This year I have started taking pictures at local shows, I have no real experience before this summer. I used a 4 mega pixel point and shoot camera for all shots. I took maybe 30 or 40 pictures ever before this year. That is my story in a nutshell and as the title says I am looking for any help I can get in taking pictures of cars(especially yellow ones) Here is a sample of a few of the pictures I have taken From the first show also the first show second show 3rd show 4th show 3rd show 4th show summer bbq summer bbq Please feel free to offer any helpful advice or tricks you can More pics here http://s664.photobucket.com/home/John-Paul79 Thank you in advance
Copy and paste the IMG code into your message and the pics will show up, not just the links..then people will be more likely to view your stuff and critique it.
Play with angles and percpective, lay down, climb on things. What kind of camera are you using? Do you know how to play with the depth of field on it?
Join the Photographers Corner on here. Plenty of good advice to be had and everybodys willing to help ya out. Click on the link... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=103
Take more than one when you take a pic. Look for weather to add something. (sun - sunset) Take different angles. Don't stand back and zoom...get near if you can. Take as many as you can and keep notes for a while. It will come to you fast.
Some good advice here, my 2 cents - look at other peoples work, not just of cars, and figure out why you like some photos more than others. take thousands, and look at them critically as well. When you are taking a picture, look at the viewfinder/screen as if it is a photo, and move the camera or your position until you're looking at a well composed image. for a different point of view, go 3 steps closer. seriously, take thousands. sorry, that's more than 2 cents, but go for it!
2 things: get close & keep the sun behind you( but keep your shadow out of the pic). Theres nothing wrong with taking "straight on " pics.Alot of people take pictures of one emblem or a headlight!WTF! Take the pic as YOU see the car.Not every picture has to be some "avante garde, surreallistic" statement! Just keep it simple. JimV
Try to keep light poles, trees and signs out of the background. Nothing worse than a pole sticking out of the roof of an otherwise good photo.
One trick an old timer taught me is when you take a shot, turn around and look behind you. There may be a shot just as cool or better behind you.
Books are written on good photography techniques. The most important thing you can develop is your "eye". (composition and style) The mechanics of a camera are just that and vary according to the type of camera you are using. It is your vision that will make the difference in your photo being a snapshot and a piece of art. You seem to have a good eye. Take lots of pictures and analyze them. The more you experiment, the more you will learn to trust your eye. Smart Cards are cheap. There are many "rules" in photography and too many to list here. You need to learn them. The best way to learn the "rules" is to frequent photography forums and read, read, read. I put "rules" in quotes because the truly great images break at least one of the rules. You just need to know when to and why you are doing it. Kind of like re-engineering a hotrod. Do it wrong and it is a piece of crap. But, do it right and it can become a masterpiece. Your 4mp P&S won't let you do large prints but it will allow you print a reasonable 8x10. It will limit what you can do artsy wise but it will allow you to develope your skills at a reasonable price. If you have the money, upgrading to a DSL is nice because you have much more control over your shot and it will allow lens choices. However, a better camera is not a necessity for developing your "eye". You don't always have a choice at shows, however, watching for background clutter, reflections, and lighting is important, so you need to be aware of those things. That's why I don't take a lot of full car shots at shows. Just interesting details. Shoot, shoot, shoot... and... HAVE FUN!
I have a Nikon cool pics 4.0. I don't know how to play with the depth of feild, or anything about most of my camera's features actually. I guess I need to study the manual some more I know what you are saying and I expirimented quite a bit trying to find angles I liked and trying to figure out how to avoid weird reflections(it didn't always work) I was really trying to capture this with a couple of shots I posted. the green nova with the sunset behind it and the pontiac with the haze from the forest fires kind of washing away the background a little. This is my biggest peeve about show pics, there is no control over background clutter, the model A pic I posted is otherwise a solid picture, but the power line and tree "growing" out of it is a killer A couple of guys in my club have aproached me to "shoot" their cars this season. while honoured, I am completeely intimidated. I need to just figure what background or location will work for each car. I imagine this year will teach me alot about the whle process. Thank you for all the help so far, please feel free to offer up anything else you can contribute. I look forward to hearing it.
JBurt- Everything so far is an experiment, I only started taking pictures at the first show...ever, I stole my wifes camera and went to town, I posted every picture I took from the first three shows to my photobucket, after that I was a little more critical. I can see a progression so far and I discovered the need for a bigger flash when the evening show's pictures sucked(the low light doesn't get along with my camera-at all)
I have printed out killer 10 x 13 with a 4 megapixel, but larger than that can be tricky. If you cannot print out large pics yourself, most photo stores and some retail places like Meijer can print them for you, it's how mine were done. BUT, you CAN PhotoShop the pics before you take them in for processing, just do not resize or lower the resolution when you save. So, if you want a neat photomug (or whatever, lots of options), but don't want that "I made a photo mug from Walgreens" look, make the background the same colour as the mug, THEN get it done. Looks like a pro did it, then. And you can add lettering, etc. I know this is not what you asked, specifically, but the info on this board is worth what you paid, sometimes more... Cosmo Great beginning shots, BTW.
Good luck. Don’t shoot cars on those weird ass angles. Slow down and wait for the people to move on. Backgrounds are as important as your foregrounds. Time of Day is the big nut for me. If its to sunny your shots get washed out. Try different times of day. Late afternoon is usually the best if you can hang around. As mentioned above join one of the photo groups here. You would be hard pressed to find better photographers anywhere. If you have the time talk to the owners. Ask if they can close the hood if its up or remove flyers on the windows. I have yet to meet a car owner who didnt want a picture taken of their cars. Slim
You are doing great. Low light is going to be a problem with most P&S cameras. hotrodpodo gave you some good advice. Join the Photographers Corner for some excellent info and images.
