- 8,707
- Utah
- ceiling_fan
Great pictures here. 
exigeracer's Car Photography (Spring '10 opener)
- Thread starter exigeracer
- 278 comments
- 20,361 views
- 5,991
Aston Martin V8 Volante
So I'm pretty much dying to get a photoshoot going. I'm getting sick of spending time not only finding the actual cars but also finding the right angles only to have a parking meter or tree or other car ruin the shot. Case in point this Volante I found around the corner from my house. This shot would've worked so much better if I didn't have to use a signpost as my tripod or have it parked against a curb with other cars getting in the way. The colours are frustrating as usual, but nighttime is hard with a pretty terrible stock flash. Couldn't quite tell what the autofocus was going after, I was just concentrating on not dropping the camera...
4s, f5.6, 18mm
I'm thinking of scowering the local racing forums for people willing to donate a car for a shoot.
The other shots I have of the Z need a little TLC which would make them look totally different than the one posted. I'm going out for a little tomorrow to look for more photo opportunities, so hopefully I'll get something reasonable
So I'm pretty much dying to get a photoshoot going. I'm getting sick of spending time not only finding the actual cars but also finding the right angles only to have a parking meter or tree or other car ruin the shot. Case in point this Volante I found around the corner from my house. This shot would've worked so much better if I didn't have to use a signpost as my tripod or have it parked against a curb with other cars getting in the way. The colours are frustrating as usual, but nighttime is hard with a pretty terrible stock flash. Couldn't quite tell what the autofocus was going after, I was just concentrating on not dropping the camera...
4s, f5.6, 18mm
I'm thinking of scowering the local racing forums for people willing to donate a car for a shoot.
The other shots I have of the Z need a little TLC which would make them look totally different than the one posted. I'm going out for a little tomorrow to look for more photo opportunities, so hopefully I'll get something reasonable
GilesGuthrie
Staff Emeritus
- 11,038
- Edinburgh, UK
- CMDRTheDarkLord
Nice shots dude. I quite like the Jetta in the second DB9 shot: adds context.
- 5,991
Thanksah.
So I went out this afternoon to shoot cars because my internet was broken. Didn't find much, but I did get this rather good shot of a black Z06. Of the two photos, I couldn't really get anything spectacular because of the lens flaring and difference in depth of filed between the two (despite identical apertures, can anyone explain that?), sooooo I spruced up the show with Lr and purpled it out. I like the feel I got, but can you help me decide on which is better?
f/3.5 1/200s ISO100 18mm
or
f/3/5 1/160s ISO100 18mm
Commentary?
So I went out this afternoon to shoot cars because my internet was broken. Didn't find much, but I did get this rather good shot of a black Z06. Of the two photos, I couldn't really get anything spectacular because of the lens flaring and difference in depth of filed between the two (despite identical apertures, can anyone explain that?), sooooo I spruced up the show with Lr and purpled it out. I like the feel I got, but can you help me decide on which is better?
f/3.5 1/200s ISO100 18mm
or
f/3/5 1/160s ISO100 18mm
Commentary?
- 6,009
- Austin, Texas
- D-Nitrate / GTP_DNitrate
The second shot is noticeably more in focus. You can see a lot more detail in the Vette's badge and in things like the pattern in the drain cover, satelite dish, store sign, etc.
Nice shot BTW. 👍
ROAD_DOGG33J
Premium
- 13,890
- IL, USA
- holyc0w1
- holyc0w
The first one lets you see the car better, but I don't really like the reflections. Overall, I like the second one better with the nice trees. It would probably be even better with a pinch of the brightness from the first one.
edit: Actually the monitor on my desktop is too dark, the second picture wins hands down for me.
edit: Actually the monitor on my desktop is too dark, the second picture wins hands down for me.
- 5,991
Thanks for the feedback. I've gotten accustomed to the first, but they both work for me.
Volkswagen GTI VR6
Anyways, today I went out to see my cousins play at their tennis camp. As usual, my camera was on me so I was happy when I found this lone GTI infront of a pretty building at a local university. Sunshine was direct on this badboy, but I tried to make it less apparent by getting rid of its warmth and working on the levels to get some variation in that beautiful paint while maintaining visibility in the vines and a decent sky. I was really impressed by the paint on this VW, I don't know if it was factory, but it was so deep and absolutely perfect. I'm happy that I came away with a handful of shots, probably around 75 frames, and managed to find some of the bracketed ones I liked and could be used.
