Can I have an opinion? (car portraits)

[Chris71]

Which of the wall pics and which of the beach ones look best do you reckon?

I have to pick one of each, and depending on which monitor I use (home or work) my favourites change, so I thought I'd put it to a third party!

1.


2.


3.


4.


5.


6.


7.


8.

[The Tea Boy]

ally I would go for 5. as thats my fav angle to take a shot of the M's, my mate has a yellow 3000M that i have a fair few pics of somewhere if you are intrested i will try and dig them out.

Matt

[Chris71]

I personally like 6 and 8, but most people have gone for 5 or 7.

[GetCarter]

5

[tinman0]

5.

I don't see the relevance of the beach and sea in the other shots. Its a bit like placing a boat in the middle of the M1, and saying "how does that look?". Out of place would be the first answer. So a nice sports car, on a beach looking out to see makes little sense to me, unless there was some sort of story to go with it.

Like the front wheels at a jaunty angle btw. Always makes a car look so much better.

[nick_bbb]

5 without a doubt. Some of the others are let down by the lighting, watch where the sun is, look at the shadows and position the car to suit (or use some additional lighting or reflectors)

[Chris71]

Number 5 it is. What do people reckon of the shots with the wall? I was quite dissapointed with the way they came out (I don't profess to be a photographer...) I thought the shady stone wall had a rather up-market Mediteranian feel, befitting the car's mini-GT appearance, but it never quite came out as envisaged.

[Simpo Two]

7 (with 5 as runner up). The light beach acts as a handy reflector to fill in the shadow. In the other shots with the sea in the b/g, the heavy shadow has killed it. Should've gone round the other side!

[SamHH]

Chris71 said:

Number 5 it is. What do people reckon of the shots with the wall? I was quite dissapointed with the way they came out (I don't profess to be a photographer...) I thought the shady stone wall had a rather up-market Mediteranian feel, befitting the car's mini-GT appearance, but it never quite came out as envisaged.

I think the main problem is the light. It looks like you took them under quite harsh mid-day sun; they probably would have looked better taken later in the day. There also a couple of small issues with composition like being able to see the end of the wall and the roof behind in #1 and the chimney in #2.

[Snapper7]

I really don't like the wall pictures, it just does nothing for me.

On the beach pictures I like, In Order: 1st: No 7 (Because of the light on the car, inc fill light and the horizon doesn't cut in to the car). 2nd No 5

Don't like: 3,4, 6 & * because you have to much shadow on areas of detail and the horizon is to close to the lines of the car.

Hope that helps

[stigmundfreud]

I'm not a car photographer but if I was to give you any feed back of any kind it would be to ditch them all and go and research car photography, general composition etc.

[Snapper7]

This guy is a good car photographer, http://www.ambientlife.co.uk/

Might give you some ideas

[Gallen]

Like the angle of the car on #5, but not the background... It would be nice to break the horizon line with the roofline and body on that angle.

[Chris71]

stigmundfreud said:

I'm not a car photographer but if I was to give you any feed back of any kind it would be to ditch them all and go and research car photography, general composition etc.

If you're willing to pay for someone who knows what they're doing to come and do it feel free. If not, you're stuck with me I'm afraid.

And seems the car is 200 miles away that means stuck with the photos I took at the weekend (there are a few more but the above illustrate the general trends).

Thanks for the more constructive comments. The sun was indeed a little harsh. That's also partly the reason I couldn't shoot in the opposite direction that much (the sun was right there and the back ground is a lot mroe cluttered). Unfortunately on the LCD screen at the beach and on the first monitor I checked them on the shaddows didn't look so bad or I'd have tried to reduce them.

Will definitely check out the Ambient Light site. It's strictly 'playing around with a camera' for me, but it would be fun to improve.

[Davi]

Snapper7 said:

This guy is a good car photographer, http://www.ambientlife.co.uk/

Might give you some ideas

absolutely stunning work there - but just how much of that is done at the camera?! (as opposed to PS afterwards)

Note that is not a criticism or anything - it's a question I haven't got a clue and am trying to learn!

Edited by Davi on Wednesday 6th May 10:45

[Snapper7]

A fair bit of that can be done in camera, but the rest will need tweeking in Photoshop Layers

[Davi]

Really? I'm surprised. Knowing PS well I can see lots of ways of creating the look of those shots quite easily, just haven't got a clue how to do it with a shutter release

[L4MBOLUV3R]

Chris71 said:

Number 5 it is. What do people reckon of the shots with the wall? I was quite dissapointed with the way they came out (I don't profess to be a photographer...) I thought the shady stone wall had a rather up-market Mediteranian feel, befitting the car's mini-GT appearance, but it never quite came out as envisaged.

5 is my favourite. would it be possible to have the full version to have a play in photosop? i can see things to tweak/play with if you dont mind?

with the wall shot i believe your problem is the angle. if you had taken it straight on from the side i reckon that would have been the one.

[Chris71]

L4MBOLUV3R said:

Chris71 said:

Number 5 it is. What do people reckon of the shots with the wall? I was quite dissapointed with the way they came out (I don't profess to be a photographer...) I thought the shady stone wall had a rather up-market Mediteranian feel, befitting the car's mini-GT appearance, but it never quite came out as envisaged.

5 is my favourite. would it be possible to have the full version to have a play in photosop? i can see things to tweak/play with if you dont mind?

with the wall shot i believe your problem is the angle. if you had taken it straight on from the side i reckon that would have been the one.

YHM

I do have one more or less flat to the wall, but the light is a bit dull:

[L4MBOLUV3R]

full version http://www.damianblades.co.uk/picture/tvr.jpg