exigeracer's Car Photography (Spring '10 opener)

[exigeracer]

So I haven't been this stoked to post on GTP in a long time. I'm so incredibly satisfied with one of the sets below, not just because of the product but also the production involved from start to finish. Everything from finding the car, shooting it in the right light and post-production worked properly. Anyways, I'll start with the ones I promised to Cano.

I have no idea what car this is

Just some stock night-time shots, nothing special. I only got a few frames because my battery died a little after these shots. There was 4 or 5 custom rods parked up, but the others were crazy exposed engine weird things (excuse the ignorance, I don't know anything about the culture) except this one looooow rider. I'd never want one, but the streamline style and flat black stood out. Too bad there wasn't interesting light to play with on the reflections.

f/5.6 6s 50mm

f/5.6 10s 50mm

BMW M3

So I've been trying to catch some clean rolling shots when biking around, and this M3 sort of worked out. There's a lot of experimenting left to do, which is hard because in almost any car chasing situation I have to be paying 110% on the road and can't bring up the camera to focus and compose. I can more than keep up with normal city traffic on the downtown streets (except a couple of the main open arteries), so I just follow random cars around until I get an opening to shoot them on the go, or if they park. Obviously a little long on the shutter speed.

Honda Civic

This thing had neon orange wheels and was tastefully done up, but I couldn't really keep up, he was really booting it. Kind of getting an idea of what I need to shoot a car-to-bike shot though.

Audi R8

Ooooooooohkay. So I roll up to this R8 and start examining how to go about shooting her. I've taken some R8 photos before, so I kind of had an idea of what to start with (there's sooo many more possibilities too!). I started bracketing some sunny shots, which were alright. Metering the white car and not the busy background really exposes the white paint and deleting the busy background. I still wasn't satisfied, so I held out for a half hour until some big clouds came in and shrouded the light making for some perfect dark and cold shots. I shot exactly what I wanted, got home, was super happy with what I pulled from the streets, then dumped 'em all into Lr and started really going at it. Some of the shots have really hot spots from the sky, but overall I'm super duper happy.

I also got some closer crops and macro shots to compliment the standard photos. I guess it's the first step towards getting something resembling a set going. The gascap was an obvious choice, and that pointy nose is so damned beautiful, especially when you put it in street context (moving Corolla).

I've got my personal desktop background for a looong time with these. I'm still grinning.

f/5.6 1/1000s 35mm

f/32 1/13s 70mm

f/32 1/13s 28mm

f/5.6 1/2000s 60mm

f/4.5 1/1250s 24mm

 

[V1P3R]

Nice R8 shots, definitely a good picture car up close.

I have no idea what car this is

39 Mercury?

 

[ferrari_chris]

'47 De Soto?

 

[Cano]

So I haven't been this stoked to post on GTP in a long time. I'm so incredibly satisfied with one of the sets below, not just because of the product but also the production involved from start to finish. Everything from finding the car, shooting it in the right light and post-production worked properly. Anyways, I'll start with the ones I promised to Cano.

I have no idea what car this is

Just some stock night-time shots, nothing special. I only got a few frames because my battery died a little after these shots. There was 4 or 5 custom rods parked up, but the others were crazy exposed engine weird things (excuse the ignorance, I don't know anything about the culture) except this one looooow rider. I'd never want one, but the streamline style and flat black stood out. Too bad there wasn't interesting light to play with on the reflections.

f/5.6 6s 50mm

f/5.6 10s 50mm

Holly ****.

Both wrong, its a 1953 Chevrolet, chopped about three inches on the roof, 59 Cadooo hubcaps, pinstripping, and a lot of attitude. Damn you for not taking pictures of the exposed engine rods, exposed engines are soooooo cool, and considering the kind of cars that would cruise along that lead sled, they might have had blowers and/or multicabruretion setups... hell, maybe even injectors.

The thing behind it is a 1933-34 Ford, if I could see the body style I'd tell you what it is, but its a 33-34 Ford as far as the grille speaks.

The pictures are awesome, what is standard about them? they look cool, and if you really pay attention to it, the lght makes for colour reflections on the flat black, it is not primer, its black paint without gloss. the rear shot is epic. I hereby officially request these in as big as possible size, and will kick you if you dont go by that place often to see if you find the other creatures you so inceremoniously let go ¬¬

if you have pictures of any of the other rides (if you took any more before your batt died), post them please (:

On the other ones, the M3 and Civic were good attempts, but let me tell you, snaping a picture from a bike will be next to impossible, it is already difficult shooting it from a car and making them halfway decent, from a bike I'd say its impossible, you need to be totally stabilized and with both hands on the camera to get them well, and its obviouas you dont have an stabilized lens. Pity you couldnt shoot the civic well, I would have loved to see it, it seems awesome.

