Author Topic: Help with settings on new camera(now with pics) (Read 3336 times)

LowlifeDubber · « **on:** 20 June 2011, 20:31 »

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.

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

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

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.

Thanks guys

shepgti · « **Reply #1 on:** 20 June 2011, 22:01 »

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.

LowlifeDubber · « **Reply #2 on:** 20 June 2011, 22:11 »

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.

shepgti · « **Reply #3 on:** 20 June 2011, 22:55 »

Best thing to do is shoot in aperture priority mode and choose your f stop (plenty of info on f stops on the net

) 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

)

heres my example of the power of post production...

becomes

DSC_0074 by shepgti, on Flickr

LowlifeDubber · « **Reply #4 on:** 21 June 2011, 10:53 »

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?

shepgti · « **Reply #5 on:** 21 June 2011, 11:23 »

yea was edited in LR only.. the graph your describing is called a histogram, have a read up up what info it gives you

LowlifeDubber · « **Reply #6 on:** 21 June 2011, 11:40 »

Sweet,thanks again for your help Shep

lewis1641 · « **Reply #7 on:** 11 July 2011, 10:00 »

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

Diamond Hell · « **Reply #8 on:** 11 July 2011, 14:11 »

Quote from: lewis1641 on 11 July 2011, 10:00

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.

LowlifeDubber · « **Reply #9 on:** 11 July 2011, 14:11 »

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