The Old Mans New Porsche

Didn't have a lot of time to really compose this shot, please give me some pointers.

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justin240 wrote in post #6193559
Didn't have a lot of time to really compose this shot, please give me some pointers.

Unfortunately, the location was not very good. You are shooting towards the light and seeing the dark side of the car (see the shadow pattern on the floor), both of which do not help exposure. Try to find a spot where the light is coming mostly from behind you and try to avoid including any nearby high intensity lights in the scene.

Also, mercury vapor lighting is not full spectrum, so the quality of light in the image will not be good under that type of lighting.

I think the composition is fine - put the car in a nice outdoor setting with the right lighting (near dawn or dusk) and take the same shot from the same angle and you'd have a great picture.

You used 17 mm focal length on this shot, but you could eliminate the severe distortion evident in this shot by using a longer focal length and backing up.

thanks for the tips, i did take 3 shots, the other 2 were at longer focal lengths, however, when reviewing the shots I found that this one had more depth. Does the distortion really take away from this picture. I have been trying to use distortion to my advantage. But maybe I just have the wrong idea.

Doesn't look distorted to me at all. Composition looks fine to me, it's just the lighting that's the problem.

I like the distortion, that comes to personal preference though. Look into getting a CPL filter so you can cut down on the reflections too.

I'll trade ya pointers fer the keys!! Get it too a better location first. I shot my Dad's 79' 930 at a really cool park with mtns in the BG worked great. I too think a longer lens would work better. With the WA you really dont get the MEAN look that the front / side has to offer.

Me? I'd use a 400

LBaldwin wrote in post #6202196
I'll trade ya pointers fer the keys!! Get it too a better location first. I shot my Dad's 79' 930 at a really cool park with mtns in the BG worked great. I too think a longer lens would work better. With the WA you really dont get the MEAN look that the front / side has to offer.

Me? I'd use a 400

That's interesting, might have to pull my 200 out to see what I can do with a car. Thanks for that lil pointer.

I wouldn't say that distortion, per se, hurts or doesn't hurt the picture, because that would be very subjective. My only reason for pointing it out would be to cover the possibility that you were not aware of the relationship between focal length and distortion. In portraits, the rule in 35 mm photography has been 85 mm or greater to avoid distortion. Basically, the same principle holds for anything else, including architectural, cars, etc.

This type of distortion caused actually contributes to the 3 dimensionality. Usually, we depend upon other means of enhancing 3 dimensionality, such as lighting and shadows and through careful placement of foreground elements, middle ground elements and distant background elements - especially if elements indicating scale are employed.