Shots from my open house

DI-JoeDI-Joe Registered Users Posts: 368 Major grins
edited August 30, 2008 in Other Cool Shots
Had an open house for automotive photography earlier this month, here are some of the results. 10 of my fav's...

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359408316_CTVVG-XL.jpg

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Of course my car gets in on the action:
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359792834_UCKVs-XL.jpg

Thanks for looking. :P
Modus Imagery
Moving away from photography and into cinema. PM me if you have questions about DSLR workflow or production questions.
Film Reel: http://vimeo.com/19955876

Comments

  • black mambablack mamba Registered Users Posts: 8,323 Major grins
    edited August 27, 2008
    Good stuff, overall. It's a shame you didn't have a better setting to work with....too many distractions to draw the eye from the subject. I shoot a lot of car shows and I know the difficulties you face.

    Tom
    I always wanted to lie naked on a bearskin rug in front of a fireplace. Cracker Barrel didn't take kindly to it.
  • ScraffScraff Registered Users Posts: 124 Major grins
    edited August 27, 2008
    Your pics look great! Would you mind sharing how you did your post especially in the 2nd and 3rd pics? I have some friends that had asked me to take some pictures of their cars and I want to try and process them just as you did. Nice job again!
    Thanks...Scott
  • DI-JoeDI-Joe Registered Users Posts: 368 Major grins
    edited August 27, 2008
    Scraff wrote:
    Your pics look great! Would you mind sharing how you did your post especially in the 2nd and 3rd pics? I have some friends that had asked me to take some pictures of their cars and I want to try and process them just as you did. Nice job again!
    Thanks...Scott

    Thanks for the kind words everyone.

    Scraff, I'd suggest you study up on HDR photography both from a physical aspect and artistic aspect. Once you figure out how to achieve it, finding your own style shouldn't be too hard.
    Modus Imagery
    Moving away from photography and into cinema. PM me if you have questions about DSLR workflow or production questions.
    Film Reel: http://vimeo.com/19955876
  • ScraffScraff Registered Users Posts: 124 Major grins
    edited August 27, 2008
    DI-Joe wrote:
    Thanks for the kind words everyone.

    Scraff, I'd suggest you study up on HDR photography both from a physical aspect and artistic aspect. Once you figure out how to achieve it, finding your own style shouldn't be too hard.

    What software did you use? I have done some work in Photmatix and had some pretty decent results.
  • DI-JoeDI-Joe Registered Users Posts: 368 Major grins
    edited August 27, 2008
    I use photomatix and CS3. Here's a hint about photomatix. ignore the preview, learn to read the histogram.
    Modus Imagery
    Moving away from photography and into cinema. PM me if you have questions about DSLR workflow or production questions.
    Film Reel: http://vimeo.com/19955876
  • Darren Troy CDarren Troy C Registered Users Posts: 1,927 Major grins
    edited August 27, 2008
    Awesome imaging DIJ!
    http://DarrenTroyCphotography.com/
  • ScraffScraff Registered Users Posts: 124 Major grins
    edited August 27, 2008
    DI-Joe wrote:
    I use photomatix and CS3. Here's a hint about photomatix. ignore the preview, learn to read the histogram.

    Can you suggest any sites/books that you have come across to help you with these images?
  • DI-JoeDI-Joe Registered Users Posts: 368 Major grins
    edited August 27, 2008
    Scraff wrote:
    Can you suggest any sites/books that you have come across to help you with these images?

    Not really, other than the tutorials and learning the physics of how HDR works, the rest is interpreting the software and understand what your art is. Like I said, I didn't start getting amazing results until i stopped fixating on the preview and started focusing on the histogram. Learn how histo's work and give it a few tries.

    Also, open the RAW files directly in photomatix, the best way to do it is drag the 3 exposures right from Adobe Bridge into photomatix.

    The basic formula is 3 exposures at 2+- stops, the key is where this set lies against a properly exposed shot. So for light cars, I want no hot spots, for dark cars I'll take hot spots but bring up the reflections a little bit to help me make the car super shiny.

    For my cars, I go against the rules of thumb.... HARSH noon sunlight, no shade... The more light the better... for cars anyway.