The R8 has good composition, but the pictures ar really, really dark, I know that's what you were after, but its just too much noise to me. A white car picture is precisely the contrary, making the BG look well because as you know, the camera thinks there is more light and blah blah, they are really good but a bit, or a lot, dark.

the one across the street is my favorite.

 

[exigeracer]

Holly ****.

Both wrong, its a 1953 Chevrolet, chopped about three inches on the roof, 59 Cadooo hubcaps, pinstripping, and a lot of attitude. Damn you for not taking pictures of the exposed engine rods, exposed engines are soooooo cool, and considering the kind of cars that would cruise along that lead sled, they might have had blowers and/or multicabruretion setups... hell, maybe even injectors.

The thing behind it is a 1933-34 Ford, if I could see the body style I'd tell you what it is, but its a 33-34 Ford as far as the grille speaks.

The pictures are awesome, what is standard about them? they look cool, and if you really pay attention to it, the lght makes for colour reflections on the flat black, it is not primer, its black paint without gloss. the rear shot is epic. I hereby officially request these in as big as possible size, and will kick you if you dont go by that place often to see if you find the other creatures you so inceremoniously let go ¬¬

if you have pictures of any of the other rides (if you took any more before your batt died), post them please (:

On the other ones, the M3 and Civic were good attempts, but let me tell you, snaping a picture from a bike will be next to impossible, it is already difficult shooting it from a car and making them halfway decent, from a bike I'd say its impossible, you need to be totally stabilized and with both hands on the camera to get them well, and its obviouas you dont have an stabilized lens. Pity you couldnt shoot the civic well, I would have loved to see it, it seems awesome.

The R8 has good composition, but the pictures ar really, really dark, I know that's what you were after, but its just too much noise to me. A white car picture is precisely the contrary, making the BG look well because as you know, the camera thinks there is more light and blah blah, they are really good but a bit, or a lot, dark.

the one across the street is my favorite.

Hahaha I love your commentary.

Let's sort some things out. First off, here are the shots of the 53 Chevy that didn't make the cut, but if you liked the ones I posted so much, then you should like these ones too. Profile shot was impossible to get any sort of surface tone without blowing out the background lighting too much, and the other one is just really too busy. I'm starting to get really frustrated with my silly lens, I need some more depth to my shots, and the only way to coax any out of my stock lens loses too much subject detail.

This one has a very overprocessed look to it, but I didn't do very much in that sense, just really overexposed.

Here's a tighter crop of the car behind the 53. I didn't use this photo because of the streaks and funny footprints.

Here are the some of the shots resized to 60% of the original.







I just don't think they're particularly great car photos. The light and colour is all just way too off balance, only maybe the rear shot somewhat ties things together. I was playing around with some black and white versions, but it ended up seeming just a little too cliche. Maybe losing some detail and bluring out the back would've helped, but like I said, it's tough with my stock lens and when I can't really stand in the middle of the road to shoot a 10 second photo.

I don't think last night was a special event at the bar (called Tattoo Rock Parlour), but I'll head back down in a couple weeks to see if anything's up again.

Bike-to-car shots are just for the hell of it. If I ever get a shoot going, I'm not going to be bringing my bike and pedalling around the car while snapping shots. It's just for me and not going for anything remotely professional. I did follow a V8 Vantage tonight for a while, he knew I was following him so he would get close and boot it all of the time. The exhaust popped like crazy, scaring the hell out of me the first time because I was maybe 3 feet from the pipes.

R8 shots are exactly what I wanted, even if I look at them as if I was using a darker monitor, I still think it's the look I was going for. I guess it's just a matter of taste. Anyways, more picture-taking tomorrow. Bike's getting tuned up so I'll be even speedier. The only bad part is that if I do bail or get hit while riding (not that uncommon in the city), my dSLR is going down with me.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Great shots exigeracer. The R8 petrol cap is a little dark for my taste, but exposing the white as a midtone has really worked well. You see a lot of detail in the bodywork that isn't normally so apparent.

 

[stumpydino]

great new pics awesome sled, i spy slot mags on the rod behind and nice channeled sedan in front
the R8 pics are good too, quite a moody atmosphere they have to em

 

[Pebb]

I love the first shot in your latest update, along with all the Audi R8 shots.

