Autoshite photography thread.

[CIH]

Not so much nowadays but I always liked photographing cars at shows. I never bought a proper camera but found digitals are good for experimenting with angles.

 

 

 

-this was at Tatton Park on a extremly hot and bright day. I can recall struggling with the light allday.

 

 

 

 

-this was fun as I managed to get Johnny stood next to his datsun

 

 

[Guest]

OMFG, thread revival:

 

 

 

[Cavcraft]

Shameless bump.

 

Weather not ideal and need more practise evidently, but reasonably happy. Not chuffed with some of the background behind the car as the left hand side of building (as you look at the picture) isn't as nice as the rest of it. Also took one or two of the pictures in the shade which didn't help...

 

 

 

[tonedepear]

Cav towers is looking nice!

[Tayne]

Cav towers is looking nice!

 

CavCraft profits

 

Looking at the dark car with dark wheels means lighting is going to be critical, the shade is working against you as is that grey washed out sky (one of my worst nightmares, you can pull something back in pp but it can get very difficult of there's lots of foliage).

I think the house isn't the best background, its a big big for the car and a bit too busy - see below

Range Rover by Tayne, on Flickr

Sky blown out and I've gone in closer rather then keeping the big house shown on the left.

 

I think the last of your shots is the best but try to go in closer on the car next time and just keep the waterfall on the right.

[Guest]

The 'stance' on your Vectra offends me.

[Cavcraft]

Would it be better in a scrapyard, ideally in the grab of the crane?

 

Cheers Tayne, got carried away with what seemed a nice back drop but as you say the shades of sky and wheels isn't helping. Thanks for the tips, hoping to return there later this week (if the sun comes out again) for another session.

[Guest]

Would it be better in a scrapyard, ideally in the grab of the crane?

 

No, just with some suspension travel. V6 Vectras are alright.

[andrew e]

Admit it, you were photographing the Wedding Beaufords really

[Cheggers]

But the water leak in the second-last pic is mighty impressive

[trigger]

I bought this on Friday from The Works, I really recommend buying it for what it costs, Only £6.99, It's a proper 258 page hardback book that is literately rammed with good advice and clear instructions and photographs, that even a wally like me can understand it! and it covers photoshop as well!.

 

https://www.theworks.co.uk/product.asp?cid=&pid=13530

[Cavcraft]

Cheers Trig, that looks a right useful publication. Always worry these sort of books are going to be anti-layman and thus bogged down with tech speak/hard to follow instructions, so I'll try and get a copy of that. Having said that the tips shown by others on this thread so far have been class and really helpful.

 

Been asked to submit some (non-car) pictures to someone who might use a couple for a sort of fanzine thing, so whilst the quality won't be world beating hopefully it's more experience if nothing else.

[stuboy]

Shameless bump.

 

Weather not ideal and need more practise evidently, but reasonably happy. Not chuffed with some of the background behind the car as the left hand side of building (as you look at the picture) isn't as nice as the rest of it. Also took one or two of the pictures in the shade which didn't help...

 

 

 

needs lowering

[stuboy]

nokia e72

 

cropped and distorted in photobucket..#

 

[Cavcraft]

That's ace, Stu, the orange/yellow spray on the wall seems to really set the whole picture off. Would love to find somewhere like that locally to snap away at. There is one (less vandalised) bridge that would be ideal but the council put bollards up so I can't get the car under there.

[Cavcraft]

Sorry to drag up an old thread but can someone please explain how you make that sort of 'port hole' effect with pictures please?

Thanks in advance.

[Richard]

I'm not quite sure what you mean, have you got an example?

[Lacquer Peel]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vignetting ?

[HMC]

I got a digital camera for christmas, and have been slowly learning my way around some of the functions it has. I took a few shots of the cars to try out a few things (still learning!)-

That was done on dartmoor at sunset. It was freezing! hard to hold the camera steady.

 

My wife uses the disco to do horsey things with, snapped her on this roundabout near our house. I like those motion/ blurred shots you see in car mags but they seem tricky to do- could have chosen a better subject too mind!!

 

I like grainy old black and white shots, tried to replicate that sort of atmosphere here. The rover is fairly original with threadbare carpets and paint flaking off the ally doors and bonnet- a friend says its scruffy (an old curtain covers the decomposing leather seatbase for instance) but I kinda like it that way!

[Cavcraft]

Land-Rover picture looks 'nearly there' to me, God knows how people get the subject matter to appear that it's standing still whilst the background is blurry, but I'd loved to learn how.