    Lemme see what you come up with.
    Modus Imagery
    Moving away from photography and into cinema. PM me if you have questions about DSLR workflow or production questions.
    Film Reel: http://vimeo.com/19955876
  • ScraffScraff Registered Users Posts: 124 Major grins
    edited August 27, 2008
    DI-Joe wrote:
    Not really, other than the tutorials and learning the physics of how HDR works, the rest is interpreting the software and understand what your art is. Like I said, I didn't start getting amazing results until i stopped fixating on the preview and started focusing on the histogram. Learn how histo's work and give it a few tries.

    Also, open the RAW files directly in photomatix, the best way to do it is drag the 3 exposures right from Adobe Bridge into photomatix.

    The basic formula is 3 exposures at 2+- stops, the key is where this set lies against a properly exposed shot. So for light cars, I want no hot spots, for dark cars I'll take hot spots but bring up the reflections a little bit to help me make the car super shiny.

    For my cars, I go against the rules of thumb.... HARSH noon sunlight, no shade... The more light the better... for cars anyway.

    Lemme see what you come up with.

    Thanks for the tips...I am going to try this weekend...my dad just bought a new BMW X5 all black and I am thinking with the right background and lighting...I should be able to get some decent pics. I will let you know how I make out.
    Thanks...Scott
  • ScraffScraff Registered Users Posts: 124 Major grins
    edited August 30, 2008
    I played this weekend a bit...shot this car which is my neighbor's but I could not get a good full car shot without anything around so I tried this out....let me know what you think.

    362001931_PCFxU-L.jpg
  • DI-JoeDI-Joe Registered Users Posts: 368 Major grins
    edited August 30, 2008
    Scraff wrote:
    I played this weekend a bit...shot this car which is my neighbor's but I could not get a good full car shot without anything around so I tried this out....let me know what you think.

    362001931_PCFxU-L.jpg

    That's hawt, man. nicely done.
    Modus Imagery
    Moving away from photography and into cinema. PM me if you have questions about DSLR workflow or production questions.
    Film Reel: http://vimeo.com/19955876
  • jeffmeyersjeffmeyers Registered Users Posts: 1,535 Major grins
    edited August 30, 2008
    Great HDR shots! Love em!
    More Photography . . . Less Photoshop [. . . except when I do it]
    Jeff Meyers
  • ScraffScraff Registered Users Posts: 124 Major grins
    edited August 30, 2008
    I have one more....but again...I only had so much to work with becuase I could not move the car. I really just wanted to shoot it and play with some different techinques...this one is a bit different...please let me know what you think of this.....

    362025261_vujzN-L.jpg
  • DI-JoeDI-Joe Registered Users Posts: 368 Major grins
    edited August 30, 2008
    are you using the lens correction vignetting? You should avoid that as it does more damage than good as it just paints a dark circle instead of lowering the luminance like the light room effect or ACR vignette slider.

    I'd say your HDR intensity is a little high in the second one. you can see where the differing exposures are blended together along internal edges, make sure you're looking at your histogram and put the peak just to the right of the left edge, not in the middle. If it's too far left, expand the softening one to the right to quiet the image down. Also try warming that image up a little, it's a bit on the cold side.

    I hope that helps. :)
    Modus Imagery
    Moving away from photography and into cinema. PM me if you have questions about DSLR workflow or production questions.
    Film Reel: http://vimeo.com/19955876
  • ScraffScraff Registered Users Posts: 124 Major grins
    edited August 30, 2008
    DI-Joe wrote:
    are you using the lens correction vignetting? You should avoid that as it does more damage than good as it just paints a dark circle instead of lowering the luminance like the light room effect or ACR vignette slider.

    I'd say your HDR intensity is a little high in the second one. you can see where the differing exposures are blended together along internal edges, make sure you're looking at your histogram and put the peak just to the right of the left edge, not in the middle. If it's too far left, expand the softening one to the right to quiet the image down. Also try warming that image up a little, it's a bit on the cold side.

    I hope that helps. :)

    Is there another way to vignette? I could not find anything other than lens correction. I am hoping there is becuase it looks like that filter is very limited.
    Thanks...Scott
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