 

[Cano]

Here's a tighter crop of the car behind the 53. I didn't use this photo because of the streaks and funny footprints.

oh man, I want to kill you. I want that picture real big.

1934 Ford coupe, chopped like 4 inches, 392 cubic inches of Hemi engine with a tunnel ram and two holleys, and what seem to be real magnesium Hallibrands. Dude, you NEED to learn what you are seeing, that car was impressive, simply the engine was something to die for. It should have about 500 hp.and you just let it go. Same for the orange chaneled, chopped and sectioned Model A sedan.

I don't think last night was a special event at the bar (called Tattoo Rock Parlour), but I'll head back down in a couple weeks to see if anything's up again.

Well, you better go back tomorrow and see if you can find that monster again, I SO want a good picture of that thing.

 

[exigeracer]

oh man, I want to kill you. I want that picture real big.

1934 Ford coupe, chopped like 4 inches, 392 cubic inches of Hemi engine with a tunnel ram and two holleys, and what seem to be real magnesium Hallibrands. Dude, you NEED to learn what you are seeing, that car was impressive, simply the engine was something to die for. It should have about 500 hp.and you just let it go. Same for the orange chaneled, chopped and sectioned Model A sedan.

Well, you better go back tomorrow and see if you can find that monster again, I SO want a good picture of that thing.

I'll go back now, but I doubt there'll be anything there. I hate biking with my tripod and I just got off a 12 hour shift, so I can't promise anything. Although it won't make you feel any better, the other two rods not pictured all had big blown motors like the one behind the Chevy. The one in front had this neat kind of pickup truck setup behind the cab with the gas tank sticking out and small little jerry cans. I'm just not into that stuff, so it's harder for me to appreciate it. I'm moving into an apartment right across the street from that place, so if I don't get it soon, I'll be sure to get any photos if there's anything ever in front until August 2009.

Here's the biggie:

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff36/Quiet-Noises/vvv2of3.jpg

 

[Dougboy]

Nice R8 pics exigeracer. If you dont mind me asking, what kind of post processing technique(if any) did you use to get the dark look? Just cranked up the shadow tab on levels?

 

[exigeracer]

Nice R8 pics exigeracer. If you dont mind me asking, what kind of post processing technique(if any) did you use to get the dark look? Just cranked up the shadow tab on levels?

Photos were taken at at least 2 stops below even exposure under overcast skies with varying apertures based on the necessity of motion blur (Toyota and pedestrian). The images wouldn't have been remotely possible without that. It depends on the photo, some were really pushed hard with various levels, some were just had a few tweaks. Just play with what you find to be appropriate. I don't like to completely kill out the blacks, but it's necessary for this style.

Just for reference on specifics, here's what was done to the first one:

Exposure +0.95
Fill Light +36
Blacks +8
Clarity +100
Temperature -17
Saturation -64
Highlights +62
Lights +19
Darks +5
Shadows +19
Saturation Red +88
Saturation Orange +74
Saturation Green -74
Saturation Blue -33
Luminance Red +100
Lumunance Blue +100
The usual sharpening and vignetting per requirements

For the first time I did some touch up work in specific areas in the R8 series. There were several distracting spots in the background that were blacked out, and I also pulled the wheels a bit brighter as they got really lost in the overall darkness.

That was the most produced one of the five, but there isn't any trend in editing between them. Like I said, just play with things until you find an agreeable pleasant image. It's also then a challenge to match all of the images in set to look alike. I've developped certain tastes and tendencies, which change with ever set. For normal day time shots, I really avoid layering the blacks on because it just doesn't seem realistic if everything below the car's waist is totally black, just as you don't want any super hot highlights. I also avoid the Clarity bar, which can drastically pull your image into Gran Turismo world. Sometimes you need to find a good middle ground between the tempting explosion of value contrast and something really dull. That's what I was sort of playing with my recent SL63 shots, to find something that compliments the photograph but still lets the composition, location, subject and colour do the work. I don't think they deserve to be in this thread, but they kind of show what I'm talking about. They've very visually demanding, but I decided to keep off the blacks and especially the colours or else it would've been just too darn intimidating.

Temperature and saturation is key. It's a boring location, and a very b-flat conservative car and paint. Keeping the atmosphere of the photo really should reflect that; don't try to make a conservative car and conservative location seem super exciting, it'll be obvious. This is also partially why I'll never do a parking garage or graffiti alley shoot. These are all of the shots that I took away from the little session, you can decide which ones are the best. I don't really care for any of them. You can see my fine Italian steed in the last photo too.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Why do you underexpose in-camera by two stops, and then push the file in post by nearly a stop? Shouldn't you shoot at -1 stop to keep the noise down? By the way, I find that Photoshop is a lot better than Lightroom for PP pushing the exposure.