I'm finding that the sensor captures the image slightly wider than the viewfinder, which is something to keep in mind. I remember framing out the hydrant when taking the shot, but it appeared when I edited. Maybe for the better because I didn't want to crop it any tighter to the car once I saw it on screen.
f/5.6 1/500 ISO100 28mm
This next is probably my favorite of the set, which isn't surprising because it was intuitively the angle I started shooting right when I got there.
f/5.6 1/500 ISO100 50mm
This one is just missing the sharpness it needs. I was trying to get some depth, but obviously failed.
f/3.5 1/800 ISO100 18mm
Not too sure what went wrong with this one, but it just doesn't seem right. It is playing it conservative, but that's not what bothers me. The composition seems wonky maybe. I also don't like the muddy sky, but that can be easily fixed.
f/4.5 1/1250s ISO100 18mm
This one was particularly tough to keep the paint from being too hot. I think it works though.
f/4.5 1/800s ISO100 18mm
Anyways, I'm learning to cut back on the processing, especially vignetting which seems to be my biggest weakness. I did a dabble in these shots, but just to get some contrast to the pavement. I'm happy with where the photography is going, I'm learning with every outing and what works and what doesn't. My time behind the lens is being spent more wisely and I actually feel like I'm getting somewhere.
Any comments on the above shots?
Volkswagen GTI VR6
Anyways, today I went out to see my cousins play at their tennis camp. As usual, my camera was on me so I was happy when I found this lone GTI infront of a pretty building at a local university. Sunshine was direct on this badboy, but I tried to make it less apparent by getting rid of its warmth and working on the levels to get some variation in that beautiful paint while maintaining visibility in the vines and a decent sky. I was really impressed by the paint on this VW, I don't know if it was factory, but it was so deep and absolutely perfect. I'm happy that I came away with a handful of shots, probably around 75 frames, and managed to find some of the bracketed ones I liked and could be used.
I'm finding that the sensor captures the image slightly wider than the viewfinder, which is something to keep in mind. I remember framing out the hydrant when taking the shot, but it appeared when I edited. Maybe for the better because I didn't want to crop it any tighter to the car once I saw it on screen.
f/5.6 1/500 ISO100 28mm
This next is probably my favorite of the set, which isn't surprising because it was intuitively the angle I started shooting right when I got there.
f/5.6 1/500 ISO100 50mm
This one is just missing the sharpness it needs. I was trying to get some depth, but obviously failed.
f/3.5 1/800 ISO100 18mm
Not too sure what went wrong with this one, but it just doesn't seem right. It is playing it conservative, but that's not what bothers me. The composition seems wonky maybe. I also don't like the muddy sky, but that can be easily fixed.
f/4.5 1/1250s ISO100 18mm
This one was particularly tough to keep the paint from being too hot. I think it works though.
f/4.5 1/800s ISO100 18mm
Anyways, I'm learning to cut back on the processing, especially vignetting which seems to be my biggest weakness. I did a dabble in these shots, but just to get some contrast to the pavement. I'm happy with where the photography is going, I'm learning with every outing and what works and what doesn't. My time behind the lens is being spent more wisely and I actually feel like I'm getting somewhere.
Any comments on the above shots?
- 6,009
- Austin, Texas
- D-Nitrate / GTP_DNitrate
It's funny, when I saw that car (specifically it's color) in front of that classic British stone architecture covered in a blanket of rich green ivy and I immeadiately thought of Wimbeldon.
BTW: Great shots.
What may also look especially sharp is to use that same car against a similar backdrop, but park the car on the lawn next to a large white marble statue - and label it:
"A New Classic"
and sell it to VW.
- 6,515
- Lincoln
- Speedster502
Very nice shots, I'm going to comment on some previous work before I comment on the latest piece of work.
Aston Martin DB9 These photo's are mightly impressive, I love the blurred lights surrounding the car and although the Jetta is in the way on the second shot of the Aston I feel as though it might be adding more context although ideally for the perfect shot it wouldn't be there. But there's nothing you could have done about that. Great shots.
Aston Martin V8 Vantage Spider I like this one too, especially the bonnet. The lighting on that looks superb almost like a cool looking kind of thing. As you were saying though, I think it would be great to get a photoshoot with someone as the possbilities could be endless and you wouldn't have to worry about climbing things to acheive decent compositions. However, I still like this shot. Just out of intrest, I presume to make the car lights blurred (light lines across the picture) you have to lower the exposure? Or is there any other way to do that, because my P&S can't increase or decrease exposure so is there any modes on my camera which might be able to create a similar effect?
