Ok, so last minute today at 5.30, I washed the car, and called my mate who I bought my camera off and said "lets go take some piccies". I bought a Canon 350D with grip, Canon EF 70-200 USM and Canon EFS 17-85. Anywho, I needed a small reminder on how to use a few functions, and using the 70-200 with AP 4.0, here's what I managed to come up with....


Aperture Value f/4
Color Space Uncalibrated
Exposure Bias Value 0 EV
Exposure Program Aperture Priority
Flash No Flash
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO 1600
Metering Mode Multi-Segment
Shutter Speed Value 1/160 sec


Aperture Value f/4
Color Space Uncalibrated
Exposure Bias Value 0 EV
Exposure Program Aperture Priority
Flash Red Eye, Compulsory Flash
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO 1600
Metering Mode Multi-Segment
Shutter Speed Value 1/200 sec


Aperture Value f/4
Color Space Uncalibrated
Exposure Bias Value 0 EV
Exposure Program Aperture Priority
Flash Red Eye, Compulsory Flash
Focal Length 118 mm
ISO 1600
Metering Mode Multi-Segment
Shutter Speed Value 1/200 sec


Aperture Value f/4
Color Space Uncalibrated
Exposure Bias Value 0 EV
Exposure Program Aperture Priority
Flash Red Eye, Compulsory Flash
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO 1600
Metering Mode Multi-Segment
Shutter Speed Value 1/200 sec


Aperture Value f/4
Color Space Uncalibrated
Exposure Bias Value 0 EV
Exposure Program Aperture Priority
Flash No Flash
Focal Length 70 mm
ISO 1600
Metering Mode Multi-Segment
Shutter Speed Value 1/40 sec

Now, I'm guessing that the reason some of the pictures went all grainy is because I was loosing more light than I was expecting. However, the last pic was my favorite apart from where it was starting to go a little grainy from the right hand light onwards towards the right. If I had a light source over towards that side of the car, I reckon it would of come out pretty nice. Again, it's a guess where the problem went, but someone with a little more experience then myself might be able to shed light on it.

Anyway - we decided to go out again, half an hour sooner in a hope that the light will be a little more fair.

iso 1600 is ur problem .

tripod 400 iso

Thanks Dave - going back out again this evening to try again.

Last one is my favourite aswell, like you said.

I understand that you needed to up the ISO to run handheld so it really isn't your fault, overall, they're awesome, my only issue is they look slightly over-sharpened.

The last one fosho.

like the last one

Some photos from a car show in Mackay. God I hate indoor photos under fluro lights...sometimes they just come out looking so...bleh.










Theres about another 170 odd photos at http://www.dionnewcomb.com

No offense dude but car show photos always look the same, even with different content.

as for fluro lights casting your shots, try changing your White Balance to 'Tungsten', it'll cool the WB down to fight the yellow.

wow. 1 word WOW
loving the pics mate

ok so i am guessing you are using manual setting for the pictures of the holden and then using auto for the car show.

if this is correct, have a look at your picture settings, to me it seems like the pictures have been attacked with sharpness, and as dave said, settle up on the ISO.

EDIT: sorry delete this msg.. ta

Did a shoot for a mates ute. Wouldn't mind some comments/crit about them. I had alot of fun doing the shoot with this car, certainly made my Saturday afternoon alot happier. Recently got my tax back, so I'm finally going to look into getting a speedlight to help get rid of some shadows or maybe some reflectors. I still have alot of work to do in figuring out the best way to shoot interiors, but I'm slowly learning. The underbonnet shadow is nagging me in photo 2 - wish I had the owner move the car around more to face the sun. Ah well - these things you learn along the way? All of these were shot with a Canon 350D with a 17-85mm lens.

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Peace!

I like it mate, doing cars as your subject is always a risky one when trying with ambient light, mainly because of the harsh light the sun gives and therefore harsh shadows. The harsh light can definitely be seen in shot one, with the windscreen being blown out and the hard shadows under the car in the others, your subject is pretty damn rad but so if I was you I'd line him up for another shoot a little later on when you have some kit to help you make those snaps into shots.

Here's some stuff off the top of my head, feel free to take it or leave it.

So, my tips would be:
#1, shoot early morning or late afternoon, this will mean the sun isn't direct and your shadows will be greatly softened as will the spread of light however so a tripod will probably be needed.

