My Car.

[PKMax]

Wanted a Critique on the photo, not my choice of car lol. I love my car, so be nice heh.
A friend of mine has "pimped" his car and is after a few photos taken, so I'm practicing on my car first, just wondering what people think, or pointers on car photography. I edited this photo about 1.00 in the morning, so was a bit tired, can already see I bodged up the window lol, Should have payed more attention when taking the photo, because the sunshield down in the window is very noticable.

678

[tirediron]

The big issue for me with this image is the lighting. I'm guessing you shot this somewhere near mid-day, or at least with sun high in the sky? The entire right side has almost disapeared, and merges with the ground shadow. I'd suggest re-shooting this earlier in the morning, with a softer light. As well, I'm not really sure the mono conversion does much for the image. On the up side, I like the composition; you've got a good angle which shows off the car's stance to advantage.

[PKMax]

Yep, was shot near midday, that's a good point re the lighting, I didn't really like the image, and couldn't think what it was that was wrong with it, but that's the main issue aye, the lighting.

I converted to Mono due to some noise in the colour, so converting to mono and adjusting the channels left the bodywork looking a lot smoother.

I guess an overcast day would actually work ok too if I'm not including the sky (or too much of it)

at least I got 1 thing right heh. Thanks for the input, I'll have to drive back out there, it's about 70 Miles away from my house (that's a long way in England lol)

[Marko]

TI is bang on with his critique IMO.
I'd also like to add that maybe a bit more depth of field would be also help.
Hope that helps
Marko

[PKMax]

Yep, more DOF would be nice. This photo was just kinda taken along with a few others whilst I was out looking at the some of the scenery, so clicked off a few shots of the car, then got home and realised most were pants lol. they always looker sharper on that little LCD heh. I need to get a laptop to take with me :)

I only really went back to this photo once a friend asked me to shoot some of his car and was trying to see if it could be saved and find out what I could do better next time.

so think to summarise.

Go earlier/later (or maybe overcast day) to avoid getting so much of a shadow.
More DOF.
Try not to get noisy image heh.

[Gatepc]

I am noob lol but like you have said the only thing that bothers me the most is the sun visor and light otherwise great :)

[Travis]

i like your car....

but it does blend in with the back ground a little too much...

perhaps a candidate for selective colouring..

[liammclennan]

The perspective bothers me a little. Was this taken close up with a wide angle lens? Maybe try shooting from further away with a longer lens. I think a lighter background would also help bring attention to the car. Maybe try to find a ridge where you can silhouette the car against the sky.

[tegan]

I converted to Mono due to some noise in the colour, so converting to mono and adjusting the channels left the bodywork looking a lot smoother.

Using a noise filter in an editor, a noise reduction plug-in or program and sticking to colour would have probably been the best approach, but there is always next time. :)

Tegan

[PKMax]

Cheers for the comments pips :)

I've been trying to think of ways to shoot the car, this wasn't a planned shot as such, I was shooting the dams in Wales when I walked back towards my car and thought ooh.. but now I really want to go out and take some properly, and put a bit more thought into it before I shoot some of my friends car.

agree it's a bit dark though, and the background could be a lot better. I was trying to shoot from a lower angle to get that "beast" feeling, but unsure that I accomplished that. Cars seem quite a difficult creature to shoot, in that every car is a different shape and prefers a different angle to be shot from. this one just happened to the better of the few I took.

I've always wanted to do some silhouette pics of my car, especially with a sunset, so will have to find a place that I can park up and do that :) can't think of anywhere close by that would fit though lol.

Regarding the Noise Filtering. I've tried using Noise Ninja, but I don't seem to have the knack for it. every time I use it, things look like plastic lol. I can't figure out for the life of me how to alter the options to make it work.. maybe a podcast on Noise Filtering/reduction :) ?? *nudge nudge* heh.