GolfGTIforum.co.uk
General => General discussion => Topic started by: LowlifeDubber on 20 June 2011, 20:31
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Ayup guys ive recently bought a new camera.I know it wont be up to the specs you guys are used to but it's a stepping stone from using my iphone. :grin:
I will be going to a car show in july and im really wanting to get some pics looking real nice.
The camera is a Fuji Finepix s1730 http://fujifilm.co.uk/consumer/digital/digital-cameras/d-slr-long-zoom/finepix-s1730
(http://fujifilm.co.uk/media/dContent/171179/productDefaultMainImage.jpg)
Ive tried playing with the settings and ive read some guides but im not sure where im going wrong.
Heres a few ive taken recently.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150563647875389.677187.642615388 <<facebook
(http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/3641/dscf7129a.jpg)
(http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8298/dscf7125v.jpg)
(http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9274/dscf7134z.jpg)
(http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/1475/dscf7120d.jpg)
The size uncompressed is 4000x3000 is this ok?Im assuming the bigger i take the picture the better quality it will be when i resize it to a viewable screen?
Any help for taking pics of cars on a sunny day would be greatly appreciated.I promise to buy a grown ups camera when i get better,but if i suck i will stick to this one. :grin:
Thanks guys
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that camera will do the job ok, main thing you need to work on for car show shots imo is composition (different angles etc) and post production.
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Thanks for the help Shep.
I have CS5,Elements,Lightroom etc.
When i had a guy round to remove some hologramming i noticed his pictures were lovely looking,not much difference in quality but the angles he took the car from really went down with me.But i cant seem to replicate it.
Also my pictures look a little grey or dull.I can make them more vibrant in p.s but i wondered if i could make a difference with the camera?
Thanks again for the help.
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Best thing to do is shoot in aperture priority mode and choose your f stop (plenty of info on f stops on the net :wink:) and let the camera meter for the shutter speed then edit the shots you like in lightroom. (dont be fooled into thinking nice pictures you see are straight out of the camera :wink:)
heres my example of the power of post production...
(http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u261/shep306/DSC_0074.jpg)
becomes
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5307/5852591800_f8d0b9ba9c_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/shepgti/5852591800/)
DSC_0074 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/shepgti/5852591800/) by shepgti (http://www.flickr.com/people/shepgti/), on Flickr
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WOW that looks awesome!Did you do that in Lightroom?
Ive been doing a little reading up on Fstops and ive set it to AP mode and i get like a little graph in the viewfinder at the bottom that seems to move back and forth so i guess thats the metering part of it?
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yea was edited in LR only.. the graph your describing is called a histogram, have a read up up what info it gives you :wink:
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Sweet,thanks again for your help Shep :cool:
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i am sure there is plenty of tips online about sooting cars but for what my advice is worth just try different angles and see what you like. we are used to seeing the world through our eyes 5-6' off the floor. get down low, get close, get up high. do anything other than just stand there and take a pic.
also remember it is easier(for idiots like me) to lighten a dark picture than the other way round
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also remember it is easier(for idiots like me) to lighten a dark picture than the other way round
Also you'll pull far more detail out of an under-exposed shot than an over-exposed one, because the data is wiped out when the shot is over-exposed, whereas if it's under-exposed you can find amazing amounts of more information by playing with the exposure.
Also, have a look through the menu settings to see if you can shoot in RAW - this is where you'll be able to play with exposure.
Setting F-stop FTW, too.
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Cheers Dave.
Well here's some pics from the show ive been to this weekend.Tweaked slightly in CS5
If anyone has any tips as im clearly doing something wrong lol
(http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/1069/dscf7245p.jpg)
(http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/3669/dscf7265.jpg)
(http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/181/dscf7266.jpg)
(http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/1763/dscf7267.jpg)
(http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3502/dscf7268s.jpg)
(http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/1081/dscf7272x.jpg)
(http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/8117/dscf7275e.jpg)
(http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/9097/dscf7283.jpg)
(http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5442/dscf7290r.jpg)
(http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/4716/dscf7294m.jpg)
(http://img807.imageshack.us/img807/8906/dscf7303.jpg)
(http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8099/dscf7309.jpg)
(http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/6607/dscf7312.jpg)
(http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/8099/dscf7316y.jpg)
(http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/7941/dscf7330.jpg)
(http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/6536/dscf7277i.jpg)
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that rod looks cool.
i dont think you are doing anything overly wrong. depends what you want though.
first thing against you is the weather. it is hard to make stuff look really good on really sunny days. i am not sure how technical your camera is but try and avoid having lots of bright sky and dark subjects in the frame as less technical cameras struggle with the exposure levels. the sun can wash out the shots like on the front end of the lambo.
