how to take GREAT photos

[RARE5.0]

This picture would be perfect but the sign is growing out of the roof.

[critter]

I miss the old days when you didn't have Photochop and had to work the craft in camera and in the darkroom. But I'm a dinosaur.

Good thread.

Yes, I was a newspaper photographer for 20 years,then worked for Associated Press for another 5 years introducing digital technology to newspapers. I have a little background in this. I'm way rusty on shooting skills now that I do IT work. I stand in awe of some of the work of the young guns these days. And that includes their Photoshop skills.

[protouring70]

O.K. I love this!! My wife always wanted one of the nice digital camera's. So I bought her a Canon EOS 10 meg camera with a EFS 55-250 (has the image stabalizer) and EFS 18-55 lenses. I hope this is a good start.

But the moral to this is neither of us use any other applications but the AUTO. So this is going to help!!! Thanks

[killer69]

This picture would be perfect but the sign is growing out of the roof.

i was going to mention the same thing, not to pick it appart Todd. but if the car was moved either left or right you could have cleaned up the shot a bit. i might have also parked the car tight to the far curb so all you could see in the back ground was the mountains. because the mountain on the right is "bright" the camera picked that up and the car is maybe a little too dark.
black cars are a bitch to take pictures of due to the reflections

here is one i took, knowing what i know now this shot was more good luck than good management.

[Vegas69]

Give me a break guys. I thought it was pretty damn nice for the first time using the camera. By far not my favorite of the car but the nature scene is really fantastic.

[killer69]

not bustin ur balls at all, just commenting, on things that could make it better next time thats all.
and i am by no means even remotely an expert, i am actually taking a photogaphy course rigth now and it is amazing what you can learn about your camera and talking pictures i HIGHLY recomend talking a course.!!

next on my list is a spelling course!!

[Z06nut]

Story telling: Capturing the story and main characters of an event in a photo to tell the story is important.
This is a photo from my trip to Luguna Seca. The Flying Lizard team fought tooth and nail against team Corvette. Oli Gavan had just spun out and Jan Magnussen had to hold his ground against the Lizards. It was pure ALMS/Nascar Racing on the last lap. At the Finish line Bergmeister held his line and forced Jan to spin and crash into the wall and take second.

[demonpixel]

Keep in mind that a DSLR is set up to work just the way a film camera works. You will still have to learn the difference between the aperture, measured in f-stops, and shutter speed, measured in fractions of a second. Once you learn this, a lot of these questions like "how was this picture taken?" will be answered for you, I promise! STAY AWAY from the Auto setting if you want to learn how to take great photos.

Remember that photography is an art form, just like building hot rods is. A camera is a paint brush; if you know anything about painting, light, composition, visual heirarchy/eye movement, contrast, all contribute to making a picture dynamic.

Another reason why sunrise/sunset is popular for taking photos is because you get a combination of cool and warm light, and it's natural light. Even if you artificially created a combination of warm and cool light on a test subject matter, it will probably turn out looking pretty cool. John Schwartzman, cinematographer for Armageddon and The Rock, loves using warm and cool light. If you have these on DVD/BluRay, mute the movie and study the lighting. I learned a lot about photography and lighting by trying to emulate my favorite cinematographers in film school.

Nowadays you can also copy someone's camera settings (f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, even lighting) and learn a lot.

Also, in regards to photography, think of Photoshop as post-production. In the old days we had to take film from our cameras and have them developed. Now, my development process is to plug in the USB port and open up Photoshop. What's great about this is that now you can manipulate the "digital development" of each of your images as precisely as you want. If you want half of your photos to be cross-processed (a type of film development), and the other half of your photos to be bleach-bypassed (another type of film development), you can do this in Photoshop no problem. Photoshop is an art tool all on its own also; many people make a living as Photoshop artists, so be careful if you get really good at Photoshop; you're likely to get swamped with job offers!

Most important thing when you're learning about photography: HAVE FUN!! Understand that there's a learning curve, but being creative should always be fun. It's always great when a pretty girl who's also taking photos approaches you and asks you what kind of camera you have. :D And then when she asks you if that is your car, and you say "why yes, it is," well....I hope you're single or you'll be in some trouble. lol

[manilikecars]

Photoshop does wonders few shots of my nova. Some of mine and some by my buddy.

[manilikecars]

Beach middle of the day and my niece.

[THE TECH]

Great info guys!

[TheBandit]

Take this photo for example....
Attachment 34679

Most people would have never guessed that I took this in front of my own driveway on a busy street.

If anyone has any specific questions about how to get a particular shot, feel free to ask and I will post a response.

I'll bite. How did you acheive that lighting?

[67greengt]

Hey Blake,

where did you take that pic? Is it a hanger or warehouse of some sort? Local place?

Tom

i was going to mention the same thing, not to pick it appart Todd. but if the car was moved either left or right you could have cleaned up the shot a bit. i might have also parked the car tight to the far curb so all you could see in the back ground was the mountains. because the mountain on the right is "bright" the camera picked that up and the car is maybe a little too dark.
black cars are a bitch to take pictures of due to the reflections

here is one i took, knowing what i know now this shot was more good luck than good management.

[tazzz25906112]

Todd here you go buddy,,, thought you might enjoy it a bit better this way

[Vegas69]

Thanks Albert!

[protouring70]

Thanks for the info guys!

[critter]

I was out farting around a couple weekends back and shot this just to see what the stance looked like with the new suspension parts. I do not advocate shooting cars at high noon but it worked out this time. Having a white car helps. Anyway, this is right out of the camera, no post processing.

[blown64vette]

I don't claim to be a GREAT photographer but I can do some decent work if the conditions are right. I do all natural light photography, for the sake of simplicity, and it's hard to beat the natural glow of a sunrise or a sunset. Positioning the car is a big deal but lighting often MAKES the photo. Here is some of my stuff...

Black is tricky to shoot, but it looks AMAZING at sunset if you can position the car to have the sunset in its reflection.


Another black car...same sunset treatment.


Sparks are always cool if you have the time to set up the camera and figure out the correct shutter speed. This is one of my favorite spark shots...mainly because it shows a guy truly cutting up his car in order to fit a big block in it.


Orange and red generally look good with any light, be it harsh evening sun, shade, clouds, or sunset light, like this shot. Headlights are on because the front of the car is slightly backlit...the headlights basically fool your eyes into thinking the grille area is lit well.


Car-to-car action shots are fun because they generally don't require any photoshop work, as opposed a rig shot, where the rig has to be cloned out. These are generally done at speed, with a moderate shutter speed that keeps the car in focus, but allows the wheels and background to be blurred.


This photo is taken in open shade about 40 minutes before sunset...not super dramatic sunset lighting, but definitely good light to shoot in.


Here's another black car at sunset...


Super good sunset lighting on this outlaw Nova.


This photo was taken before my normal shoot times, but it supports my theory on oranges and reds looking great with many conditions.

[chrismoe]

Very nice French Tranny!

Scott,

Great car from any angle.

Chris

[carlescu]

very good!!!