The angled pics mess with my vertigo. Apparently I'm not the only one. Play with zoom. The further away you are (and more zoom you use) the more "normal" the car will look. Too far away and it will look "flat" although with a P&S camera you won't have enough zoom to worry about this Next time you're at a big show where someone from a magazine is there shooting pictures, hang around and watch.
join the HAMB photo club...ask questions there, too...lots of good advise right here... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/group.php?groupid=103
The recreation departments of some cities have photo clubs. You might check yours out. Also photo classes at local night schools and adult schools. You could go to local car clubs and volunteer to photograph cars explaining first that you are just learning. This lets you select you backgrounds. Shows are difficult to photograph since there are too many people in the way and wide angle lenses (as already noted) tend to distort the cars. I like to shoot way back with a telephoto (about 120 mm on a film camera) to reduce distortion. Charlie Stephens
Your Nikon L4 is probably a pretty decent camera, for what it is, but I'm guessing that it doesn't give you too many manual control options, if any. But that's not to say that you still can't take some good shots with it. It just may not have the flexibility to work that well in low light or high contrast situations. You can keep shooting the weird angle shots from time to time, but don't count on them as being the "keepers". Be sure to also take a few level, conventional shots of the same subject as well. If background clutter is an issue, try shooting from a higher or lower angle. Lay on the ground if you have to (assuming it's not in the street!) or drag along a folding step stool or short ladder. The reflections off the license plates in a couple shots look to be the result of the flash going off. You'll get the same thing sometimes from tail lamp and park lamp lenses. Turn off the camera's flash, if possible, to eliminate this. Shooting in low light with no flash can be a real challenge. Many P&S cameras like this may try to automatically increase the ISO setting to compensate but the pictures can exhibit a lot of grain or noise. If you can, manually set the camera to the lowest possible ISO, maybe like 64 or 100. Then mount the camera to a tripod, assuming it has a socket for one, and use the self timer function to reduce camera shake from pressing the shutter button. And for now at least you don't need a fancy tripod. Get a 6 or 8 dollar one at Kmart or a thrift store. Low light auto focusing can be tricky with some cameras too, but I doubt that you'll be able to manually focus with this one. If your Nikon has digital zoom, avoid using it. If the optical zoom isn't enough, step in closer if you can. As stated above, avoid shooting into the sun. Actually, when the sun is near directly overhead isn't usually the best time to shoot. A lower morning or afternoon sun will give you better shadows and less glare. If your camera has a histogram function you might study up a bit on how it works and how to use it to get the most detail in your shots. The histogram will tell you things that you can't see in the camera's LCD. DO NOT run out and throw more money at a better camera, at least not right away. Work with what you've got for a while and learn more about what you can and can't do with the one you've got. A properly shot 4MP image will always look better than a poorly shot 10MP one. And yes, I can say this with the voice of experience.
You're off to a good start. The previous advice given is good. I used to shoot shows for a couple of regional magazines when we still shot slides. The best way to learn is to shoot a number of pictures of a single car and then really be critical of what you shot. Don't be afraid to tell folks you really like their car and would like a few good shots. Ask if they'd mind with the doors and the hood closed and the registration out of the window. You'll get the hang of being patient too. We went to Bonneville in August and I shot about 800 pix. Most were grab shots but a few were set up trying to tell the story too. If you enjoy this sort of thing, invest in a good digital SLR camera and a good variable length lens. I like a 24-120 f2.8 I own for car shows. It seems to have an excellent range for doing close ups to mid distance shots. Get a subscription to The Rodder's Journal. You'll see some of the best auto photography going inside those pages. And remember practice, practice, practice.
x2 on NOT using the digital zoom. especially with a 4 MP camera. digital zoom is the same as cropping the photo on your computer and making it the same size. it will not be as clear. at shows try to avoid plastic crappers and those annoying pop up shade deals in the background. I don't like people in my pics. even in the background. sometimes you got to wait. I've gone so far as to take several pics as people mill about and combining them on the computer for one pic without people. while you are waiting look around, maybe there is another good shot to take while you are waiting. get the biggest card you can, then you can take as many pics as you want and not worry about running out of space. the secret to good photos is take as many shots as you can and delete the crummy ones before your friends see them.
look at the first shot. 2 dudes, pop up shade and a late model van all booger up the background. maybe take it from the other side. I've never used a point and shoot, but if your camera has a viewfinder use it rather than the screen on the backside. I think it will give a better idea of what you are actually shooting. get some editing software if you don't already have it. it's a lot of fun and gives you a better chance to review your pics while you are working on them and come up with ideas on how to get a better shot next time. experiment. digital is free until you make a print.
If I might add my 2 cents; One thing I've found is the unusual angle can be one way to make a picture interesting (not talking about crazy angles). Like was said before, lay down & climb on things. And you usually want your subject to be "coming in" to the picture. Sometimes you want to leave it room as if it has a place to go (visually speaking). Remember the rule of thirds. I know you said your just starting out, but consider a DSLR, they're very automated, & the ability to change lenses is a great thing. Especially a wide angle for cars. You can find them used, affordably. Like what was already said, take lots of pics. I like your pics. Rick.
Thank you all for the advice, I asked here because this is the place to find some amazing photography of the subject matter. I definately will try alot of your suggestions. I have joined the photography group an will read up there as much as I can. I can not go to large shows and see the magazine guys doing there thing as I am way out of their reach I have been talking to others in my club and unfortunately the skill level for photographers is all pretty much on par with mine. I have a few of the guys on board with doing some shoots this summer, so I hope to have some improved shots to share later. I hear the advice on waiting on a new camera as well, although a better camera would be nice, my little point and shoot still produces quality images and I would definitely like my skill to reach the limits of my equipment to get a firm grasp on the fundamentals before making the leap.
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