LDM Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 On Saturday I finally got my first DSLR camera. I didn't say anything because I knew certain people would be demanding pics. I've only had a point-and-shoot type before, and while this camera doesn't make me a better photographer, the picture quality seems to be a BIG improvement. Anyway, today I washed the car, slapped on a coat of Brilliant Glaze, and then drove down by the water. Here are the results: I still have a lot to learn with this thing, and ended up just using the auto function for most of the pictures, but hopefully with time I'll be able to take better pictures. In the meantime, I just figured I'd share what I came up with today. Still trying to decide which one's my favorite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAYBEN Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 nice pics.. what camera did you get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDM Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Nikon D5100 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AToth1 Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Nice pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 So what color is your car? Nice pics. Good camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAYBEN Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Nikon D5100 congrats, I have the D5000.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill-V8V Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 MUCH BETTER :rockon: Get the Dummies book for that specific camera, it will save you a lot of time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris@Adams Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Nice shots! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDM Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 So what color is your car? White Hot? I have the D5000.. I know: http://www.adamsforums.com/forums/showpost.php?p=177644&postcount=92 Get the Dummies book for that specific camera, it will save you a lot of time That's probably not a bad idea except the camera's so new that the Dummies book is still in pre-order status. It's not available yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAYBEN Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 oh yeah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gencoupe3dot8 Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Mind if I give some CC? Regards, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDM Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Mind if I give some CC? Regards, Mike CC If that means constructive criticism go right ahead. The more the better. Like I said, I'm no photographer, just a dummy with an expensive camera. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gencoupe3dot8 Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Len, First, grata on entering the world of the DLSR. The great thing about digital is it can really speed up the learning curve as you don't have to spend a lot of money on film and developing. I'll try to go easy here: My overall comment is.. Where are you leading my eyes? In other words, simplify, simplify, simplify. I see "clutter" in a number of the shots that lead my eye away from the car. The power lines and poles, etc do the same thing. You may want to google photo composition to see a few other "rules", like the use of lines to lead they eye into the photo. The placement of the subject is also more "pleasing " if it falls in certain places in the photo and on certain imaginary grid lines. Check your viewfinder and see if you see clutter behind the car... Again, you want the focus of the viewer to be where you want them to look. I will go through the shots and add comments when I get home and have a liitle more time. There are a few that stand out... I'll comment on which ones and why. Again, my aim is to provide a few pointers that will assist you in moving from taking snapshots, to taking photos... And youvwill be surprised how fast things can improve! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill-V8V Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Again, my aim is to provide a few pointers that will assist you in moving from taking snapshots, to taking photos... And youvwill be surprised how fast things can improve! Assist away, I need help too :rockon: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDM Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Len,First, grata on entering the world of the DLSR. The great thing about digital is it can really speed up the learning curve as you don't have to spend a lot of money on film and developing. I'll try to go easy here: My overall comment is.. Where are you leading my eyes? In other words, simplify, simplify, simplify. I see "clutter" in a number of the shots that lead my eye away from the car. The power lines and poles, etc do the same thing. You may want to google photo composition to see a few other "rules", like the use of lines to lead they eye into the photo. The placement of the subject is also more "pleasing " if it falls in certain places in the photo and on certain imaginary grid lines. Check your viewfinder and see if you see clutter behind the car... Again, you want the focus of the viewer to be where you want them to look. I will go through the shots and add comments when I get home and have a liitle more time. There are a few that stand out... I'll comment on which ones and why. Again, my aim is to provide a few pointers that will assist you in moving from taking snapshots, to taking photos... And youvwill be surprised how fast things can improve! I appreciate the tips. I have heard of the Rule of Thirds but I guess I just failed miserably at implementing it. Looking back on the pictures with what you said in mind I can see I have a lot of room for improvement. I knew they weren't great but that's why I put them up here, for feedback. If I happened to do anything right, let me know about that too so I don't fix what isn't broke. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Team Adam's Posted June 7, 2011 Share Posted June 7, 2011 Congrats on the new camera... great shots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDM Posted June 7, 2011 Author Share Posted June 7, 2011 Congrats on the new camera... great shots. Thanks Dylan. I know you now a thing or two about cameras so if you have any constructive criticism too, I'm all ears. Like Mike said, it'll be nice to go from taking snapshots to photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gencoupe3dot8 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/10-top-photography-composition-rules Let's look at the photo: in general it is pleasing to hit the right or left bottom corner(s) as with the base of the tower... the tower is the focal point, the horizontal lines of the ocean help lead our eyes to the tower... With the car you can anchor the back end of the car to the bottom right.... If you don't have a telephoto, use your feet to frame the photo get down or up to get a good viewpoint.. shooting from different angles adds interest.... experiment and have fun.... -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gencoupe3dot8 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 See my inserts: Like the angle on this, my eyes is on the emblem/wheel... a little DOF (depth of field), would have completed the shot for me I'm a little distracted with the garage door and the trees... again a little DOF would pop the car out.... I'll try to 'shop one of these to show you what I mean... Like this shot... only a tiny nit.. with the vertical line coming out of the roof distracting me a smidge... Like the angle, DOF would separate the trees from the car... providing less distraction... Distracted by the railing and the horizon needs to be below the roof line... As above only issue is the house in the background is distracting me Too busy... my eyes wants to travel all over the photo... Now we're talking.... good "standard" shot... My eye wants to go to house. As above.... Ok, here you are actually leading my eye out OUT of the photo.... typically a big no no... DOF might help here... As above lil busy My eye is roving.... DOF and getting rid of the phone/power lines... some of this you could do in POST (processing) Like the use of "negative space" (sky) here.... just a little distracted by the house.... Like the angle... needs DOF, trim out the lines... etc Bro you NAILED this.... this is what I mean by DOF (background is blurred) separates car from background. DOF is caused by using a large aperture (small f stop number) then focusing on your subject.... turn the d5100 to A mode, you set the aperture, the camera will set the shutter speed... the bigger the aperture (hole the camera allows light through) the more light you also let in (thus a shorter shutter speed).... Len... awesome start... look forward to seeing more... one thing as a photog, if you get up early you can get some nice dawn shots... and alot less people.... get a tripod and slow slow your shutter speed down and you will get some awesome water shots (not sure if you could get your car that close to the beach... but that would be a VERY cool shot) An example of what I am talking about: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mc2hill Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Subscribed. Thanks for the tips Mike! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gencoupe3dot8 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 An example of DOF to pop the car from the "noise".... you can simulate DOF in POST... Before After: I'm kinda digging this POST.... the key to 'shopping is to try to NOT tell it has been 'shopped... I see one spot that needs correction... but the most important thing is that the "client" is happy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LDM Posted June 8, 2011 Author Share Posted June 8, 2011 First, thanks for taking the time to critique each one of those. The driveway shots I knew would be distracting, but those I took just to show the car after washing. The only ones I liked of those were the emblem/wheel shot and the rear quarter shot, but like you said, some more DOF would've made it look better. I know all the power lines are ugly, but I had a hard enough time finding tourist-free areas where I could take the pics. If they were blurred with a larger aperture, do you think they would be ok? As far as the houses, I guess I didn't want the picture to be too boring, but I just executed it poorly. You'd say I'd be better off leaving them out all together? I know a bunch of them could've been framed better along with more DOF. Believe it or not, there could've been a lot more distractions in those pics that I did manage to keep out for the most part. In this pic you can see the corner of a street sign on the edge that made it's way in, but I was trying to keep it out of the rest. I'd also try to time my shots between traffic so that I wouldn't get random cars in there. This one I screwed up and got a big ugly bus in there so I didn't bother posting it. Bro you NAILED this.... this is what I mean by DOF (background is blurred) separates car from background. I had thought that was actually one of the best ones too. This was the first picture I took... then I realized the license plate was distracting so I readjusted and snapped another shot. I guess I'll just keep working to plan my shots out better. The nice thing about digital though is the bad ones aren't really a loss. No wasted film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gencoupe3dot8 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Len, Some of these can be tweaked in Post.... but the best is to get it "in the can".. in camera if you can... as you experiment/practice much of this will become second nature.... Here is another POST: Before With some dodging, blurring, and line removal.. please excuse these quickie 'shops, trying to make a point rather than perfection... After Hope this gives you some idea of what I am talking about... both with composition, DOF, and POST (when needed)... think about the pic, then make it happen (with as little 'shopping as possible)... the lines took my eye out of the pic... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gencoupe3dot8 Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Len, Here are three pics... you tell me which you think is more pleasing and showcases the car better.. orig: DOF simulation: Post, with some DOF tweaks and burning... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGenCoupe Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Nice shots... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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