My car "Brooke"

Hi all, I've always been a bit of a novice with a good eye and have recently started to try and get serious with my shooting.

I am currently deployed (in the Coast Guard) so I cant upload new stuff very often, but heres two shots of my car before I left home in June.

I use photobucket.


Camera Model: Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 55.0mm (35mm equivalent: 87mm...
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO Equiv.: 400
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: pattern
Exposure: LandscapeMode

First off stay safe and thanks for your service!

#1 - I like the background, but the shot seems a little wide to me. I think you could make this a real nice, gritty looking, industrial type shot, but I would try to frame it a little differently. Try a closer crop, and also from different angles instead of just eye level.

#2 - I like the colors and the idea with the lights. I might try a little longer exposure to get more lighting on the car, while still maintaining the headlights/light on the pavement. Maybe a GND or CPL would have helped here.

#1 has good highlights in the side, but the building is killing the ones that should be in the top & hood.

#2 is a clean location w/great light, but you need to turn the body to get some of that sunset reflected in the side like in this 2011 Chevy Cruze Sedan LS

Laramie wrote in post #14969379
First off stay safe and thanks for your service!

#1 - I like the background, but the shot seems a little wide to me. I think you could make this a real nice, gritty looking, industrial type shot, but I would try to frame it a little differently. Try a closer crop, and also from different angles instead of just eye level.

#2 - I like the colors and the idea with the lights. I might try a little longer exposure to get more lighting on the car, while still maintaining the headlights/light on the pavement. Maybe a GND or CPL would have helped here.

Thanks! I messed around with crop a little, but overall since I shot in JPEG to begin with ( I shoot RAW+JPEG now ) its not the best quality post crop.

I have a few others from this "shoot" some I like, some I dont.

Whats a GND and CPL? Im still learning the acronyms.

PhotosGuy wrote in post #14969730
#1 has good highlights in the side, but the building is killing the ones that should be in the top & hood.

#2 is a clean location w/great light, but you need to turn the body to get some of that sunset reflected in the side like in this 2011 Chevy Cruze Sedan LS

I saw a lot of your photos already, so I really appreciate your input! Ill try more when I get home.

JAC Wagon wrote in post #14970069
Thanks! I messed around with crop a little, but overall since I shot in JPEG to begin with ( I shoot RAW+JPEG now ) its not the best quality post crop.

I have a few others from this "shoot" some I like, some I dont.

Whats a GND and CPL? Im still learning the acronyms.

A "GND" is a filter that basically will help when one part of the scene is bright and the other is dark. It helps to bring them closer together exposure wise so that you don't have unwanted shadows or harsh highlights. A "CPL" is a circular polazier filter than can darken and enhance the color of the sky. It rotates to give you a stronger/weaker effect. Car shots, like many other areas, are about getting the right lighting, so don't be afraid to go back and re-shoot if you don't like the initial result. Good luck.

Oh, got it! I actually have and sometimes forget, a CPL on my lens now.

Nice car! I notice you have the "IGOTA" .com sticker on the window too. Am big scooby fan

carlh wrote in post #14971090
Nice car! I notice you have the "IGOTA" .com sticker on the window too. Am big scooby fan

Thanks! Yeah, I am a super moderator on igotasubaru.com

Its a good site (still promoting and building it up) thats grown rather quickly.


I was looking though some of my other shots of this set and the only other one I really liked was a little too tight of a crop and too much saturation (before I got Photoshop Elements I used what I had, Microsoft Picture Manager)

In your first photo you definitely need a tighter crop, it is often preferable to have the car fill a good chunk of the frame since it is really the focus subject. Think of a portrait of a person, would you want them only filling up 10% of the frame, or would you like them the main focal point, thus taking up most of the frame? If you have a very interesting background, I could see a large crop, but here, it should be tight.

On the second photo, I don't feel much as I really can't make out much of the cars details. I think playing around with light painting could have given a really cool result, something for you to try later?

Just my amateur 2 cents

Thanks Rev!

Heres a different look at the same shoot. Different angle obviously but tighter like you mentioned. Not a crop, I just walked a little closer

Camera Model: Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Focal Length: 30.0mm
Exposure Time: 0.033 s (1/30)
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO Equiv.: 500

I couldnt use PS since I am on my work computer but I messed around with the levels (and crop obviously) and got this.

Thoughts?

JAC Wagon wrote in post #14969121
Hi all, I've always been a bit of a novice with a good eye and have recently started to try and get serious with my shooting.

I am currently deployed (in the Coast Guard) so I cant upload new stuff very often, but heres two shots of my car before I left home in June.

I use photobucket.


Camera Model: Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 55.0mm (35mm equivalent: 87mm...
Exposure Time: 0.017 s (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
ISO Equiv.: 400
Whitebalance: Auto
Metering Mode: pattern
Exposure: LandscapeMode

_______________

Camera Model: Canon EOS REBEL T1i
Focal Length: 18.0mm
Exposure Time: 20.000 s
Aperture: f/22.0
ISO Equiv.: 100
Whitebalance: Auto
Exposure: shutter priority (semi-auto)

Comments and certainly pointers welcomed!

Given your comments, it seems like these two images are supposed to be about your car. And...they sort of aren't about your car, in my opinion.

Both of these are about a car's relationship with a particular environment. Not about the car. Did you really need that industrial sort of background competing with your car's attention and making me think about the relationship between the two? Did you really need that night setting, with the skyline and the ambient light competing with your DARK car?

Maybe you did. I don't know. But I look at these two images, and I don't get the feeling that either one is about the car.

Just food for thought.

Good point Gene, thank you for being blunt and honest! That will only help me improve my skill.

Looks like a car on a dock, but thats about it.