U guys and real life photos, U really enjoy it
U are talented Speed, no doubt. I enjoyed a lot thar orange GT, what happened?
I will continue on GT4 photography, so U know where to find me
NTX
Thanks Nuno! Hope to see you around again soon.
Alright some of your flickr-hosted shots are AWOL, but I'll comment on the ones that are still visible. Many of your shots are closeups and tight crops, which I don't know too much about, but I'll still use my school-taught 2D design knowledge to help you with composition and whatnot.
Yeah I noticed that they were playing up last night but didn't have the time to sort them. They should be fixed now, I don't know what happened.
C4S - Okay, you found a nice tight angle here that seems to have decent layout and composition. I don't really dig this shot because I have no idea what you're trying to show me. Is it the raindrops? The louvres over the motor? The Carrera 4S badge? This should be made more evident by focusing on and placing what you're showing in a good spot on the canvas. Right now, the badge is too far out of the frame to seem important, the slits and raindrops are all very plain and focused that they seem to be important. The Boxster behind the 911 you're shooting is there for context, but shouldn't be that obviously sharp. It's in the background, you want to rank it lower in importance by keeping it back there and blurring it out. It would be great to have a camera that you could control this with, but if you don't, don't be afraid to tastefully Photoshop it. You've got some interesting spiky reflections right above the badging that I would've tried to play with...
Personally, looking back at it I can't remember what I wanted in focus. I think it was probably the badge, but then again I can't understand why I picked an angle which showed off more of the vents than anything and even cropped part of the badge out. I see your point though. I've been told many times about the backround for that particular shot should be blurred I've just never got round to it, I'll put my hands up and admit that was caused due to lazyiness. Good spot on the reflections, it's something I hadn't really noticed maybe I'll go back to this photo and try and have a play.
Peugeot racer - You're cropping that part of the car, but I don't see it as an interesting-enough part of the car to need the shot (the interesting elements on the Porsche however did deserve it). Show pics are very hard to stand out, they all just look like show pics, so don't expect stellar shots off the bat. It's a little orangy too, which can be compensated by cooling down the colour bias in Ps, or by hitting the Tungsten white balance function on your camera. I think underexposing the whole photo a little so you don't get as much of the public in the shot and also the white of the car wouldn't be as burnt out. There's a couple really hot spots there that are just too white.
Fair enough, perhaps I thought the part was more intresting than it actually was. I personally never noticed the orangy effect which you have highlighted, although apart from PSing it I don't think my camera has a tungsten white balance effect it has: custom, fine, shade, fluroscent light -1, fluroscent light -2, fluroscent light -3 and finally incandescent. As I said on the Porsche one perhaps I'll have a little play around with it in PS.
WWII airplane - Just like the C4S, you need to make it obvious what you're trying to show us. Right now, the part most in focus is the Nazi kill count, which is waaaay out of the shot to seem important even if the focus is showing it as the most important. You've gotta decide what the subject is and focus that - which emblem, the exhaust pipes maybe, then focus that and compose that in an appropriate spot (rule of thirds would be the most obvious choice here). If the whole plane is supposed to be the subject, then focus it that way.
Yeah, I'll take that on board. As I should have mentioned this particular shot was I think my second shot ever with a DSLR as I was on work experience at the RAF Photographic section. (Not trying to come up with excuses here just saying the truth). I was a bit overwhelmed by everything the SLR could do so it was more of a knack of just trying things out. I only really posted that shot as the RAF Photog's said it was quite good. So I suppose I just took their word for it.
GT3RS model - I absolutely love this shot from the first time you posted it. It's such a neat aesthetic in both fore and background. You nailed it, and as Cano pointed out, there are many possibilities with this, both with shooting models and actual cars. I really like the look.
Thanks, I was pleased with it too. I have a couple of negatives about the shot though, the first is that take a look at the top of the front wheels, yup they are circular. You know why? Because my hand was there originally which meant I had to clone stamp the back wheel onto the front wheel which hasn't worked in certain places. I've got a couple more shots that I took in a similar style to this but with a Eurofighter Typhoon model that I can put up if you want.
