Some new pics - Advice to improve!?

S

SteveSmith

Active member
Hi all,

I’m keen to improve the photos I take of my car. I only use my iPhone but it’s the X and by all accounts has a half decent camera. I do have access to a Digital SLR but I have no idea how to use it (nor does my Mrs but she “just had to have one” for a birthday a few years back :roll: )

Below are some photos I’ve taken today using my iPhone. Could any of the picture taking gurus offer advice on how to improve the pictures please? Angles? Back ground? Editing? Light? I appreciate a lot goes in to getting the really nice shots, just looking for some tips :thumbsup:

739F2A07-3E22-4506-B11B-B275DDACFC3A.jpeg


F72E3CC1-C35B-4CAA-A846-512D9ABE09A8.jpeg
 
Where do you start such a vast topic. No doubt some of the real pros like Tom will be along shortly, but I'll try with a few well intentioned tips.

For me there are three main points.

The Subject. A car in most of our forum pics. The Composition and the lighting.

We all look at our Zeds and other peoples Zeds far too much, so you have to try and find something else to set off the car. A section of winding road an interesting building or landscape feature. Something that other people will find interesting that you can use to draw there eye in to the main subject. That does not overpower it. Scantily dressed folk don't work IMHO, as they become the main subject.

Then you need to look at the available lighting or whether you can/need to, create additional lighting Simply switching on the head lights or filling in the fore ground panels with your built in flash can make a big difference to how the finished picture looks. Be wary of your own shadow and remember number plates reflect back light and can ruin a shot taken with the flash.

Once you have it in your mind what lighting is available, then you can think about positioning your car. If you can't get the car and sunlight aligned with the setting, could you come back in a few hours time, when the sun has moved. Is there some annoying phone line or fence post in the field of view. The little details can make such a difference. More important though is the general composition. There are probably rules. But for me once I have the scene set I just take Photos from lots of different angles, close to low down lots of perspective. Pull away a little so you get less car and more background. Then perhaps turn the car around and shoot the same angles of the back.

Take enough pics and if you have an eye for it, you will soon get to know a few good angles. Best tip get out there on a sunny day and enjoy what your doing. :wink:
 
Thank you very much! I aimlessly seem to take a lot of the same picture :rofl: I definitely need to try different angles and also make better use of photo opportunities in interesting locations :thumbsup:
 
Photography is simple but taking interesting photos is difficult. I’m a budding photographer myself; I have all the kit and I know how to use it. However, I rarely get a boot photo of my car because I just don’t see the correct picture. Occasionally I happen to bump into a good one but it’s mostly by chance.
I’ll post a few when I get a chance...
 
Composition and post production (Photoshop).

The composition of the first shot is good, spend 5 minutes in Photoshop and it comes more to life.

My advice is keep at it, look for interesting angles, and always consider that the car is only part of the overall image and without an interesting background or foreground, its just an Auto Trader shot!!

photoshopped.jpg
 
The angle of that one is all wrong though (to me). The car and trees not being vertical doesn't look right on this occasion.

Just my opinion though.

photoshopped.jpg
photoshopped1.jpg
 
srhutch said:
The angle of that one is all wrong though (to me). The car and trees not being vertical doesn't look right on this occasion.

Just my opinion though.
Click to expand...

Yes you may be right, the thing about photography, its all subjective :D
 
SteveSmith said:
Hi all,

I’m keen to improve the photos I take of my car. I only use my iPhone but it’s the X and by all accounts has a half decent camera. I do have access to a Digital SLR but I have no idea how to use it (nor does my Mrs but she “just had to have one” for a birthday a few years back :roll: )

Below are some photos I’ve taken today using my iPhone. Could any of the picture taking gurus offer advice on how to improve the pictures please? Angles? Back ground? Editing? Light? I appreciate a lot goes in to getting the really nice shots, just looking for some tips :thumbsup:

739F2A07-3E22-4506-B11B-B275DDACFC3A.jpeg


F72E3CC1-C35B-4CAA-A846-512D9ABE09A8.jpeg
Click to expand...

Auto straighten + Auto correct are your friends (if the iphone has those options)
 
Thank you guys so much :thumbsup:

I know my ability / time is only going to extend to what I can do on my phone, but I’ll spend more time finding locations / angles!
 