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Looks nice, my immediate reaction is to be drawn to the first one, but I can't figure out why. The second one looks nice and sharp throughout the whole picture and considerable more so than the first one. But there's a couple of things which I think could be the reason why I prefer the first one. The first reason is that, I think the backround in the first one is perhaps less distracting to the main focus of the picture. In the second one there seems to be too much going on, the biker and the dots which have appeared in the sky are very distracting and although you can't do anything about the biker you could try to remove those dots using the dodge tool. Might make it less distracting. Another thing is that in the first one the backround is nicely blurred which makes it less distracting and even though it ruins the focus on some areas (like the back of the car) it causes for a nice effect. I think that the reflections on the car in the second image are far more superior to the the first ones fairly bland reflections. I like both shots but for different reasons, if you could combine elements of each one that would be good, but thats often easier said than done. However, they still better than anything I could have taken
Volkswagen Golf GTi VR6 I want to say that I love that second shot. The composition of that shot is perfect, and if the car didn't have some silly wheels on (IMO) and the cleaned back of the car the shot would be flawless. But you can't really take his wheels off on site and put a badge and original wheels back on
I really love the whole atmosphere of that shot. As D-N said the whole set of photos have a nice atmosphere due to the classy building situated nicely in the backround, think what it would look like if it was a MK1 GTI! Really like these shots. 👍 Great work.
If it would be possible for you take to some of your time to comment in my gallery, I'd appreciate it!
Aston Martin DB9 These photo's are mightly impressive, I love the blurred lights surrounding the car and although the Jetta is in the way on the second shot of the Aston I feel as though it might be adding more context although ideally for the perfect shot it wouldn't be there. But there's nothing you could have done about that.
Great shots.Aston Martin V8 Vantage Spider I like this one too, especially the bonnet. The lighting on that looks superb almost like a cool looking kind of thing. As you were saying though, I think it would be great to get a photoshoot with someone as the possbilities could be endless and you wouldn't have to worry about climbing things to acheive decent compositions. However, I still like this shot. Just out of intrest, I presume to make the car lights blurred (light lines across the picture) you have to lower the exposure? Or is there any other way to do that, because my P&S can't increase or decrease exposure so is there any modes on my camera which might be able to create a similar effect?
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Looks nice, my immediate reaction is to be drawn to the first one, but I can't figure out why. The second one looks nice and sharp throughout the whole picture and considerable more so than the first one. But there's a couple of things which I think could be the reason why I prefer the first one. The first reason is that, I think the backround in the first one is perhaps less distracting to the main focus of the picture. In the second one there seems to be too much going on, the biker and the dots which have appeared in the sky are very distracting and although you can't do anything about the biker you could try to remove those dots using the dodge tool. Might make it less distracting. Another thing is that in the first one the backround is nicely blurred which makes it less distracting and even though it ruins the focus on some areas (like the back of the car) it causes for a nice effect. I think that the reflections on the car in the second image are far more superior to the the first ones fairly bland reflections. I like both shots but for different reasons, if you could combine elements of each one that would be good, but thats often easier said than done. However, they still better than anything I could have taken
Volkswagen Golf GTi VR6 I want to say that I love that second shot. The composition of that shot is perfect, and if the car didn't have some silly wheels on (IMO) and the cleaned back of the car the shot would be flawless. But you can't really take his wheels off on site and put a badge and original wheels back on
I really love the whole atmosphere of that shot. As D-N said the whole set of photos have a nice atmosphere due to the classy building situated nicely in the backround, think what it would look like if it was a MK1 GTI! Really like these shots. 👍 Great work.If it would be possible for you take to some of your time to comment in my gallery, I'd appreciate it!
ROAD_DOGG33J
Premium
- 13,890
- IL, USA
- holyc0w1
- holyc0w
The 3rd shot looks OK, but the way the tops of the buildings were cut off doesn't suit my eye. That bit of sky in the fourth shot is also distracting.
- 5,991
Yeah, the photo is a 4 second exposure, so whatever went by during those 4 seconds gets captured. In fact, many of the night pictures I post have been shots where people actually walk right by the open shutter but with very minimal effect on the final picture. Cars going by scar the shot in a nice way though.