Red Peugeot - Half the car is blacked out. The obvious solution is to shoot the sunny half of the car. If you can't get a decent angle of the sunny half, well then don't even bother with the bad shot. I've passed plenty of sweeeet cars to photograph but couldn't get a clear view of the thing without a pole in the way or the light just doesn't work. Win some, lose some. You can still try to bracket several shots to find the one you can use the best to have the background out of the way and enough of the car exposed. Your Photoshopped blur is pretty sloppy too. Despite being ill-exposed and a boring car to begin with, it is fairly well composed.
Took me a while to figure out which shot you meant here, I presume you mean the Vauxhall Nova? I agree with the fact half the car is blacked out, and that shot isn't all that intresting. I'll certainly take the advice though. I'll also agree on the photshopped blur being pretty diare, back then I was using polygon tool for
everything since my work experience I now know how to use the pen tool which makes my life a bit easier.
Telephone pole - Great shapes and layout. There is movement, size and value contrast, just enough asymmetry and good exposure (your camera could've metered the sky and blacked out the foreground wires and pole). Very pretty picture, although the greenery shouldn't be there or cloned out.
Cheers, I quite liked this photo even though I felt quite silly taking it. The only reason I left the greenery in as I felt it might have added to the picture.
C4S w/ Aero package - This is a slightly uncomfortable shot, and here's why. The trick to good car photography (in my opinion) is to capture the car in a way that you wouldn't normally see it in person, either in composition or exposure. For example, if you're within a couple yards of the subject, don't take head-height shots because it's just too normal. Lowering the camera gets the shot as if you were sitting in a car or looking at it from far away, which is irregular and makes for a nicer shot. However, you can't stray to the extreme. Cars from way above seem weird because we're not birds and we aren't used to seeing cars from such high angles. The same goes with this shot, it's so low that it is too far from the normal comfort zone. If you could get up to the level ground but take the shot from the same place, so you get the whole car at ground level (if you're photographing the whole car, you should see the whole car) but also the grass slope going down, it would've worked perfectly.
I never really liked this shot anyway, I ended up going down 15 odd steps to get to the level I took it at and still didn't like. I also didn't like (as well as the position) the fact that everything looks in focus and there is no depth of field at all. Point taken about the extreme kind of stuff too.
Audi R8 nose - Very pretty photo. Not symmetrical, which fits perfectly with the position in the frame. The blue feel is great too. I'd like to see more value in the front shadow area, but I feel that it would overexpose too much and lose definition in the windscreen and roof, which are reflecting the really overexposed windows. This is where masking and playing with levels would work, but be careful so that what you change is equally changed in the car's reflection. If you've got a lens that can take a circular polarizing lens, slide one on. They don't eliminate reflection, but they do a good deal on glare.
Thanks, I'll try and improve that next time if I'm in a similar situation.
Audi S5 - Not an amazingly interesting shot, but you've learn what I meant earlier before by showing what you want with focus. You obviously want to show the little badge, so you focussed and composed that alone. I would've also tried another shot with sliding the badge over to the right of the frame and seen what that would've looked like.
Yeah, I've kind of learnt more about my camera since the Carrera 4 Shot which meant I can play around more freely where my focus is and stuff like that. Makes for a better shot really.
Flowers - I hate flower shots taken by anyone, so I'm not going to provide much more than I think it's the most cliché thing you can shoot. Nothing personal at all, there are plenty of professional flower photographers out there that I don't like either...
Couldn't help but laugh at this
But yeah, as you may have been able to tell I was just playing around and experimenting. I tend to do this alot causing for some really bad photos
Pooch - Great shot. Maybe a titch overexposed but good that no areas are too blacked out. Very nice photograph.
Thanks, I think my relatives should be pleased with that shot. 👍
Hopefully the commentary doesn't come across as too harsh and you can take it for the best. If you need any clarification then let me know. Good luck!
Some of it perhaps I thought was a bit harsh, but the fact is your just trying to improve me at doing something I love doing and obviously you do to, thats why you feel as though you can tell me all this stuff. So I'll try and take it constructively, and try and improve for next time!
One thing I'd love to know how to do is to do panning shots, but I'm not sure whether my camera can do that.
Also, the other photo's should be fixed now so you can comment on the couple which are up now, if you want to.
