Photographer types, I need your opinion.

reddy351

10 Year Member
Jun 13, 2006
535
6
38
Columbus, Ohio
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Ok. Never mind the "inexpensive" camera, questionable lighting and poor photographer skills.

I really like the location. I think it looks kind of cool. I'm having a hard time figuring out where to put the camera, the car and the background. Know what I'm saying?

This spot is not in use. I can get there just about any time. The evening sun shines right on it, so pics done a little later than these will have the "good" light.

So. If there is some advice you can give, I would appreciate it. (You can't really offend me. I've never claimed to be any good at this.) Hopefully, you can get a good feel for the spot, from the pics. (I can get some more of the location, if needed.)

Thanks in advance!
 
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honestly, I dont think that place is ideal for pictures... there is way too many 'distractions' that lead one's eye away from your car. which defeats the purpose lol. try for more solid backgrounds and always turn the front wheels so you cannot see the tread.

The only spot i see here that would work is the blue metal wall on the left side of picture #3. Puting the camera in portrait mode usually blurrs the background, and could help bring your car to the foreground.

Try not to position the car so that it has relfections from trees, buildings, etc on the paint.

You could even go through Mustang magazines to see how they position a car, and what sort of backgrounds they use to get a good shot.

Get some more pictures of the location, maybe there's another spot you could use.

Your car looks awesome though!!!

Good luck!
 
I like the crop/edit, urban! I don't know where my head was, when I was pointing the front wheels all over the place. (I had just gotten off work.)

Thanks Wade! I appreciate that. There is a parking lot, that the blue wall backs up to. Should I put the car right up against the wall, or pull it in like it's parked there? I'll try that "portrait" setting. Maybe some black and whites?

I can get "tighter" on the car. (Or crop the extra out, later.)Maybe that will remove some of the distraction.

Want to get some low shots of the back-end.

Keep em coming!
 
honestly, I dont think that place is ideal for pictures... there is way too many 'distractions' that lead one's eye away from your car. which defeats the purpose lol. try for more solid backgrounds and always turn the front wheels so you cannot see the tread.

The only spot i see here that would work is the blue metal wall on the left side of picture #3. Puting the camera in portrait mode usually blurrs the background, and could help bring your car to the foreground.

Try not to position the car so that it has relfections from trees, buildings, etc on the paint.

You could even go through Mustang magazines to see how they position a car, and what sort of backgrounds they use to get a good shot.

Get some more pictures of the location, maybe there's another spot you could use.

Your car looks awesome though!!!

Good luck!
i disagree, if the pics are shot correctly and its understood that the car is the main focus it makes it can make for a good backdrop
 
A few things I notice:

As others have said, if the wheels are turned make sure the wheel is visible, not the tread.

Try taking pictures at unusual angles and from unusual heights. This will help to seperate the photos from run of the mill snapshots. Try getting very low on the ground (even set the camera on the ground itself if it's a P&S).

Also, although I think the location is only okay, I really like the broken pavement. Try parking the car just behind that portion of pavement and taking a shot low low to the ground. The broken pavement could make for an awesome foreground.

Also, with a location like that, I think that less light is better than more light. It's kind of busy, but a shot taken later at night but with a longer exposure is going to do cool things with the light (hopefully it's lit up a little bit?). Stop down the camera a bit too for the longer exposure, that will definitely make the light more photo-friendly in the final image.

I could go on, I do too much photography and can get kind of obsessive, but make sure you post the finals!
 
The location is too busy for me... Both the background and the cracked pavement...

I like a nice plain background. The color of your car would work well with a sunset / sky in the background...
 
I like a nice plain background. The color of your car would work well with a sunset / sky in the background...

The good thing about photography is that it is subjective. As such, I'm going to have to disagree with the above. The coloring of your car, to me, lends itself to industrial backgrounds rather than scenic ones. While I think the sunset can look great in car pictures, I think a black and silver car needs a different look.
 
You might also want to try it out in the early evening where there isnt too much light. I read a thing that photographers like to take pictures of cars in the early morning or early evening.

Yeah, this is good advice, especially for a P&S Camera.


Also, try to find a place in there that makes a nice background, but also isn't distracting. Try to keep trees out of the photo except in the very background. I have a point and shoot camera with some manual features, and here are my "Industrial shots"

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And don't be afraid to take 100 shots while you're there with different angles, distances etc. Sometimes shots will turn out really nice when you get far away and zoom in (remember to only use optical zoom, no digital)


And for lighting!!!: Even in low light conditions, keep the sun to your BACK as you take the photo. Otherwise your car is going to have harsh shadows on one side and be really bright on the other.

This photo is a little too low-light, but the shot is still reasonble.
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And even your typical parking lot photo can look okay with a little work.

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Yeah, this is good advice, especially for a P&S Camera.

It is good advice overall, but it's actually much WORSE advice for a P&S than an SLR. Due to a smaller sensor size (especially in cameras with excessive, read: 7+, mexapixels) P&S cameras tend strongly towards a larger amount of digital noise. If you are going to shoot in low light conditions, at least make sure the ISO is as low as possible and then use a tripod.

Good pictures though, Diablostang!
 
great advise guys, I just bought a new digi cam and now just need to find a decent back ground as well. It has some new features that my old one didnt that I want to try out.
 
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These are a little better, right? I moved around to the side of the building. I had missed the chain link fence, before. The "factory" in the background (tan building) is where Anheiser Busch makes their special concoctions. ;)
 
I wish I had PS. That would be fun to play with. ;) Thanks for the kudo's on the car. ;)

I like that shot that you tweaked because it looks like the foliage is trying to get out and get at the car. It has a kind of "sci fi" feel to it. Like a colorized "B" horror movie from the 50's.

I kind of avoided that first spot, because of the tree in the "near" background, as well as the GE logo.

I think I'll try #5 of the first set, again. With the front wheels turned to face the camera. Maybe a little lower and more in front of the car to use the edge of the frame to eliminate the GE logo?

I try really hard to make sure that nothing looks like it's "growing" out of the top of the car. I'm not sure I'm having a lot of success, there.

The second pic in the second set is a nice angle. I have another site in mind for that one.