There is no other way to do that really, just turn of your flash and press your shutter and see what happens. It depends on your camera, but some of the higher-end point-and-shoots have manual exposure settings, so just jump it up to a couple seconds and go ahead. If you don't have that, then try the night time setting, which usually lets the shutter open for a little longer than usual. Tips for shooting with long exposures: obviously don't hold the camera, your hand isn't steady enough for a sharp picture if it's any faster than 1/60s or so. This also means if you're setting the camera and pressing the shutter, the tiny amount of movement of your finger coming off the shutter will move the camera enough to lose sharpness. To avoid this, use the lowest self-portrait timer function. Every night shot I get is set, then I use a 2 second delay so nothing is touching the camera whatsoever any time before, during or after it is taking the picture. Just an FYI - you're decreasing your digital sensor's life by taking longer exposures. I'm not saying it'll half it's lifespan but don't use it like it was a paintball gun.
Chevrolet Corvette Z06 Looks nice, my immediate reaction is to be drawn to the first one, but I can't figure out why. The second one looks nice and sharp throughout the whole picture and considerable more so than the first one. But there's a couple of things which I think could be the reason why I prefer the first one. The first reason is that, I think the backround in the first one is perhaps less distracting to the main focus of the picture. In the second one there seems to be too much going on, the biker and the dots which have appeared in the sky are very distracting and although you can't do anything about the biker you could try to remove those dots using the dodge tool. Might make it less distracting. Another thing is that in the first one the backround is nicely blurred which makes it less distracting and even though it ruins the focus on some areas (like the back of the car) it causes for a nice effect. I think that the reflections on the car in the second image are far more superior to the the first ones fairly bland reflections. I like both shots but for different reasons, if you could combine elements of each one that would be good, but thats often easier said than done. However, they still better than anything I could have taken
I wasn't being careful enough with my focusing to get enough sharpness out of the first and enough fall off in the background. Even though they are identical apertures, the autofocus (second shot) managed to keep everything in the field very sharp, which is annoying. I like the bluriness of the first shot, it really accompanies the extensive post-production feel. My lens's f/3.5 aperture capability is pretty weak, so it's hard to get that nice depth of field without losing sharpness in the subject. If I had the money I'd have a nice 50mm f/1.4 for shots like that...
Sure. Thanks for the compliments and feedback.
- 5,991
It's been a while since I've posted something so I decided to see what I could do on this shot I took on a late afternoon last week. I really think this went nowhere, but I wasn't really trying for a shot, I was just walking around taking photos of stuff I saw.
f/5.6 1/125 ISO100 45mm
Any thoughts? I gotta say I'm not the biggest fan, but I haven't had time to find cars so it was this or nothing. Look for an update on Saturday.
f/5.6 1/125 ISO100 45mm
Any thoughts? I gotta say I'm not the biggest fan, but I haven't had time to find cars so it was this or nothing. Look for an update on Saturday.
- 7,719
The lightning is perfect - I wouldn't change it one bit. However, I would compose the picture differently: Shot slightly more from the left, with the stopsign in plain view and the edge of the sidewalk pointing straight towards the car, it would achieve a more dramatic effect. This way, the car seems a little hidden.
- 5,991
Looks underexposed
Off topic but do you happen to live near bay and charles? (just wondering, im not a stalker
No I don't. The closest picture I've ever posted is at Bay and Bloor. I've got a friend who lives at Bay and Charles, but I just don't have that kind of money (although I could walk there in the better part of 15 minutes). If you plotted every photo in post 1, the center of all the locations would be my bedroom.
Metar - the crop is so for right because I didn't want any of the other parked cars in the shot - they're just past the left edge of the frame.
edit - ooooh now I get what you mean - good advice, thanks!
- 5,991
Yesterday I had a day off, so I went out to shoot cars. I've now got a bike, so I can cover far more ground looking for nice cars and nice locations than on foot. I love biking so this works out for both my physical being and also for my artistic one, as I get to shoot photographs. I shot 311 photos yesterday and used 31 of them. Anyways, without further ado, I'll post the shots in the order I took them. I also won't list ISO anymore, as it is always going to be ISO100
Toyota Supra
I followed him for a few blocks, after which he dove into some sidestreets and parked next to this church. Some adjacent parking cleared so up I could finally get a reasonable angle, but the owner showed up and I could only literally grab this one frame from this angle. It seemed like it had potential, but I just couldn't compose something so quickly. I really want another lens with more fall off to isolate the car from the background, which is currently stealing too much detail. I don't know though, this shot just doesn't feel right. I think with another 5 or 10 minutes of playing around I could've for sure gotten it right. The processing didn't do it wonders either. If anyone could provide some insight with what doesn't look right, it would be cool.