SteveSmith said:
Thank you guys so much :thumbsup:

I know my ability / time is only going to extend to what I can do on my phone, but I’ll spend more time finding locations / angles!
Click to expand...


Another forum member pointed me to adding the Snapseed app for photoshopping . Takes a little time working out which ones to use but it's simple enough to navigate & a hobby in itself seeing how pics that initially look gash can come to life with a little editing .
Sure the pros will use something similar as I doubt they just press the button then capture a perfect pic .
 
I think it's all about the angles...having the right backdrop and lighting helps, but when you find that you MUST get the angle right. I take about 10-30 different angles when I've found a spot.

Post production is a massive help of course.

A quick top tip for you would be to get low...at least get to the eye line of the car or lower.

Best of luck! :D
 
Its all about light, where it is, what direction and how you use it.

I love shooting into the sun but you have to combat the silhouette by filling that area either by bracketing the exposure or by adding light with flash. You can only bring so much back with post production, have to get it right in camera.

Your first shot is pointing into the sun, so the side of the car is under exposed. The second shot your doing the opposite so the car has a nice exposure and has a nice bit of colour. Although the iphone X is an ok camera there isnt really any creative control so you have to work it to your advantage. Phones have tiny sensors so their light gathering capability is not very good, so your best shooting in good light, otherwise stick it on the HDR function it does a good job of not looking too grundgy and it makes sure that the highlights arent blown out and the shadows arent underexposed by taking multiple images and stitching them together. Its not a bad starting point.

Because the sensor is small its depth of field (how much of the image is in focus) is large so generally everything in your scene back to front will be in focus. Therefore use that to your advantage get to a nice vista something that the car draws your eye into or the car is the focal point.

It is also about the composition, cars dont look right when you shoot at eye level, get low or get high and work the angle. It also helps to add some depth of field if your in a situation (not really possible with the iphone) where you have a nice backdrop add more if not add less to DOF specifically on the car. I also like to add movement, it adds a new dynamic.

As others have pointed out play with the angle but in your example you shot it right because there are verticals in the image. Turning it sideways looks stupid because the trees are not straight. Verticals and horizontals are photography 101, keep horizons straight keep verticals like trees straight because they not only make people feel strange looking at them they dont look natural.

For example large depth of field

7539071514_17b2e0fd6c_c.jpgIMG_4751-Edit by Tom Scott, on Flickr

Shallow depth of field

14035313430_70a0207123_c.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe, Silver Grey, CSL wheels by Tom Scott, on Flickr

With a large dof you get the image back to front in focus, with a shallow depth of field you blur the background and focus specifically on the subject.

Lenses are another topic as they all do different things. Wide angles distort the subject and create distance between the subject and the distance. You can tell in this image as the front of the car looks more bulbous.

14231209522_8abe2d8364_c.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe, Silver Grey, CSL wheels by Tom Scott, on Flickr

Telephoto lenses to the opposite the compress perspective so bring the background closer to the subject make things that are far behind the subject look closer. 35mm is roughly eye length so is a nice perspective for subjects to look natural.

24mm - see how shooting close to the subject and using a wide lens makes the background looks miles away behind the subject. (in the image 2 below you can see how close the background is but in this image looks miles away.)

7106661621_77d2a02c37_c.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe CSL Wheels by Tom Scott, on Flickr

vs 140mm by using a longer lens it compresses the perspective so the background looks closer and the car looks more in proportion. You can use this to your advantage if you have a busy background use a long lens and reduce the dof to blow the background out and the fussy background can melt away like the trees in this image.

36338487310_d932734be2_c.jpgZ&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

Post production is also an extensive tool and is an art and learning curve in its own right. A lot of cameras will shoot an image which is fairly flat, this is so it keeps the maxmium information to use in post production. I only shoot raw and your phone will do soon. I spend a long time in post perfecting my images to my own taste and style. Anyone can download lightroom for mobile, snapseed etc and they are excellent. Have a play and see what the sliders do, use the crop tool creatively add vignettes etc

I like to edit mine to be a bright and punchy as possible. The idea is to work on the exposure first, get the image looking true to life, use the shadow slider to bring back detail and the highlights to bring back information in the sky. Then change the overal exposure to suit. Use the black and white sliders to add contrast. After that use the white balance to get the tone of the image the way you like so cooler or warmer. After you get the image neutralised to the way you like there are some tools that can add instant appeal to an image like clarity. It can make a flat image look contrasty and gritty without too much work or moving it the other way can add more soft effects which look great when you are shooting into the sun. Vibrance slider is one of my favourites and tend to push that quite far. At the end sharpen it, finish it off.

