Teach Me How To Improve My Photos PLEASEEE *56k warn*

mk3

Member
Apr 11, 2008
70
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Australia
Well i have provided some of the better of my photos i have taken, but they still dont look pro enough. I really like photography and i would love to get better but i just dont know how people get such good shots. Ive been looking here ( http://www.wbcarphotos.com/recent/HPI/index.html ) at these photos and alot of peoples on flickr but i just cant get the same results no matter how hard i try.

Please tell me what im doing wrong, or how i can improve my ways. What can i do in PS to improve the photo?

Examples Of Photos I Have Taken:

My Brothers Car:
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Dutton Rally:
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Other:
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mk3

Member
Apr 11, 2008
70
0
6
Australia
All comments welcome, any thing that will help me out (mainly with car photography) would be really good.


*all those photos are untouched with any image editing software*
 

ERA

New Member
Jul 31, 2006
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any way the wind blows
You can play with the Brightness/Contrast in PS. (What I do.)
You could also read up on the HDR tutorial thread on here.

Framing the picture does wonders too.

HTH.

Having a non-crappy camera helps a lot as well.
BTW, your Dutton Rally pics look sick.
 
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CaptMKIII

New Member
Jun 21, 2008
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Kansas.
Just play with the lines and angles is the only thing I can say and try to keep things interesting, doing things you don't see much...although your pictures IMO are great.
 

speed

Gone. Email me.
May 27, 2006
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not here
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While your composition is already off to a pretty good start, here's what i'd do to improve these shots:

mk3;1075915 said:
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I'd tilt the camera so the bottom of the windows and the reflection are perfectly level horizontally.

Humans are stupid and basic creatures. We like things arranged neatly - thus, its always best to have a vertical or horizontal reference line for our eyes to follow and establish the subject. In some shots, you can pull off the "off angle" look, but only if there aren't other strongly conflicting lines, and if the shot is really well composed. But for the most part, you need to establish some sort of horizontal or vertical reference plane.

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The angle is a little harsh, and you didn't include the full license plate. Its not a bad shot, but if its going to be at that much of an angle the background needs to be a lot "blander" to avoid drawing attention to itself. And again, if you're shooting a full car shot, include all of the car.

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I like this one. Its a little overexposed (too bright), and again its slightly tilted. I think a change of position a little higher and to the right could have fixed the problem with the off angle lines


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Nice subject composition. however, the background left has the VSL sign which draws attention to itself versus the boring wall. also, this image is waaayyy overexposed. The side of the car is way too bright and drowns out the details. some of that can be fixed with software, but a lot comes down to how the shot is taken. I don't know what type of camera you have, but you might want to look into different "metering" options you have available on the camera.

Dutton Rally:
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VERY good action shot. The water in the air being splashed is fantastic. Only problem is the cone and SUV in the bottom of the frame. Try cropping the picture to cut as much of that out, and whatever you can't cut out (cause it would cut out the evo), remove by using the "Clone" Tool in photoshop. BTW, the clone tool is your best friend when it comes to cleaning up images!

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A good shot composition wise, there are no background interferences, a steady shot. If i have any criticism its that the leaves are too orange which perfectly compliments the blue. Normally that's a good thing to have contrasting colors, but there is so little orange that my eye sees it, and doesn't register its part of the purpose of the photo and is thus distracted.

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Favorite shot hands down. Nothing wrong with it. Me loves.

Other:
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Nothing too interesting about this shot. If you really study it you'll go "whoa that's a neat car" but the overly bright sunshine drones out so much of the rear of it that it takes away from the shot. I'd have shot it showing off the tires so you know its a drag car... and the way to do that is to get lighting even over the whole car. that, no amount of software can fix.

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Good shot, though a little off kilter. Rotate it a few degrees clockwise.

Also one thing I've noticed with sunrise/sunset shots is that there are tons of them, and they're easy to make look good. Pretty much anybody can take one and have it be "oohhhh aaaahhhh". so if you really want yours to stand out, it has to be a flipping FANTASTIC shot. (IE unusual/special objects in the frame/ odd clouds/ big waves/etc) Just something to keep in mind.

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Not bad, but too bright. And its overloaded with green. If the lake water had more blue in it so it was slightly easier to distinguish what the hell is going on, that'd be nice. 100% reflection shots are very very neat, but really hard to get. They have to be perfectly balanced ( Actual stuff on top is the exact same as the lower half, just upside down....), which takes finding JUST the right location. If you manage to do that, then you can go without distinguishing the water as a separate entity.

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This shot composition wise is very good. The butterfly is level, the background is blurred from the DOF (depth of field), and you can clearly make out the details on the insect. Only problem is that the leaf its on is sorta white and that draws from the contrast that the orange-insect-on-green-leaf would have


Hope that helps!


Oh, and as for photoshop help... main thing is to get lighting even. Don't go apeshit with the contrast and make it too contrasted. Its very easy to go overboard and think you're making an image artsy when it isn't. For example, I've gone through 5 or 6 different visual styles for this shot, each very close to the other.. i just can't find one i really like. and I really like the composition of the shot.
Panox_XI_by_SpeedDodici.jpg


The big thing is to get the rules of composure down. You're off to a damn good start, just need to take a little more time to take into consideration whats in your background and how that affects the viewer's eye as they look at the picture. Oh yea, and again, try lowering exposure levels and then touch brightness/contrast.

Hope this helps, feel free to shoot any other questions you might have.
 

suprarx7nut

YotaMD.com author
Nov 10, 2006
3,811
1
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Arizona
www.supramania.com
Holy crap the pics from the rally look incredible.

Playing with the lines as one said would help and framing always makes it look more professional.

But hell, I'd say slap your TM on those and start selling them because I think they look stunning. :)
 

mk3

Member
Apr 11, 2008
70
0
6
Australia
thanks heaps for all the feed back, helped a lot. If i have any other questions ill be sure to post em up here :D