(edit - more exposure helped a 'lil)
f/4.5 1/320s 26mm
Ferrari 360 Modena (my first set?)
After biking for a couple hours just to take in some random bike paths I found, I spotted a Ferrari 360 pulling into a parking lot. I kind of loitered around to see if he would snag a decent parking spot, and sure enough he pulled into the back of the lot between two trucks with enough room on one side to take some shots. I parked up the bicycle and started snapping.
I tried getting some of the darker values from under the Expressway to push the foreground. Again, some depth to push out the close truck and take away some of the far detail would've been appreciated, but what can ya do. I also aimed for a less fake approach to the post, but that tends to drop off throughout the set.
f/5.6 1/640s 70mm
Pulling a little tighter and more level, but the same idea as the last shot. I got honked at for blocking the facing parking spot, but the guy made some joke about the Ferrari to make up for it. I think the tilt from the first shot was needed as this one is pretty meh. I like the quality of it though.
f/5.6 1/800s 50mm
Approaching the car's sexier angles. That cube van's logo HAS to be cloned out, but I don't have Photoshop. The sky got a little muddy which I should actually take a look at in Lr, as it detracts from the cleanliness of the rest of the photo.
f/5.6 1/1250s 22mm
Getting closer to use the wider angle of the lens's capabilities. Very faint distortion, but just noticeable. I think it works on the 360.
f/3.5 1/2000 18mm
Here the post production is taken just a titch too hard and is starting to look a little fake. I kind of like the Modena's duckbill front, so this shot was trying to capture that. Maybe a little too wide on the lens, but I couldn't do anything about that.
f/3.5 1/1250s 18mm
This is by far my favorite shot of the set. I think this is the car's best angle, and I consider the 360 Modena to be one of the most beautiful Ferraris of recent times. It kind of looks like the compression ruined a little of the clarity, which is a shame. Again, that business truck has to go...
f/3.5 1/2000s 18mm
This shot is way too tight but I'll post it anyways. Neat angle, just too much car.
f/3.5 1/1600s 18mm
Just thought I would also try to get some farther shots, and this one worked in my books except for that ugly Jeep's nose. I like the construction equipment and the pickup though, really stand the car out. Gotta watch the crop on the left side with the building though. Doh!
f/4.0 1/800s 20mm
I heard something very bike-sounding coming from under the highway, but it didn't have the short shifts of normal road bikes. I pop up and sure enough, a Lotus Elise drives through my frame so I snap the shot. I like the way the clouds rolled in and killed the light, I wish the whole set had this mood.
f/5.6 1/640s 50mm
Acura Integra
I'm a sucker for red cars with gold wheels. The colour balancing made them look less yellow than they were. Only shot of the car, and it isn't that special but I still feel the need to post it...
f/5.6 1/500s 60mm
Volkswagen Golf GTI
Just a couple spots down was this Golf, which I didn't spend too too much time on, but I thought the building, although rather close to the car, was a nice backdrop. I've seen a couple other VW shots very similar to this, so I decided to grab my own. Pretty car, pretty wheels. Again, if I had 100% control the shot would've turned out miles better without the Honda behind it.
f/5.6 1/320s 45mm
A little cooler with this one, and a little flat, but still an okay shot. The lack of bricks makes it pretty flat, but at least the Civic is more or less gone.
f/5.6 1/400s 40mm
BMW 325i
Cycling through the university campus (same one as the previous Golf shots) I found this nicely lowered 325 with classy BBS shoes. I think I was so happy to finally get a car by itselt for the first time I pulled out too much on this first shot, so I ended up with something that looks a little toy-like below a huge building. That's okay, I still really like this one even though it doesn't stand out technically from the rest of my stuff.
f/5 160s 20mm
A little profile shot to spotlight the wheels and that deep blue colour. Again, not the best shot from a traditional standpoint, but I still really like it for some reason (and I'm getting tired of writing these stories about every shot
)...
f/3.5 1/250s 18mm
Here I tried to manipulate the lens a little more to get some fall off further down without giving up too much sharpness on the subject. Too bad it was a bad angle and doesn't really do any favors for the car.
f/3.5 1/400s 18mm
Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet
Gah remind me to not take so many photos in one day, too much explaining!!! This car got really lost in the background (busy design, reflections, distracting background) so almost all of the 997 shots turned out lousy. This took quite a bit of manipulation to get somewhat okay. Still nothing worth writing home about.
f/3.5 1/320s 18mm
Ferrari F430
Just some boring shots. Very hard to get a clean shot without any people or cars going by, it was a busy street. This shot just doesn't quite have the sharpness it needs to pop. Boring colour too...
f/3.5 1/500s 18mm
Aaaaaaaaand the last shot, just to give the whole static set some street liveliness and not just cars sitting there... I think the people and traffic kind of help this shot. It also pretty much wraps up a good day of shooting.
f/3.5 1/640s 18mm
Aaaaand just to keep things green, here is some shrubbery I passed!