It also creates harsh shadows which can make things look less good.
the way the cars have been laid out hasn't helped either - the backgrounds are busy. sometimes there is nothing you can do about this. sometimes you can wait for people to move out the way. if you can adjust the apeture of the camera (the apeture setting on mine is just an "A") set the apeture to be wide (ie a small number). this will help to blur the background so the car will be in focus but not the background.
if you read through some of the tips and what not in the sticky's there's some good info.
by the way, i am far from great with my camera and definately still learning.
i think your pictures are ok. they document the weekend you had and thats what its about.
EDIT...
my mate is a really good photographer (award winning no less) and he is coming to the next BCD meet. if you can make it bring your camera and he will give you some tips)
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also remember it is easier(for idiots like me) to lighten a dark picture than the other way round
Also you'll pull far more detail out of an under-exposed shot than an over-exposed one, because the data is wiped out when the shot is over-exposed
this is wrong, have a read through http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml
basically the digital camera sensor records the most information at the bright end, and the least at the dark.
if you try to pull the exposure up on an underexposed image then you're guessing and making up data (this will make a very noisy image), if you decrease an over exposed image then you're only throwing data away. The catch is overexpose too much and you blow out the highlights (this data can never be recovered), personally I find even on a bright day mine can cope with a + 2/3 exposure bias.
Obviously you can also shoot at the 'correct' exposure, however overexposing gives you the most RAW data to play with.
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Nice one Dave thats really helped.The camera does have aperture adjustment and im keen to try out blurring the background,i just wasnt sure which setting to twiddle with.
I set the camera to f and let it automatically find its own f stop ......i think :grin:I dunno it had a funny graph in the bottom getting the levels of something or other :embarassed:
Thats a great idea,if i can get the 1st shift off work on that sunday i will get over with the camera and let your mate have a twiddle with me knob :evil:
Cheers Dave
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. You could shoot that Golf3 with a Canon 5D MKII and it'd still look sh*te.
You know you was nearly helpful you f**ktard! :rolleyes:
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also remember it is easier(for idiots like me) to lighten a dark picture than the other way round
Also you'll pull far more detail out of an under-exposed shot than an over-exposed one, because the data is wiped out when the shot is over-exposed
this is wrong, have a read through http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml
basically the digital camera sensor records the most information at the bright end, and the least at the dark.
if you try to pull the exposure up on an underexposed image then you're guessing and making up data (this will make a very noisy image), if you decrease an over exposed image then you're only throwing data away. The catch is overexpose too much and you blow out the highlights (this data can never be recovered), personally I find even on a bright day mine can cope with a + 2/3 exposure bias.
Obviously you can also shoot at the 'correct' exposure, however overexposing gives you the most RAW data to play with.
Good bit of info there thanks mate :cool:
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this is wrong, have a read through http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml
I've had quite the opposite experience trying to pull detail out of 'white-out' images vs dark images. I was going on what I was told by a friend who's done a lot of image-based work for people like Sky and a few other minor concerns. I'll try and read the article though - every day's a school day.
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this is wrong, have a read through http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml
I've had quite the opposite experience trying to pull detail out of 'white-out' images vs dark images. I was going on what I was told by a friend who's done a lot of image-based work for people like Sky and a few other minor concerns. I'll try and read the article though - every day's a school day.
TBH it really comes down to the scene you're photographing and your metering mode, say you're shooting the inside of a church and you want to capture the light from a strain glass window, then you'll need to under expose otherwise the fine detail will be blown out, if you're shooting a landscape then you'll want to over expose to give you the best chance of recovering the highlights.