 

[exigeracer]

Why do you underexpose in-camera by two stops, and then push the file in post by nearly a stop? Shouldn't you shoot at -1 stop to keep the noise down? By the way, I find that Photoshop is a lot better than Lightroom for PP pushing the exposure.

I know what you mean, and like I said the images don't have very much correlation between them. Some of the others in the set I had to take the exposure down a little, and some were brought up. I'd have to take a look at which ones were exposed less to see how the same conditions could ask for different exposures for different frames. It's part of the learning process.

I don't own Photoshop until September, and my issue of Lightroom expires in a couple weeks anyways. Things will change a little then (I can get rid of the odd bogus pixel, it's all I see in photo #3).

 

[emad]

We'll have to meet up sometime man. I gotta see you in action with the slr on a bike. I've tried cycling around here. I can't imagine how you do it! Especially around the streetcar tracks.

 

[exigeracer]

We got a couple GTP'ers in the area who are into photography and cars, I'm sure we can arrange something! If you ever see a blue/purple bike with neon green handle bars around the downtown core, that's me.

 

[emad]

We got a couple GTP'ers in the area who are into photography and cars, I'm sure we can arrange something! If you ever see a blue/purple bike with neon green handle bars around the downtown core, that's me.

I'll start a thread in the meetups section

 

[Cano]

I'll go back now, but I doubt there'll be anything there. I hate biking with my tripod and I just got off a 12 hour shift, so I can't promise anything. Although it won't make you feel any better, the other two rods not pictured all had big blown motors like the one behind the Chevy. The one in front had this neat kind of pickup truck setup behind the cab with the gas tank sticking out and small little jerry cans. I'm just not into that stuff, so it's harder for me to appreciate it. I'm moving into an apartment right across the street from that place, so if I don't get it soon, I'll be sure to get any photos if there's anything ever in front until August 2009.

Here's the biggie:

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff36/Quiet-Noises/vvv2of3.jpg

Ah, the "moving right across the street" thing is good! you WILL take all those cars pictures, dude, lets do something: whatever old car you find, snap it, ok? try to make it look good too, whatever it is, from a hot rod to a 30s Alfa to a well-preserved Pinto. I'll download each and every one (: and besides, c'mon, they're cool, Yes, even Pintos.

and you must look quite comical in your bycicle with a DSLR trying to snap pictures of cars... I'd actually take pictures of you trying, hahaha

just be careful, if you fall down, your camera... ouch. and you of course (:

Edit: I was just checking the big picture, and did you see the license plate? another neat detail: the gear lever can be seen, it has a helmet skull knob. Also check out the blobs in the paint! cool.

And the wheels of the 34 arent' magnesium, but they are Hallibrands.

 

[sLg]

Ah, the "moving right across the street" thing is good! you WILL take all those cars pictures, dude, lets do something: whatever old car you find, snap it, ok? try to make it look good too, whatever it is, from a hot rod to a 30s Alfa to a well-preserved Pinto. I'll download each and every one (: and besides, c'mon, they're cool, Yes, even Pintos.

and you must look quite comical in your bycicle with a DSLR trying to snap pictures of cars... I'd actually take pictures of you trying, hahaha

just be careful, if you fall down, your camera... ouch. and you of course (:

Edit: I was just checking the big picture, and did you see the license plate? another neat detail: the gear lever can be seen, it has a helmet skull knob. Also check out the blobs in the paint! cool.

And the wheels of the 34 arent' magnesium, but they are Hallibrands.

Co-sign.

 

[emad]

I thought I recognized that black car. I believe it's owned by one of the people in charge of the Sgt. Splatters paintball arena. That car is always in their booth at the Toronto Auto Show.

 

[exigeracer]

I thought I recognized that black car. I believe it's owned by one of the people in charge of the Sgt. Splatters paintball arena. That car is always in their booth at the Toronto Auto Show.

Sgt. Splatters is waaay out near Alexandria ON. I played there when my friend worked there for 2 years when a guy named Rolly worked the place. He smoked me with his Tipman 97 that clocked in at 400fps. Left a serious mark on my flesh.

I can't imagine Rolly running the place enough to be able to afford a sweet ride like that though.

PM me with the GTAGTP updates!