Other effects like split toning can make a flat afternoon image look like its late afternoon by making the shadows warmer etc There is a lot to play with. You can experiment with local adjustments and paint exposure into areas, I especially like doing this after shooting into the sun as it adds a dreamy look and accentuates the backlit scene.

I could go on all day and in the past have written small essays on how to photograph your car. If you like PM me and I will do my best to answer your questions.

IMO best thing to do is to look at others, see what they have done, replicate it and add your own spin then get more creative. Just about practice. Then as you grow and become more competent break ruels do your own thing and create your own style. Thats the nice thing about the forum there are lots of good photographers and the monthly competition makes you get out and shoot some images.

Before you look at my images below, ive been shooting professionally for over 10 years and it does take time to learn. I also use advanced often expensive equipment and some of the images arent easy to make. I use wireless triggers with flash and also battery operated studio lights so its not really a fair comparison as most of my work is a photographic shoot not a casual photograph. Often hours are spent scouting locations and figuring out where the sun will be and at what time etc etc

To a point you can do this yourself, best time to shoot is the golden hour because you get the nice colours. But if you have a mono colour car like silver, white, black grey etc one of my favorite times is when the sun is at its highest like noon as is acts like a massive studio light.

6960600522_5abfb68351_c.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe with CSL wheels by Tom Scott, on Flickr

This image for example was aided with flash but with the sun so high in the sky look at how it sculpts the bodywork of the car. Its not a trick just using the situation to your advantage. It was so bright and the car so shiny that I had to compensate as the rest of the scene was super dark as it was so bright so I had to add light to overpower the shadows created by the sun. I was laying on the ground with a long lens to compress perspective and had two lights on either side of the car on triggers.

On the other hand I like to shoot a lot in available light just take the camera and get some great results and there is no reason anyone cant get similar results.

Heres a few of my faves, I cant post a lot of client work because when work for them its sold to them and not my property. Still shoot a lot of personal stuff tho :)

Apologies for the amount of images but there is a good amount across the board in lots of different situations that can be replicated.

Stuff with studio lights or rigs or shooting out the back of another car mostly out on location:

6709183913_0f8d5e999a_b.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe by Tom Scott, on Flickr

14046862288_2116c94d72_c.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe, Silver Grey, CSL wheels by Tom Scott, on Flickr

14230230011_7430d26111_c.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe, Silver Grey, CSL wheels by Tom Scott, on Flickr

6960595748_15ec53888e_c.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe CSL wheels by Tom Scott, on Flickr

7106672391_734c31652d_c.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe CSL front wheel by Tom Scott, on Flickr

8796904129_07cfaeb05d_c.jpgBMW Z4M Coupe, Ulswater Boat house, Cumbria by Tom Scott, on Flickr

8770269542_1f11d5dfaa_c.jpgBMW Z4M Dials/interior, strobes by Tom Scott, on Flickr

8768560296_94e1497cf4_c.jpgBMW Z4M CSL wheel strobist by Tom Scott, on Flickr

All of this stuff is just shot in available light

This is one of the first shoots i did about 11 years ago

5571274759_1b40a84f13_b.jpgBMW E46 M3, Alston, Hartside, Cumbria, CSL wheels by Tom Scott, on Flickr

From the Eurotrips and these were shot for Porsche Post magazine. All of these were shot in available light as we were on the go for 10 days straight and just when the situation came around.

