Car Photography tech talk

[z34]

lightroom is good for simple editing but it lacks of flexibility that photoshop has to offer like multi-layers to compose a final picture, customizing watermarks, resizing, and lots more. but I used both. I edit contrast + exposure + noise reduction in lightroom then export to photoshop to clone out unwanted elements + watermark.

 

[Izso]

z34 : do you shoot in raw or jpeg? What filters do you use when you shoot outdoors? Everytime I shoot outdoors it always ends up overexposed

 

[wsukun]

uncompressed or compressed image file,
the way I see it is when I need high burst rate, buffer rate, frame rate or whatever assuming u do have high speed memory card , I go for jpg. I have a slow camera..
shooting still objects always RAW because it gives me much more flexibility correcting things like white balance and stuffs..
so jpg raw may vary to the situation u r in.. I've seen cameras can do jpg+raw together on single shot.. In fact, my trustworthy old 40D got his function..

 

[z34]

^ agree with wsukun.

when i'm on the go, i always shoot jpeg. when i have enough time to control my environment, raw is the choice.

i did try shoot raw + jpeg on my 1000D. it is super duper slow. like 1.5fps? lol.

unless I can own 1Dx which can burst 12fps for Raw + Jpeg, I will never shoot Raw + jpeg on burst mode again. lol

 

[Tom]

Z34, I'm using lightroom only most of the time...I'm still not good at PS tried a few times...most PP I do is lightning, contrast, exposure and some clone then background a lil bit...still need to learn...

wsukun, any link for the trial version?

BH, the night shot what setting you using? I like the clearness you get at night shot..

Good link for people who are looking to sample photoshop for a while longer,
http://www.techfilled.com/photoshop-cs5-serial-number.html#comment-357

there are some useful replies to the article that supports pc and mac users

 

[z34]

Some of my interior shots :

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6233/6275826302_a3710ece8e_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6107/6275826124_e39c5d5206_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6051/6275302123_ee9c7db071_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6058/6275824820_dbfd68e80f_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6224/6275823608_a75d05122e_b.jpg

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6181/6043791453_126f327106_b.jpg

settings to get shots like these

ISO - 100 (less noise + drag slower shutter speed to overexposed details outside the car)
Aperture - F5.6 ~ F8 (get everything in the interior in focus and sharp)
Shutter speed - 1/10s ~ 1/50s (irest my hand on the seat so I can stabilize my camera to avoid shakes)

use of tripod + remote is highly recommended to avoid camera shake but thinking that it's someone's interior, I dont wanna face the risk of tearing or putting dirt in it so I rarely use tripod for these shots.

PP involved - contrast + exposure + erase all other elements outside the car that is visible through the window.

 

[Won]

Wow... I've been reading a lot; where have I been all this while?! Could have learnt so much from the gurus in here!

Personally, I find it easier to take some panning shots at night because it is easier to deal with the lighting. As I've read, the shutter speed is ideally set to between the ranges of 1/30 - 1/100; however, a lot of the time, you have to balance with the aperture and ISO and for me, there is usually a lot of over-exposure.

Here were some of my attempts at night:

These were shot handheld, whilst I was standing by the roadside just practicing, lol. I tried a few during the day, and they were all fail cases!

Thanks for z34 for the shots of the interior; I have no idea how to properly take some interior pics, and I will definitely be trying out some of his angles soon! :D

 

[Izso]

Eh.. the Cayenne shot is pretty neat. The light glare makes it pretty interesting but half the car is outta focus. How'd you do that? LOL

 

[TitanRev]

Bro, thats some nice night shot.....not much blur actually...good skill...

 

[HKS-GT2835R]

Here were some of my attempts at night:

These were shot handheld, whilst I was standing by the roadside just practicing, lol. I tried a few during the day, and they were all fail cases!

wah, u call that practice ar?

 

[Won]

Like Izso said; half the Cayenne was blurry, so it didn't really work completely lah. And yes, those were really my first few tries at panning. Decided it was much too hard, and really didn't try any harder. There was once that the result was a little better, but that was because I used a flash (that was on loan, lol):

My attempt in the day has been pretty poor:

Composition lacking, sharpness/clarity gone case, etc. Think if I want to pursue this, I need to sit down at a roundabout and get someone to drive in circles... any volunteers? :P

As for editing - I'll admit I suck at it. I use Lightroom, but I really want to explore how to use PS for its clone/healing tools, etc. And I need to work on a watermark of sorts... people have been stealing my pics like crazy! There was this one Facebook page that had almost ALL my pictures :/

 

[z34]

the logic behind panning is simple

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6111/6279198261_231c28783d_b.jpg

you can get the whole car in focus. provided that the car is parallel to your focal plane

what is focal plane? focal plane basically is a line/or area in which everything that lies on it will be in focus. the focal plane will always be perpendicular to the sensor of your camera, hence perpendicular to your camera as well.

so in diagram above, where the car in position A, you can't (or difficult to) get the whole car in focus because only a part of the car lies on the focal plane of your camera. Those part will be in focus while the other will not

where the car is in position B, the car is parallel/lies on the focal plane of your camera hence the whole car can be in focus.

car in position C is the same as in position A.

so, in order for you to get the whole car to be in focus, you need to let the car be lies on your camera focal plane (or in other words, parallel to direction you are swinging).

note that this theory is not the same as rolling shots/tracking shots.

the gallardo pic by r3k4hstubb is rolling shots. not panning.

 

[anion]

wow...finally someone started a thread bout automotive photography. Thumbs up !! Sharing is caring...very nice to know u guys have so much to share...so Im just gonna lurk here and read...muahahahaha

very nice z34, absolutely love ur enthusiasm in automotive photography, showing people that its not always about the equipments that does the work.

Anyway just a few shares of my works...most of my work for zerotohundred.com is shown in the feature cars...

These were shot with 3 lights...

and my version of rolling shots :)

 

[TitanRev]

Anion, those rolling shots...are they rigged shots? How do you get them?

 

[anion]

TitanRev, yes those are rig shots :)

 

[wsukun]

Anion, recruiting any rookie like me?

 

[Gnes]

One of my personal projects.

 

[wsukun]

nice one Gnes!
Can we see more of your great pictures please?

 

[Izso]

Actually, I just had a thought. With the right editing and colours, this could look like the car coming out of warp speed.

 

[Gnes]

A few shots before bodykit added.