The Rover picture is utterly brilliant and works tremendously well in black and white, top bombing I say.

 

Lacquer Peel and Richard: Soz I was a bit vague with my description of 'port hole' pictures. Sort of hard to explain what I mean but basically the subject matter is central to the picture but the edges are sort of rounded. I think Jon (Watanabe) did a few pictures this way a couple of years back and posted them on here, really impressed with his work as usual.

[Cheggers]

Fish-eye lens maybe Cav?

[Cavcraft]

I think you've cracked it, thanks. Oddly enough just did an internet search and found this image which is what I was on about and is indeed described as 'fish eye', many thanskf or that.

 

[Spiny Norman]

God knows how people get the subject matter to appear that it's standing still whilst the background is blurry, but I'd loved to learn how.

You mean 'panning', just takes practise tracking the subject while you press the shutter. And lots of film.

 

Digi cameras negate the last point nowadays, but when I was using my 35mm gear, for every shot I took that looked like this...

 

There were half a dozen that came out like this...

 

Some BTCC shite from about 1994/5.

[Tayne]

A fish eye adapter would cost about £20-30 whereas a proper fish eye lens (no black porthole effect just full distortion) would be £2-3k.

 

Panning is quite easy of you have a steady hand.

You just need to follow the subject with the camera and press the shutter as you are moving from left to right (or vice versa, or up-to down etc) and have the shutter speed set fast enough to catch some motion blur. Your own motion in time with the subject should keep it sharp.

A shutter speed of 1 / over the subject speed in mph should be a good guide.

 

A big plane lands at about 90mph ish, this was shot at an 80th of a second (1 / 80 )

Touchdown by Tayne, on Flickr

 

Its not always the case though, this was shot at 160th.

C-Type by Tayne, on Flickr

 

Your subject doesn't even need to be moving quickly.

Slow Speed Pan by Tayne, on Flickr

 

 

If you have a camera that doesn't let you adjust the shutter speed then can try and trick it.

If you have "scene modes" then selecting one that's designed for low light may give you that slower shutter speed you need.

This was taken using the "Night Portrait" mode.

The future's bright... by Tayne, on Flickr

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

A big plane lands at about 90mph ish, this was shot at an 80th of a second (1 / 80 )

Touchdown by Tayne, on Flickr

 

That's a very good shot.

[Tayne]

Thanks.

With a good view point, plane shooting is quite easy. They travel in a straight line at a predictable speed and tend to land in the same place.

[dollywobbler]

I still struggle with the panning shots I must admit. I don't actually get that much chance to practice and after an entire weekend at La Vie en Bleu, I had hundreds of crap shots.

 

2CV events can be good for me, as there's usually a long convoy. Lots of practice! The below was taken on a very sunny day, which can be an issue as the camera won't like too long a shutter lag. This was actually 1/250th of a second but still managed to get some blur on the wheels and background (just!). Sunshine wasn't at the best angle, so the shadows are a bit harsh.

 

The Peerless below was taken with my old compact superzoom, which was harder to make work properly in manual mode. This was a shutter speed of 1/50th.

 

I took that over two years ago and haven't had much opportunity to take much since! The trick is to pre-focus where you want the car to be, then twist from the waist to where the car is coming from. Then you twist back, keeping the car in frame and take the shot when you're where you pre-focussed. By the nature of the shot, only part of the car will be in focus (more so if you take a three-quarter shot rather than fully side on) so it can be tricky to get the sharpness exactly where you want it.

 

For advanced students (of which I definitely am not one!) the other trick is to pull zoom as a car approaches you. That tends to keep more of the car in focus but will blur the background. I've only tried to do this a couple of times and it's been absolute fail. A far more competent colleague took this one.

[Station]

You can obtain an interesting fisheye effect by purchasing one of these from a garden centre:

 

 

I can't take a photo, but the setting is nice:

 

[Tayne]

2CV events can be good for me, as there's usually a long convoy. Lots of practice! The below was taken on a very sunny day, which can be an issue as the camera won't like too long a shutter lag. This was actually 1/250th of a second but still managed to get some blur on the wheels and background (just!). Sunshine wasn't at the best angle, so the shadows are a bit harsh.

 

If you use a smaller aperture then you'll get greater depth of field ( so won't have to worry as much about the focus) and will be able to shoot slower than 1/250th on a sunny day.

I've never worried about pre-focus as the AF on the camera is fast enough 99.9% of the time.

[dollywobbler]

Thanks Tayne. I've not really got into playing with apertures yet (I'm entirely self-taught so this takes a long time!) but I'll have a play next time I'm out.