19729514319_721d09c174_c.jpgPorsche 911s and BMW Z4M, Route 500 stop, Mumelsee, Germany by Tom Scott, on Flickr

19293558754_b9b4c80b6a_c.jpgPorsche 991, 911 50th Anniversary Edition Coupe by Tom Scott, on Flickr

19916169645_06673a1436_c.jpgPorsche Boxster, St.Moritz to Susten Pass, Switzerland by Tom Scott, on Flickr

19639577829_775f02dd5a_c.jpgSusten Pass, Switzerland by Tom Scott, on Flickr

19475289336_b45ebed1be_c.jpgPorsche 911, Sustens Pass, Switzerland by Tom Scott, on Flickr

19728102150_03be15e5ce_c.jpgPorsche 911 Carrera S, Malcesine, Lake Garda, Italy by Tom Scott, on Flickr

19908614852_57d3821a20_c.jpgPorsche 911 Targa, Scenic mountain pass road, Tiefencastel to Savognin, Switzerland by Tom Scott, on Flickr

36338479420_7abb1dd35f_c.jpgZ&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

36595155621_0142e0aa32_c.jpgZ&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

36734563655_604ac0ac95_c.jpgZ&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

36687698176_55d751d294_c.jpgZ&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

36564593502_d8fb466a26_c.jpgZ&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

36734572365_7da9fd9dea_c.jpgZ&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

36595146521_ecd7f374de_c.jpgZ&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

36338469620_712c9a1db9_c.jpgFurka Pass, Gold Finger Point, Z&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

Few from the race meets I photograph

Shot these for Jaguars Art of Performance tour

28122201824_dc65473aca_c.jpgJaguar - Art of Performance Tour by Tom Scott, on Flickr

28662502991_5b8efcf55e_c.jpgJaguar - Art of Performance Tour by Tom Scott, on Flickr

28122201224_b51654223c_c.jpgJaguar - Art of Performance Tour by Tom Scott, on Flickr

28122202604_cc7587ce7a_c.jpgJaguar - Art of Performance Tour by Tom Scott, on Flickr

29122140016_293333619f_c.jpgNo.27 Nissan R91CK (1991) (Nova Engineering) Silverstone Classics 2016 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

29078484082_8f48f8ed5f_c.jpgN0. 78 1965 2.0 Porsche 911 Classic GT Cars (pre '66) Silverstone Classics 2016 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

20176908081_218136ed59_c.jpgBMW E30 M3, No.83, Tim Harvey, Silverstone Classics 2015 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

19435420594_b7d2a064bb_c.jpgPorsche 962, BP Leyton House, Group C, twilight race, Silverstone Classics 2015 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

19792377358_9e89f49592_c.jpgSideways Action, Historic Formula 1, Silverstone Classics 25th Anniversary by Tom Scott, on Flickr

Hope that helps :)
 
Blue 911 is James Bond point, Furke Pass
Boxster is on the way to the the San Bernardino
The 4 Porsche and Z4M is top of the Susten Pass
The 911 filling the frame is the Route Napoleon

The San Bernardino was a bit of a beast huge glacier at the top

36338468170_81f6193ff3_b.jpgSan Bernardino Pass, Z&P Eurotrip UK to Monaco 2017 by Tom Scott, on Flickr

We also did the Grimsel and Oberalp too.

You can have a look at the album here if you like.

https://flic.kr/s/aHsm3nqeNV
 
tomscott said:
Its all about light, where it is, what direction and how you use it.

I love shooting into the sun but you have to combat the silhouette by filling that area either by bracketing the exposure or by adding light with flash. You can only bring so much back with post production, have to get it right in camera.

Hope that helps :)
Click to expand...

Some great tips in there for us amateurs - Cheers! :thumbsup:
 
Hi Steve,

As a photographer I'd recommend looking for clear backgrounds to put emphasis on the car. If your iPhone X has a depth of field function on it, switch it on (pretty sure they do). A cloudy day will help with soft light across the shiny body, but the sky won't usually make for a very good picture so frame the sky out if in doubt. If it's a bright day, try and find some shade and make sure the surroundings are of a similar brightness (to avoid clipping the highlights/shadows etc).

Also pre-focus on the car with a touch of the screen, it'll also meter (expose) for that area, so you can be sure your car won't be too bright/dark.

Hope that helps a little? Other than that, look for amazing sunrises/sunsets in dramatic locations. i.e. the reason photographers get beautiful landscape photos is because they visit beautiful landscapes. :)
 
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