were taken with an a95, I know it's no SLR, but hey, I'm 19... Any criticism/input is welcome and appreciated.

1.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/jd3jdm/A95ChrisMatt01098.jpg

2.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/jd3jdm/A95ChrisMatt01087.jpg

3.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/jd3jdm/A95ChrisMatt01048.jpg

4.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/jd3jdm/A95ChrisMattalt.jpg

5. Actually a DAY SHOT! haha
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/jd3jdm/A95ChrisMatt01077.jpg

6.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/jd3jdm/A95Aug05_2003.jpg

7.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/jd3jdm/A95Aug05_2004.jpg

8. Another night shot I know, but I like it for some reason, the bridge really makes me look hard and long at the picture.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v708/jd3jdm/A95ChrisMatt01061.jpg

[sasa007]

I just want to be honest, but can you choose some other time of the day than the nightime?It is tricky to get a best shot without proper lighting at nigtime...
#3 is my fave but crop of the top portion of the picture so you have that line going along all the way.

Cheers
S

[ajbalazic]

The third shot is the best of the bunch. I agree with sasa, star with some shots in the daylight. If you want to work at night, you will need to get a tripod. Keep shooting (looks like a nice car).

[Robert_Lay]

#1 - reasonably good picture of the wall, but the car is just a silhouette. The lighting for the car just isn't there.

#2 - Good exposure and good lighting - not much interest.

#3 - Looks like the fluorescent lighting will give some problem with color balance - everything is too green here.

#4 - Flash didn't go off? No lighting for the car.

[tHeEnD...]

Thanks for the replies guys. I was actually scared of posting my daytime shots here since I feel like they are much worse than these. haha.

I will add some of my daytime pics to the first post and number them so it's easier for people to tell which is which.

I have and am using a tripod in all of these photos. I can't get out of the slow shutter speed mode though, I read the manual like 3 times, but am still too scared to start messing with the manual stuff. I just don't know where to start with it. I know what DOF and some other things are, I'm just not that familiar with the camera to know how to use them well yet I guess.

PS: I really need to get photoshop, but when I build up the cash to get it, I will chop some of the pics you see...

-John

EDIT: NEW PICS ARE UP

[tHeEnD...]

bump for more help...

[Lonnie]

I'm a newbie myself, but what I have been doing lately is aiming the camera at a darker subject to get a light meter reading, locking it, then snapping the photo. Anytime you take a picture with a bright light source in it, like in #3,6,7,8, you will run into problems with everything BUT the light being underexposed. I'd rather have the light overexposed and everything else correct.

[Boko Ono]

i think that if there was different lighting, it would help your images a LOT. i like your angles n' such but work on lighting or a different time of day. if you want to do night/evening photos, use a different color car. one thats not so dark

[tHeEnD...]

thanks guys. I'll try some of those things... I'm still kind of confused on what you mean Ihoney2... I am def more of a newb than you considering I don't know what you mean by a light meter reading, and locking it...?

[Lonnie]

Hopefully one of the experts here will chime in on this, but I'll give it a shot.

When you depress your shutter halfway to get focus, the camera also takes a light reading to determine the exposure. In pictures where there is a bright light source and darker areas, the darker areas will almost always be underexposed because of the compensation for the overly bright areas. It will pretty much ruin your picture.

Quick and dirty solution - aim your camera at a point where the overly bright light is not in the frame, then LOCK the exposure setting. (RTFM for this, I barely know how to do it on my Rebel XT). Then recompose your original shot and take the picture.

Now your subject will be exposed correctly and the bright light source will be overexposed. In your case, the car would look great and there would be a monster glare where the light is. Quick and dirty.

Another solution I have read about but not tried. Take the same exact picture with exposure setup for the car, then for the light, then use Photoshop to blend the two images together so that both regions are exposed perfectly.

I'm sure some of my terms are not correct, but I think the technique is.

BTW - 6 and 7 probably just need fill flash.

[Robert_Lay]

Hopefully one of the experts here will chime in on this, but I'll give it a shot.

When you depress your shutter halfway to get focus, the camera also takes a light reading to determine the exposure. In pictures where there is a bright light source and darker areas, the darker areas will almost always be underexposed because of the compensation for the overly bright areas. It will pretty much ruin your picture.

Quick and dirty solution - aim your camera at a point where the overly bright light is not in the frame, then LOCK the exposure setting. (RTFM for this, I barely know how to do it on my Rebel XT). Then recompose your original shot and take the picture.



Here's another interpretation of "locking" a light meter reading ...

When metering a scene, you can configure your metering system to be a "spot" meter reading (more or less - it's not quite as small a spot as the true spotmeters use, but it's useful). While you are metering, you notice what shutter speed is called for in Av mode, so you now have an aperture and a shutter speed setting that has been taken with a specific ISO setting and a specific area of the scene being metered. Making a mental note of those settings, you can then shift to manual mode and set the aperture and shutter speed manually to those setting, and that is essentially the same as "locking" the reading. Now, if you take the picture of the scene, it will be exposed so as to render whatever you were aiming at as middle gray.

If middle gray is not what you wanted, then you can modify the shutter speed or aperture to place that part of the scene at a brighter or darker level.

The net result is that you transport yourself back into the dark ages when people used a hand held lightmeter and set their apertures and shutter speeds appropriately - but it's about the only way to learn exposure, and it works!