The OFFICIAL Automotive Photography TIPS & TECHNIQUES | Resource Guide

Originally Posted by Big D Cro

He's using HDR technique. Basically, he took few pictures of the same location with different exposure values (some pictures are darker, some are lighter), and the he combined them together in some image processing software which supports HDR (Photomatix for example). The main goal is to get a wider dynamic range, so that you can see details in dark and light areas of the picture. Without HDR, this is practically impossible.

This HDR technique... Can I also do this with my camera?

Originally Posted by Søreng

This HDR technique... Can I also do this with my camera?

I don't know. Which camera do you have ? Seriously, you don't need some profi DSLR cameras with expensive objectives. You can use plain point-and-shoot pocket camera IF it has exposure control. What does it mean? If you can take brighter and darker pictures of the same scene, it has the expousure/shutter control (usually you switch the control dial on the camera to A, or S). Shoot 3-5 pictures of the same scene with different exposure values, and process those in some HDR software on your computer (Photomatix for example, it has free trial version). You can tamper with HDR settings in the HDR, so you can get different effects - your picture can look very vivid and real, but if you go overboard, it will look like cartoon.

Here is my example:



This is also HDR picture, put together from 3 different pictures, but I went for the real-world-look, so it doesn't look too artificial. This was taken a year ago with a non-DSLR Sony DSC H1 camera.

edit: I see that you have Canon 20d, so, you are free to hit the DSLR world :-)

Ah, that cleared it up a bit.. Guess I'll have to try it out.. Thanks

Originally Posted by Søreng

Ah, that cleared it up a bit.. Guess I'll have to try it out.. Thanks

http://www.vanilladays.com/hdr-guide/

Originally Posted by Big D Cro

Here is my example:



This is also HDR picture, put together from 3 different pictures, but I went for the real-world-look, so it doesn't look too artificial. This was taken a year ago with a non-DSLR Sony DSC H1 camera.

edit: I see that you have Canon 20d, so, you are free to hit the DSLR world :-)

The best kind of HDR...the real world look

Love this thread.... I'm gonna go play w/ my fujifilme

How about some panning shots? If you want to add dynamics to your picture, thre's no better way
What do you need? A camera with manual settings, and a lot of practice. All DSLR's have S mode - you can adjust your shutter speed there. If you take picture with "fast shutter" (pardon my english) you freeze the moving object. If you use slow shutter speed, you can follow the motion of your moving object and get it sharp, while the static environment gets blurred. The trick is to synchronize the speed of the moving object (car) and the movement of your camera. There's one more catch - the slower the shutter, the brighter is the picture. There are no general rules how slow your shutter speed should be - it depends on the location, weather, lens etc - try it out for yourself.

Few examples (BMW related):

Great panning shots, kept nicely in focus

Great thread... after reading I went out and took some shots. Thought the slightly overcast day was good lighting for my black car.

Guess it was too dark, my flash is weak. 1st couple I used the setting A and P but don't know what they do then switched to AUTO..

Can't get the lighting right. And the darn Flag Pole looks like it's coming from my car.... All shots unedited






Made this one my sig



here's the Symmetry shot




Oh and what's ISO stand for and mean? and is 100 a good setting for it?

Well, if you use DSLR camera, you should learn to work with Photoshop

This is my interpretation of your picture:

Originally Posted by Big D Cro

Well, if you use DSLR camera, you should learn to work with Photoshop

This is my interpretation of your picture:

what's DSLR?

Always do google image search before asking.
Because you looked like an E-de0t to me :[

I want to make love to this thread.

Originally Posted by Big D Cro

Well, if you use DSLR camera, you should learn to work with Photoshop

This is my interpretation of your picture:

That's very grainy, tbh.

Originally Posted by Big D Cro

How about some panning shots? If you want to add dynamics to your picture, thre's no better way
What do you need? A camera with manual settings, and a lot of practice. All DSLR's have S mode - you can adjust your shutter speed there. If you take picture with "fast shutter" (pardon my english) you freeze the moving object. If you use slow shutter speed, you can follow the motion of your moving object and get it sharp, while the static environment gets blurred. The trick is to synchronize the speed of the moving object (car) and the movement of your camera. There's one more catch - the slower the shutter, the brighter is the picture. There are no general rules how slow your shutter speed should be - it depends on the location, weather, lens etc - try it out for yourself.

Few examples (BMW related):

Holy sh!t man, those are some nice panning shots. The objects are very, very focused. Damn... I need to learn this technique. All the panning shots I've taken are either underexposed or blurry

Just to make sure, do you start focusing on the subject (press the shutter halfway) as you move your camera (and then press the shutter), or do you move your camera first, then focus? I seem to get the panning shots all wrong.

Originally Posted by B8888KC

Just to make sure, do you start focusing on the subject (press the shutter halfway) as you move your camera (and then press the shutter), or do you move your camera first, then focus? I seem to get the panning shots all wrong.

No, I use manual focus This is what I do: I find the good spot for shooting. Then I focus on the part of the track after the apex (the car should be well in drift in there). Then I wait for the car BEFORE it enters the turn, I start to follow him so that I can synchronise the speed pf the car and speed of the camera. When car approaches the apex, I start shooting (rapid fire mode of course), and I follow the car from the turn with the camera. I get 6-7 pictures, 2-3 of them should be nice in focus.

Originally Posted by xtestifyx

Always do google image search before asking.
Because you looked like an E-de0t to me :[

F A G

Hey photo gurus, I have a question. I have a pretty basic point and shoot camera (Canon SD450) so I know I'm not capable of capturing those real nice shots such as those from a DSLR. My question is regarding taking pictures (especially in low light) with angel eyes on. Every time I try, the halos always have a massive overpowering and bleeding effect. I can never get real clear definition of the rings. Any ideas? Thanks.

Originally Posted by team bau

Hey photo gurus, I have a question. I have a pretty basic point and shoot camera (Canon SD450) so I know I'm not capable of capturing those real nice shots such as those from a DSLR. My question is regarding taking pictures (especially in low light) with angel eyes on. Every time I try, the halos always have a massive overpowering and bleeding effect. I can never get real clear definition of the rings. Any ideas? Thanks.

who's david baker?

Originally Posted by team bau

Hey photo gurus, I have a question. I have a pretty basic point and shoot camera (Canon SD450) so I know I'm not capable of capturing those real nice shots such as those from a DSLR. My question is regarding taking pictures (especially in low light) with angel eyes on. Every time I try, the halos always have a massive overpowering and bleeding effect. I can never get real clear definition of the rings. Any ideas? Thanks.

Can you manually adjust your settings? If you take 3 different exposures and lace them together you can probably get the effect you're looking for. Look up HDR for more info.