Car Photography tech talk

TitanRev

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This thread is created for all who loves car photography. Here we can all share the tips and tech of how to take a good pictures of cars...pictures are allowed..
 

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HKS-GT2835R

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yay!

can i start slow ar?

firstly i shoot jpeg when on a hurry, but i try to shoot RAW the rest of the time, especially when i know it's gonna need editing later. RAW files hold all the actual data captured by the camera, which enables extensive editing later on.

make sure you have ample space on yur mem card tho, the files takes quite a space.


somebody continue lar!
 

TitanRev

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If trying to do a panning shoot...always try to leave some space in front of the car so that it gives some moving "space" to it..
 

Tom

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Don't shoot wheels like this:



but like this:



Try to get down to the level of your car just like you would with pets:



not standing up, shooting down:

 

z34

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I would love to share my technique on rolling shots

these are a few of my best work of rolling shots









How do I achieve those pictures? its very simple

Settings
- I use shutter priority mode (Tv in Canon) so that I can alter my shutter speed according to the speed of the car. Besides, I dont need to car much about aperture because the background will be blurred by movements anyway.
- All above pictures are taken in broad daylight. Which allow me to use ISO100 for all the shots to minimize noise.
- The shutter speed I use mostly lies around 1/60s to 1/100s depending on the speed of the car.

Technique
- In order to get rolling shot done, you need 2 vehicle, one subject car, and one camera car.
- Make sure you choose to do it in a less-traffic road. Its because you dont want to clutter your background + safety reason
- Some photographer prefer to just stay in the car and hold their camera outside the window and get the shots. not for me. I usually will hang 50% of myself out of the window to get extreme angle like this one



- If you choose to do it like me, be very careful and make sure your camera is secured to your hand. (dont blame me if anything happen. lol)
- Speed of the subject car and speed of the camera car MUST be the same. if subject car is going 80km/h, the camera car must be doing 80km/h too. maybe +/- 5km/h.

*REMEMBER* the higher the speed of the car, the higher shutter speed you can use. The equation I always use is
Shutter speed = 1/speed of the car
- if the car is going 80km/h, you can go as low as 1/80s
- if the car is going 100km/h, you can go as low as 1/100s

I hope this technique will help you get your desired pictures
 

HKS-GT2835R

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z34, you're waaaay off on a different league, brother! (or izzit just because of that R32? lol!)

nice shots, bud!

here's my try on rollin' shot, excuse the noobness (and the stock car as well).
was on a trip to malacca, didn't had a chance to lower the window. need more practice!

shot using a 17-50mm tammy.hand held, and i shouldn't be doing it with a pajero. suspension hard oh.. shaky!

 
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z34

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lol. thanks. but I believe there are lots of better photographer than me. Sharing is caring. I love to see this area (automotive photography) getting better and better in Malaysia.
 

TitanRev

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Panning shot with some space in front of the car...to give is some "moving space" feeling

Best if you can capture the whole car but sometimes can try to play with different style and shoot only 3/4 front of the car


You can start panning the car with your view finder and put it on Continuous focus so that the cam will keep focusing on the car when the distance of the focus changes...then fire away with continuous shoot setting and find the best within the bunch...


To get good panning shoot, constant practice is the way....

As to what Tom mentioned. try to get the same eye level with the car's headlights...or a bit lower..


For still shots, sometimes you can compose the supporting subject around the main subject...


Like this one, I shoot the car with person in it so that it gives a more lively mix...


---------- Post added at 08:33 PM ---------- 6 hour anti-bump limit - Previous post was at 08:28 PM ----------

z34, nice pic.....very nice....btw, correct me if I'm wrong...when you shoot rolling shots and with the cam way below ur eye sight like the white R34...you just put it on continuous shoot and see which one is the best...or is there any way you can teach to gauge how should the cam be pointed....much appreciated...
 

z34

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a camera with swivel screen works. but basically I take a few shots just in case one doesn't turn out so good.

wide angle lens helps a lot in case like this. The white GTR I shot using a wide angle lens (16mm). Firstly, I set the focus point to be at the center point. While in motion, I lock the exposure (half-press the shutter button) with the subject (car) at the center of the frame. Then I recompose and fully click the shutter button. Wide angle helps me to prevent accidental cut in car parts due to tight framing.
 

TitanRev

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z34, thanks I understand what you meant....you let the cam focus on the car 1st then you move the lens towards the front of the car a bit so it give a bit more spacing in front of the car so there's a sense of space....If I don't have a swivel screen camera then would you recommend me to put it on C-Drive? then check again after a few shots....
 

z34

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what is C-drive? if you mean continuous shot mode, its totally up to you. I rarely use that mode because my camera is slow. 1000D. only 3.5fps. fvcking slow. lol
 

Izso

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what is C-drive? if you mean continuous shot mode, its totally up to you. I rarely use that mode because my camera is slow. 1000D. only 3.5fps. fvcking slow. lol
You're the classic example of "Skills matter more than hardware"

I can't believe you're using a 1000D only!!!!!

Kudos x 1000
 

HKS-GT2835R

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You're the classic example of "Skills matter more than hardware"

I can't believe you're using a 1000D only!!!!!

Kudos x 1000
yeh, my initial thoughts was 5D mkII, at least :listen:
 

d4rk

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Really glad to see a thread like this being put up! I'm no pro here, but I do agree with giving space in panning shots in order to have the "moving space" sensation.





Panning shots are not techniques that you could read about and execute it perfectly. Damn, you need a lot of practice! So far, I haven't yet trying shooting under 1/60, even at 1/160 is already pretty hard for me. Any extra tips on how to do so properly?
 

z34

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lower angle shot can be very helpful in popping out the subject out of the background like this picture



but i occasionally shoot at normal eye level if I intend to play with my background. Like this picture



speaking of playing with background, most of the time, simpler background works the best.

real life example : I once had the opportunity to shoot a GTR but the time allocated is very little. One hour. I don't have much choice of location. and this is one of the result with little edit :



but later I figured out that the picture is not clean enough to my liking (the background has lots of distracting elements). hence I edit it a bit to give cleaner background

result after more editing :



*note that there is still small details like pebbles can be seen near the front bumper. I intentionally left it like that to give it the sense that the car is real. Not suddenly appear from empty space. LOL
 
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helo....anyone know where the best place to mod bumper in penang....i would like to go n add bodykits...for iswara.......pls gv me some opinoin where is the best place.....izit RABK and LC is the best???
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