Couple of Photos - black car advice needed!

[JackGTA]

Took a few shots of my sister's Cupra R the other night, and unsurprisingly found it pretty tricky as the car was black. Heres a couple of them, any clever techniques/tips on taking photos of dark subjects?





(Sorry for the compression again, must be AOL's upload thingy)

[Gemm]

I think they are pretty good. Exposure seems to be fine and the reflection is well controlled. If I wanted to bring out the details more, I would try Shadow/Highlight tool in Photoshop.

[beano500]

Yes - they can be tricky, but as Gemm says, these are quite good. Certainly the detail appears to be there in the shadows and maybe this could be brought out a bit?

Blanking the number plate in white is an obvious distaction - try cloning out or going black? Otherwise I'd be inclined to give the background a suitably "mean and moody" look....

[VxDuncan]

(This is coming from a Computer graphics background not a photographic one but is hopefully still valid)

Shiny black materials are basically really high contast - that is largely black with very bright, but small highlights. Most car colours have less dynamic range so are easier to capture.

I can't speak with photographic experience but if this was a 3D Graphics car in jet black I'd try and increase the number of highlights on the vehicle and get as much contrast in the imaging method as possible. I guess sitting it near a large light object (not in view of course) will bring out the contours of the car, as would lots of point light sources, like a cityscape at night.

Assthetically speaking a high contrast location would sit better with the paint job.

Other than that I'd always shoot RAW as a DSLR will struggle with the dynamic range and consider going the HDR route.

I'm sure a pro will be along any minute to tell you I'm talking carp though!

[poah]

watch for where the ligh is coming from so you don't get one side in shadow. I covered a cruise the other night and avoided taking pics of black cars lol

[TonyHetherington]

[Disclaimer; I am a complete amateur]


...nice pictures! Really like the location it works well witht he car.

I see what you mean though about the "dark side" so to speak. I have the same trouble (see my picture attempts here...

www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=109&t=332761
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=109&t=342645

...it's the highlights that make a black car photo I think (as others far more experienced than I have said ).

How about really long exposure, get the aperture right down (you'll need a tripod) and then running a flash light over the dark side of the car while the shutter's open?

[JackGTA]

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated! Will be trying to take some more shots of that car soon hopefully, so can try some of the things mentioned. The car wasn't very clean, I think that didn't help for bringing out the highlights, and the lighting wasn't perfect either.

[TonyHetherington]

I've just realised...did you use the flash? It looks like on the turned in wheel you have done. That would work AGAINST you as it would highlight the front facing edges but not the side. Perhaps use no flash and longer shutter speed? (tripod essential)...and if you have a remote shutter release, great, if not then use the timer on the camera so that you're not touching the camera when the shutter opens)

(again....very very amateur discalimer!!!)

[JackGTA]

No flash in those two shots. I did try it, but it didn't work, as you say. These were at 8 and 10 second shutter speed respectively, with a tripod and a remote release. Rest assured, the full size ones look a lot better lol!