E46 BMW M3 - Ad style photo

[StarFinder]

Well, after a terrible hard drive crash (500GB drive full of ALL my photos), I have been itching to work on photos but sadly had little available since all my RAW files are on that drive (don't worry, given that my whole photo portfolio is on there, I WILL be paying for professional data recovery) I couldn't do anything. Until I decided to check my memory card and I realized that lo and behold there were still some car photos on it that I hadn't deleted yet. So I started to fiddle with one and decided to really push it to the limit. So I employed a technique called 'matte painting' which is often used in the movie industry and I set about to create a nature scene with a car ad feel. This is what came out:

http://nvisionphotoandart.com/5dphotos/IMG_9629.jpg

I'm really pleased with this shot, especially after the 4+ hours of work I put into it to get it to this point. It was a good fix for my 'photography itch' for the night, though. ;)

Now while I wait for my data to be recovered I really should set up another shoot with a car (probably something other than a M3, just because I shoot those so much due to the fact that most of my friends have them)

[jdizzle]

I like the effect here. 4 hrs to pass the time on this shot. It is worth it. =)

[PhotosGuy]

VERY nice, but I have this "thing" about pics with a green color cast? If anything, I'd expect to see yellowish/red in a sunset shot.

[canonpink]

I had an M3. This is really a nice portrayal of the way it really stands alone in the performance world for its class of car.

[richardsc0]

Nice. Great job with the editing.

On a side note ... I just bought a 500GB external USB / Firewire HD for $139 on http://www.newegg.com.

Not a bad investment for the future ... it'll keep those pesky hard drive failures from being so .. pesky. Just make sure to do regular backups!

[DanC922]

Very nice. What did you do for lighting?

[DimensionZero]

very cool, I could see this in a magazine for sure!

Can you post the original shot as well? Kind of curious to see what kind of stuff you did to it.

[deltroid]

That's stunning!!

My only suggestion is to straighten the horizon...;)

Beautiful shot!!

[MotionEffects]

Love the Scene, and the car of course :)

[PhotosGuy]

On a side note ... I just bought a 500GB external USB / Firewire HD for $139 I got an internal 500GB one at Microcenter for $39! Seems someone typoed the cupon! :D

[Connor P Price]

Great shot! love the PP. Would you be willing to write up a tutorial, or have a link to one that maybe you have used?

[InfraRed]

Great shot! love the PP. Would you be willing to write up a tutorial, or have a link to one that maybe you have used?

i would love some sort of tutorial on this as well.

GREAT photo!

[JoshBowers]

Couple problems I have with the picture ( please don't take it wrong )

The sea shore looks artificially blurred to me. Keep in mind my vision of reality might be totally wrong (it has been in the past).

The car itself looks like it's floating on the sand ( Is that sand? Looks very hard until it gets to the blurry part where you can see that it is at least "sand like"). I think it has to do with the sudden change from sharp focus, to very blurry that throws me.

The clouds have a strange color noise. It's hard to tell with a small jpeg but the pixel densities don't seem to match well. Again I could be wrong (it is late).

I like your other work a lot more. It's simple, dramatic, and controls the viewers attention. This one (to me) seems less controlled/focused. It's like the sharpness of the rocks next to the car, the car itself, the blurry sand, the artificial lens flare, the strange sunburst, are all fighting for attention.

[kenwood33]

how about a before shot?

[JWright]

My only nitpick (other than the green cast) is the fact the car seems to be "looking" out of the frame. I think I would have positioned the car so it was angled into the frame and the viewer was looking at the left side of the car instead of the right.

[e r y k]

im also interested in a before & after pic if possible, if not, where can i learn more about matte painting?

[JoshBowers]

Here are a couple I frequent:

http://www.mattepainting.org/

http://www.thegnomonworkshop.com/dvds/groups/matte_paint_g.html

Just noticed the Gnomonworkshop store site is having problems.... You can go to the online classes area here though:

http://www.gnomononline.com/

You can find the gnomonworkshop dvds on ebay once in awhile... Theirs also a matte painting book called d'artiste: Matte Painting. Kind of hard to get a hold of (depending on which country you are in... I haven't been able to get one in the US, but thats just because I am cheap:)).

Here is a link to the book:

http://www.ballisticpublishing.com/books/dartiste/matte_painting/

[ghibli99]

That looks like where they fought in the movie 300.

Sorry to hear about the HD crash! :(

-Mike

[e r y k]

so if im getting this right, there is a possibility that the car wasnt actually there with the backdrop, it was just heavily chopped to blend into the scenery?

[PhotosGuy]

...where can i learn more about matte painting? Right here?

Exposure, car lighting, layer Masks, selecting ALL in here:
See post #9; PS Elements in Post # 14
A question about sky (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=338140)

Selecting areas in PS. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=39994)
Includes...
Need to remove a background from something? (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=82876)

[Capt Rick]

The lens flare on the left is a little distracting,,,but I like it