Anyways, please please comment away. I know there are some fairly weak shots here, so let me have it!!!!
Toyota Supra
I followed him for a few blocks, after which he dove into some sidestreets and parked next to this church. Some adjacent parking cleared so up I could finally get a reasonable angle, but the owner showed up and I could only literally grab this one frame from this angle. It seemed like it had potential, but I just couldn't compose something so quickly. I really want another lens with more fall off to isolate the car from the background, which is currently stealing too much detail. I don't know though, this shot just doesn't feel right. I think with another 5 or 10 minutes of playing around I could've for sure gotten it right. The processing didn't do it wonders either. If anyone could provide some insight with what doesn't look right, it would be cool.
(edit - more exposure helped a 'lil)
f/4.5 1/320s 26mm
Ferrari 360 Modena (my first set?)
After biking for a couple hours just to take in some random bike paths I found, I spotted a Ferrari 360 pulling into a parking lot. I kind of loitered around to see if he would snag a decent parking spot, and sure enough he pulled into the back of the lot between two trucks with enough room on one side to take some shots. I parked up the bicycle and started snapping.
I tried getting some of the darker values from under the Expressway to push the foreground. Again, some depth to push out the close truck and take away some of the far detail would've been appreciated, but what can ya do. I also aimed for a less fake approach to the post, but that tends to drop off throughout the set.
f/5.6 1/640s 70mm
Pulling a little tighter and more level, but the same idea as the last shot. I got honked at for blocking the facing parking spot, but the guy made some joke about the Ferrari to make up for it. I think the tilt from the first shot was needed as this one is pretty meh. I like the quality of it though.
f/5.6 1/800s 50mm
Approaching the car's sexier angles. That cube van's logo HAS to be cloned out, but I don't have Photoshop. The sky got a little muddy which I should actually take a look at in Lr, as it detracts from the cleanliness of the rest of the photo.
f/5.6 1/1250s 22mm
Getting closer to use the wider angle of the lens's capabilities. Very faint distortion, but just noticeable. I think it works on the 360.
f/3.5 1/2000 18mm
Here the post production is taken just a titch too hard and is starting to look a little fake. I kind of like the Modena's duckbill front, so this shot was trying to capture that. Maybe a little too wide on the lens, but I couldn't do anything about that.
f/3.5 1/1250s 18mm
This is by far my favorite shot of the set. I think this is the car's best angle, and I consider the 360 Modena to be one of the most beautiful Ferraris of recent times. It kind of looks like the compression ruined a little of the clarity, which is a shame. Again, that business truck has to go...
f/3.5 1/2000s 18mm
This shot is way too tight but I'll post it anyways. Neat angle, just too much car.
f/3.5 1/1600s 18mm
Just thought I would also try to get some farther shots, and this one worked in my books except for that ugly Jeep's nose. I like the construction equipment and the pickup though, really stand the car out. Gotta watch the crop on the left side with the building though. Doh!
f/4.0 1/800s 20mm
I heard something very bike-sounding coming from under the highway, but it didn't have the short shifts of normal road bikes. I pop up and sure enough, a Lotus Elise drives through my frame so I snap the shot. I like the way the clouds rolled in and killed the light, I wish the whole set had this mood.
f/5.6 1/640s 50mm
Acura Integra
I'm a sucker for red cars with gold wheels. The colour balancing made them look less yellow than they were. Only shot of the car, and it isn't that special but I still feel the need to post it...
f/5.6 1/500s 60mm
Volkswagen Golf GTI
Just a couple spots down was this Golf, which I didn't spend too too much time on, but I thought the building, although rather close to the car, was a nice backdrop. I've seen a couple other VW shots very similar to this, so I decided to grab my own. Pretty car, pretty wheels. Again, if I had 100% control the shot would've turned out miles better without the Honda behind it.