#2, If you use Auto again, I WILL stab you, it's ruining your shots. (Example from shot #5):
Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 350D DIGITAL
Image Date: 2009:07:19 13:17:04
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 28.0mm
CCD Width: 6.58mm
Exposure Time: 0.0063 s (1/160)
Aperture: f/10.0
ISO equiv: 100
White Balance: Auto
Metering Mode: Matrix
Exposure: program (Auto)

To make sense of that, your camera is selecting your shutter speed & aperture & probably ISO.. This isn't hard shit to figure out. Use the focal length vs shutter speed rule and dial down your aperture and use the ISO to compensate. FOR EXAMPLE-(hold on to your undies) Shot 5 could've been shot as per your EXIF OR you could've run something vaguely like this: ISO: 100; SS 1/300th; AP f/4 (or maybe 5). Now this is me just guesstimating and you just learn from shooting in manual mode. What would this have achieved Nick? Well Nick, it would've meant that your shot could have been sharper due to a faster shutter speed (but not really since you were already at 160th) BUT it would've meant you didnt have to see everything in the shot, subject separation is decent in this shot purely from the subject and it's surroundings but the car doesn't really POP on it's own, everything's so damn BRIGHT that it just chills a little, like it's half getting it's head up but that's it. Get me? like check out Brashers' latest shots and just try and read the shot - not drool over how freakin' cool they are, the subject separation is achieved mostly in 3 different ways, depth of field; vignetting (car bright and shiny vs dark background via strobing) and panning (which is practically #1).

#3, Borrow a wide angle lens: Reasoning is, in your 'in car' shot and your engine bay shot, you have to stand back pretty far because you have a 17-85 AND a 1.6x crop body, this means your 17mm wide end is really closer to 30mm. On a FF like a 5D etc.. it'd be plenty wide enough but on the lower end digitals it's not really, unless you know how to play it, after all Juiced uses a 17-85 as well and plays on it's barrel distortion which, when used right gives a slight fish-eye effect (READ: SLIGHT!!) so the idea is, get wide, get low and get right in there rather than up and on-top, it'll really make your shots seem wider, especially when you do the cliche'd low, flank shot with the headlight/indicator closest to the lens and make sure your aperture is set to get all the car in focus but that's it.

#4 go with your hunch and get a secondhand flash and let it help you out at just-before-sunset, but by all means get a new one if you can but if I was you, I'd rather get TWO s/hand flashes & ebay RF triggers than one new one, then you'll need stands & adapters etc...

As always, feel free to ignore but that's just some stuff that's pretty generic and most people would tell you if they had the time/effort, but it's the weekend so today I do .

Nick - thanks heaps for all that effort you put into giving me feedback! I posted the images on Overclockers as well, and they mentioned that I definately shot at the wrong time of day! Funny thing you mentioned about the interior shot - I actually used a white sheet to cover the front and side windows to attempt to "diffuse" the sunlight from blasting the dash, but it obviously still didn't work.

The interior shot I actually used my mates EF-S 10-22 lens - I'm assuming thats what you mean when you say "wide lens"? After I got back and looked at the interior ones (I took a few, only a couple turned out ok) I realised I kind of fudged it cause you can't really see enough - should of taken some from the other side too.

Now I was going to make a new post (I prolly still will) about getting some new gear with some of my tax money. While I don't want to spend everything that I got back, I'd like a flash and maybe one of those ray flash units...but I dunno if they are any good. From shots that I've seen people take and post on OCAU, it looks brillent for a fraction of the cost of a macro flash. But at the same time, I need to work out if I'm actually going to use it enough to warrent buying one. And I can't rent lenses or anything where I live - just don't have access to those kinds of facilities. And when it comes to 2nd hand...well if I don't know the person, then I'm a little ho-hum about getting it - mainly cause I can't take it back!

I've got a mate coming around this arvo with his missus's RX7, so I'm going to take the info you've given me and attempt to put it to practice. Another thing I need to do is start scouting for interesting shoot locations as people mentioned that mine are kind of plain. While the focus is supposed to be on your subject, it's possibly best to have some kind of "theme". Again, due to where I live, I'm very limited compared to Brissy or anything like that.

*edit addon* I know you might think "omg...more cars" however I have a bit of trouble finding human or animal subjects that stand still long enough I did take some pics of my mates wedding a few weeks back, I'll post some of them up soon.

Well...don't ask what happened with the car muck-around-shoot this arvo...I totally screwed up by not checking what ISO was on the camera when I first started shooting. Lets just say I'm kicking myself enough. Only 2 shots came out even worthy of anyone else to look at - and they are both interior shots Man that 10-22mm lens is sa-weeeeet. Did a price check on em - CHRIST! Anywho - here's some shots from the wedding I went to.

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And here's shots I believe are worthy of posting...even tho they would of looked better if I didn't screw up.

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Went out with a mate today to take some more photos of his bike. Got to test out my new 10-22...still don't have a lens filter for it yet But here we go!

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Peace!

Hey Hoon, lick my balls.

That last Ducati shot is nice.

Thread needs more boobs

Last shot, HDR is nice.

Thanks Nick I took your last info in, is it starting to show a little bit better in the shots?

Yeah that last one is nice indeed. I'm not sure about those perspectives with an UW but that's up to you!

Took a few this evening...first ever moon shot. Not bad for only using a 200mm lens. I'd love to get more detail out of it though.



And one of mums dog...very camera shy. Well, she's 15...lol

Trust you to say that .....

Great Photos Dion

Nice cat.

Couple of shots from a dyno comp on the weekend.