First time posting

Hey guys, I do a lot of lurking around here, but haven't really built up a lot of confidence to do much posting. I recently bought a new 50D (upgraded from an old Rebel) and am still getting used to it. I can definitely say that its a whole new ballgame with this camera. Its definitely going to take me some time to get where I want to be with it. Anyways, I had the opportunity to photograph a friend's mustang yesterday. This was the first chance I really got to use the camera. I am satisfied with the results, there are some more things I need to work on, and the location was not ideal with all the trees and what not in the reflections, but I tried to minimize them as much as possible.

Please, and comments and constructive criticism would be awesome! There are TONS of awesome photographers on here, and any feedback to improve my images would be great!

Welcome, they are some nice shots...I'm no expert by any means, but here are my suggestions.

#1 I think you need a tighter crop on the car, the big tree on the left takes away from the stang if you ask me and maybe have it at a steeper angle toward the camera so you get a nice shot of the car with the hills and trees in the far background.

#2 I would make sure to get the full car in the shot, not having the rear of the car in the frame doesn't really do much for me.

#3 is nice, but I would crop out the dead space of street and sidewalk below the car and see how that works.

Again, just my 2 cents, but looks like you're doing good so far

TheBigDog wrote in post #8851034
Welcome, they are some nice shots...I'm no expert by any means, but here are my suggestions.

#1 I think you need a tighter crop on the car, the big tree on the left takes away from the stang if you ask me and maybe have it at a steeper angle toward the camera so you get a nice shot of the car with the hills and trees in the far background.

#2 I would make sure to get the full car in the shot, not having the rear of the car in the frame doesn't really do much for me.

#3 is nice, but I would crop out the dead space of street and sidewalk below the car and see how that works.

Again, just my 2 cents, but looks like you're doing good so far

Great! Thanks for the advice! I will definitely consider those in the future. I hope to be going back again with the car soon, and can try my hand at it again!

Not bad for a first attempt. Try to shoot in a different location that is less distracting. If you shoot in a parking lot, try to avoid getting the parking lines in the shot, unless you really think they add to the composition, most of the time they don't though. In shots 1 and 2 you've got trees growing out of the hood of the car and the roof, that's a big no-no, try to avoid anything growing out of the car be it trees, poles, lightposts, buildings, stuff like that. Practice makes perfect, keep going out and shooting!

CaptainTonus wrote in post #8851617
Not bad for a first attempt. Try to shoot in a different location that is less distracting. If you shoot in a parking lot, try to avoid getting the parking lines in the shot, unless you really think they add to the composition, most of the time they don't though. In shots 1 and 2 you've got trees growing out of the hood of the car and the roof, that's a big no-no, try to avoid anything growing out of the car be it trees, poles, lightposts, buildings, stuff like that. Practice makes perfect, keep going out and shooting!

I know, this was not an ideal location. We orginally went in that area to get the stadium in the background, but the parking lot was full... so we kind of made due with what we had. I hate shooting with all the trees around since it makes it hard with the reflections and everything.

Thanks for the comments and I fully intend to practice as much as I can!!! This new camera is very cool, but very hard to get used to.

What was it about the stadium that made it a good choice for a background?

Big Dog summed it up - but I must comment: that is a veddy nice notch, sir!

PhotosGuy wrote in post #8854437
What was it about the stadium that made it a good choice for a background?

Just the architecture of the building is really cool. Plus, the owner of the mustang grew up in the town, so there are a lot of memories from the stadium. I was hoping that shooting in front of the stadium would be less distracting with all the relfections and lighting since it would have been a mostly shaded area.

Thanks for the warm-welcome everyone! I'm hoping to go out and shoot some more after reading through the tips in PhotosGuy's sig, looking at all the sample pictures, and reading through the users manual on this 50d!