f/5.6 1/320s 45mm
A little cooler with this one, and a little flat, but still an okay shot. The lack of bricks makes it pretty flat, but at least the Civic is more or less gone.
f/5.6 1/400s 40mm
BMW 325i
Cycling through the university campus (same one as the previous Golf shots) I found this nicely lowered 325 with classy BBS shoes. I think I was so happy to finally get a car by itselt for the first time I pulled out too much on this first shot, so I ended up with something that looks a little toy-like below a huge building. That's okay, I still really like this one even though it doesn't stand out technically from the rest of my stuff.
f/5 160s 20mm
A little profile shot to spotlight the wheels and that deep blue colour. Again, not the best shot from a traditional standpoint, but I still really like it for some reason (and I'm getting tired of writing these stories about every shot
)...
f/3.5 1/250s 18mm
Here I tried to manipulate the lens a little more to get some fall off further down without giving up too much sharpness on the subject. Too bad it was a bad angle and doesn't really do any favors for the car.
f/3.5 1/400s 18mm
Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet
Gah remind me to not take so many photos in one day, too much explaining!!! This car got really lost in the background (busy design, reflections, distracting background) so almost all of the 997 shots turned out lousy. This took quite a bit of manipulation to get somewhat okay. Still nothing worth writing home about.
f/3.5 1/320s 18mm
Ferrari F430
Just some boring shots. Very hard to get a clean shot without any people or cars going by, it was a busy street. This shot just doesn't quite have the sharpness it needs to pop. Boring colour too...
f/3.5 1/500s 18mm
Aaaaaaaaand the last shot, just to give the whole static set some street liveliness and not just cars sitting there... I think the people and traffic kind of help this shot. It also pretty much wraps up a good day of shooting.
f/3.5 1/640s 18mm
Aaaaand just to keep things green, here is some shrubbery I passed!
Anyways, please please comment away. I know there are some fairly weak shots here, so let me have it!!!!
- 5,991
Dodge Viper RT/10
Biking around today, not particularly looking for subjects, I couldn't pass this Viper without staring. I never liked Vipers, but there is no arguing the boldness of the design - it's so loud and full of character.
Not much backstory to this, the owner came out and tried to sell it to me, saying he needed cash. I offered 50,000$ but he turned down the offer. There was pretty much only these two angles to shoot, posts right behind me, the sun killing frontal shots and the narrow alleyway prevented any exploratory shots. They're pretty stock and similar, but I still think that the Viper can't really be taken poorly. The wall came off really really bright, so I tried to massage it into place with tonal curves and the orange saturation and luminance shifts. I played with a lot of hues this time to try to get a unified feeling. Anyways, I'm still layering on the vignetting a little strong but I think it kind of fits the cooler shots this time.
f/4 1/250s 22mm
I like this closer shot a little more
f/3.5 1/350s 18mm
Random fact, from that last pool of shots from the weekend, somehow the Porsche 997 is the most-viewed photo on my flickr page of the bunch, gaining views way faster than other shots that've been there for a while.
Biking around today, not particularly looking for subjects, I couldn't pass this Viper without staring. I never liked Vipers, but there is no arguing the boldness of the design - it's so loud and full of character.
Not much backstory to this, the owner came out and tried to sell it to me, saying he needed cash. I offered 50,000$ but he turned down the offer. There was pretty much only these two angles to shoot, posts right behind me, the sun killing frontal shots and the narrow alleyway prevented any exploratory shots. They're pretty stock and similar, but I still think that the Viper can't really be taken poorly. The wall came off really really bright, so I tried to massage it into place with tonal curves and the orange saturation and luminance shifts. I played with a lot of hues this time to try to get a unified feeling. Anyways, I'm still layering on the vignetting a little strong but I think it kind of fits the cooler shots this time.
f/4 1/250s 22mm
I like this closer shot a little more
f/3.5 1/350s 18mm
Random fact, from that last pool of shots from the weekend, somehow the Porsche 997 is the most-viewed photo on my flickr page of the bunch, gaining views way faster than other shots that've been there for a while.
ROAD_DOGG33J
Premium
- 13,890
- IL, USA
- holyc0w1
- holyc0w
I like that last Viper shot. But it seems like the compression didn't work out for most of the 360 pictures.
- 5,991
You're refering to the reds? I had the same problem with Rossa Corsa on this 599, totally obliterated the red on the thing. Any suggestions?
ROAD_DOGG33J
Premium
- 13,890
- IL, USA
- holyc0w1
- holyc0w
On the compression issue?