 

[exigeracer]

Rode around with the bike tonight and found a freaking treasure chest of cars to photograph. I stopped counting F430s after 8, they became chump change. There was, however, a nice white Scuderia. Other Porsches, Aston Martins, a single R8 were the buffet of cars to shoot. I didn't feel like spending much time out, so I just grabbed a couple of three of the nicer cars out tonight.

I haven't shot cars in a couple weeks, so I didn't bother too much with exposure, but more just seeing what can happen with my onboard white balancing. There's still room to explore, but I didn't want to be kneeling down to a tripod for hours so I most of the shots of the evening are point and shoot, bracketed more or less higher in the exposure stops.

Ferrari F430 Scuderia

I'm not very happy with the colours at all. The white really sucks in the orange streetlight that is really hard to knead out without killing the rest of the shot. Of the 5 shots that I processed, these three seem to be the only ones worth anything, with the first being my favorite.

Yep, same curb as my last R8 shots. I'm so stupid for not going up to the circular windows across the street. It's a parking garage, so no problem accessing it. There's always next time...

Aston Martin DB9

There's usually an exotic parked here, the trophy spot for a nice hotel's valet. I forgot to reset my white balancing, but I was pleasantly surprised when I took a look at what the tungsten-correcting settings from the Ferrari did to the fluorescent behind the DB9. I wish I stuck around to get more orange from the street too, but I only noticed it when I got home on the computer. These shots are pretty much untouched off of the camera, minus the obvious cropping and some leveling and the usual sharpening and noise reduction. I really like the look of these. I've been really interested in colour theory since I took a colour class in Uni last year, so hopefully we'll see more playing with colour themes in the future. I feel they can make or break a photo.

Lamborghini Gallardo Spider

Down the street this matte black Spider sat with the owner chatting on his cel for a good hour. I figured if the call was so intense, he wouldn't put the cel down to tell me to bugger off. This was pretty much the only angle I could catch as the opposite side was just too dark for any kind of surface exposure at all. Matte black is hard, nevermind at night. This frame happened to be the only one that worked out of about 12 from this spot. Traffic and pedestrians ruined the flat black on almost every attempt. Ambient light only! Good to know for the next time. Suuuuper vignetted, but I like the look of it. The play between the oranges and blues made the paint though.

If you need the settings or what kind of post-production went into those, let me know. I've gotten too tired of posting every setting for every photo.

 

[suzq044]

I wish i could've taken a shot of a Nissan GT-R that was at our local grocery store yesterday.. that thing is HUGE in person though; like.. Challenger huge..

 

[ExigeEvan]

exigeracer, you've got to get yourself some business cards! Just drop them under the wiper blades (or in the arms). I'm sure atleast one owner would be willing to pay something for a good photo of their car.

 

[F1GTR]

Exige(racer), why don't you just shoot in RAW and correct the white balance later? Saves a lot of hassle. Evan's idea does sound good though, it's be worth a try.

 

[exigeracer]

I've always thought about it, but never actually got around to thinking of something for it. I'm pretty amateur compared to actual car photographers - one camera, one lens, a freaking bike for transportation.

As for the RAW - my computer is super shaky, very low specs and very little free space. I don't think the hardware could handle the extra work involved with working with the big files. I'm getting a beast in a couple weeks so I'll for sure get to RAW very soon.

 

[Pebb]

I like the shots of the 430 Scuderia.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

If you need the settings or what kind of post-production went into those, let me know. I've gotten too tired of posting every setting for every photo.

That's a great shot right there.

 

[Sprite]

exigeracer they are some truly stunning cars and fantastic shots, I agree about streetlights killing whites, I did have a play around with the first F430 shot and managed to get rid of most of the influence the streetlights had. I didn't want to post it because of the permissions thing for the threads but if you want I can.

Again some top pics 👍

 

[exigeracer]

exigeracer they are some truly stunning cars and fantastic shots, I agree about streetlights killing whites, I did have a play around with the first F430 shot and managed to get rid of most of the influence the streetlights had. I didn't want to post it because of the permissions thing for the threads but if you want I can.

Again some top pics 👍

Post it up and share what you did! It'd be a great help for everyone!

I don't think I mentioned it in this thread yet, but you can do whatever you want with any of my work. It's all Creative Commons, no all-rights-reserved stuff:

all of my photography is

, Attribution Non-Commercial, which is to say that it has some rights reserved. Anyone is free to use my image for whatever they'd like without my permission as long as it is correctly attributed to me and not for commercial purposes.

Check it out:

https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=108674