I think the only way would be to make the files bigger. I take it you are letting photobucket re-size them?
- 5,991
Nah, I play with them in Lightroom and then resize them with the Windows-supplied photo editing program. They aren't being resized with Photobucket. skylineGTRguy had similar problems with Lightroom and compression, maybe I'll ask him...
- 8,598
- Oklahoma
The man should have probably taken your offer of $50,000. A quick lookover on eBay reveals many Vipers being sold for much less. Now back on topic of the pictures, both look pretty good to me. The little sliver of light on the car looks kinda neat. 👍
ROAD_DOGG33J
Premium
- 13,890
- IL, USA
- holyc0w1
- holyc0w
Is that a fancy way of saying Paint? or is that Paint.NET? Did you try the resizing without going through Lightroom?
Cano
Premium
- 20,758
- Cephiro
dang, a lot of shots lately.
the Prelude is cool, I really like the brushes around it; from the last bunch of shots the Golf and the rear shot of the BBS shod are the better ones, the supra is also cool, got damn, your city really REALLY helps you, most places are awesome.
The ferrari shoot is... well, I dont really like any of the shots, the latest viper came out a lot better, pretty good shot and very good post production.
get a car already dude, you need to shoot a session soon. a real one, with interior shots, rolling shots and all that.
the Prelude is cool, I really like the brushes around it; from the last bunch of shots the Golf and the rear shot of the BBS shod are the better ones, the supra is also cool, got damn, your city really REALLY helps you, most places are awesome.
The ferrari shoot is... well, I dont really like any of the shots, the latest viper came out a lot better, pretty good shot and very good post production.
get a car already dude, you need to shoot a session soon. a real one, with interior shots, rolling shots and all that.
- 5,991
Car had 8,000kms on it, and asking 50,000$ would still be reasonable. I was pretty much ballparking how much it was worth in 2 seconds, and it seems as if I got it right on. He didn't think so.
It's called Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Considering Lr seems to be the source of the issue, I think I'll just stick to watching out for certain problematic areas (mainly red reflections it seems, the latest Viper shots are okay, but man is that 599 ever destroyed on the side).
Thanks for the comments. This city is pretty, but I do manage to find quite a big of unshootable cars just because of the background. That 997 for instance is just really lost in the frame, same with some other shots. There's this really nice M5 near here that I'd love to shoot but it's always sitting in the same alley that makes it look like a boring family sedan. In that sense, having no control also frustrates things because some cars need a particular environment or else they look like nothing at all (like the Golf, it would've been lost with any other background but the geometry of the hospital behind it kept the car up front).
As far as a shoot, it looks like the only thing'll be a VW Corrado next week if I want to put in a lot of night time effort (although I have the perfect location for it), and maybe in a few weeks for a full out all day shooting blitz. Other than that, if I don't solicit myself I probably won't get anything. I'm thinking of advertising with the Lotus crowd in this city, they're nice guys and probably a lot nicer to deal with than the regular local car forum kids. More normal impromptu gigs today after work and tomorrow all day.
I've got a little something-something from last night that is a little your style if you know what I mean
. Look for it tonight. Thanks. Sorry 'bout that other thread. I know how to be a real douche when I want to...
V1P3R
(Banned)
- 6,310
I love to get into photography like this, but I'm afraid I don't have the "eye" like some on GTP. 
👍
No prob, I can be too I suppose. Maybe more so on here than in real life I guess... Everyone's different.
👍No prob, I can be too I suppose. Maybe more so on here than in real life I guess... Everyone's different.
Cano
Premium
- 20,758
- Cephiro
As far as a shoot, it looks like the only thing'll be a VW Corrado next week if I want to put in a lot of night time effort (although I have the perfect location for it), and maybe in a few weeks for a full out all day shooting blitz. Other than that, if I don't solicit myself I probably won't get anything. I'm thinking of advertising with the Lotus crowd in this city, they're nice guys and probably a lot nicer to deal with than the regular local car forum kids. More normal impromptu gigs today after work and tomorrow all day.
I've got a little something-something from last night that is a little your style if you know what I mean
Rquest someone with a cool car to "lend" it to you so you can snap some stuff, its quite fun ut be prepared to be practical, it takes about four or five hours to do one like the Charger I posted and it was a rushy one, you are quite more delicate with your surroundings and your composition and your light... I just bracket the exposure and let the camera do the job.
And I'll be expecting flames, a big V8 or an abandoned car (:
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