Calendar Photos (HELP NEEDED)

Guernica · May 2, 2008

This is the criteria for a 2009 calendar that I will be trying to make it into with my car and I just can not seem to grasp the "theme" it is, as you can read below, "Forester - The Vehicle for All Seasons"

I just can't figure out how to portray "the seasons" in a photo of a car and was wondering if anyone would be willing to lend a helping hand.

Thanks in advance

G

Ladies and Gentlemen, members of our board:

We want to see what you creative and talented members can do.

The theme for the 2009 subaruforester.org calendar is out, and the theme is:

Forester - The Vehicle for All Seasons

We want you to be ALL OVER THIS!! We are looking for well composed shots featuring the Forester surrounded by the seasons - spring, summer, fall, and of course winter.

Professional tips

Here are some helpful observations from past years:

Make the shot as HIGH QUALITY image as your camera equipment will allow. I'll be setting up an FTP site where we can accept whatever file size pictures you can send, so don't be bashful with the Megapixels.

Make sure that the Forester is large enough in the scale of the photo. If it's taking up less than 25% of the total "surface area" of the picture, then get CLOSER!! Make sure not to take it to the extreme, however. If it takes more than 75% of the total "surface area", we might not have the ability to crop it to the proper dimensions.

Composition is important too. Don't "hide" the Forester - especially since it's the focus of the photograph. I know it's artistic and all, but I want to SEE the car, not the objects in front of it.

Lighting is EXTREMELY important. Harsh glare and harsh shadows are NOT good. We like a little reflection, which enhances the lines of the car, but if the lines of the car are washed out, that's not so good. There were some photographs I simply LOVED which had the fatal flaw of glare on the windshield or other surfaces which simply obliterated those parts of the car.

If I were to make predictions about next year, the calendar entries are going to simply get better, and the decision making is going to get that much more difficult.

Why would I post this up now?

Fall is in season. I'm sure that there are people who have simply gorgeous scenes for fall, the leaves changing color, maybe some inspiration for a calendar entry that won't come before we have to close submissions for next year. Winter? I think we only had a very small handful of entries with snow in them...you guys have the entire winter season to think about this, and produce some of the best photographs this board has ever seen.

I know certain areas of the world have "specialty" seasons, which set them apart from any other part of the world, while other seasons might not be so pronounced.

I want the BEST you guys have ever produced!!

asfixiate · May 2, 2008

Is this a legit post or is it spam? Do you have permission from the moderators?

Guernica · May 2, 2008

all this post is asking is how do you portray the "seasons" in a photo of a car when it has to meet this criteria? I just can't think of how to do that when the car has to be such a big portion of the photo and was hoping someone could help me out.

sorry if it seems like spam, everything after the "G" are the rules and regulations that i have to follow and thus the only reason they are attached to my message.

G

asfixiate · May 2, 2008

oh! It lokoed like you were posting the contest and not just posting the contest you want to do...that's different. Let me read again quick

Put a bunch of leaves in a pile and have someone drive through them so they fly up for fall.... Treelined road with tall trees

Maybe have a family with ski equipment on top of car getting out at ski slope for winter...

family picnic with car in the foreground for spring

And surfboards on top of vehicle at beach for summer...

I dont know if I helped at all...let me read again to make sure.

Guernica · May 2, 2008

Thanks for the ideas asfixiate, my 2 big issues are going to be winter and summer as we have pretty mild winters and I live in indiana so summer just looks dry and crispy. I was possibly thinking a fishing theme for my summer photo or maybe by a stream/brook. Not real sure yet, I'll have to experiment.

G

Guernica · May 2, 2008

P.s. asfixiate i changed the wording on the first sentence as i re read it and realized what you thought would be more than likely what people get from the message when they read it.

G

asfixiate · May 2, 2008

You can accomplish winter with white blankets and use Photoshop to smooth out any wierd looking bends. They used blankets as well as this fake snow stuff for the movie 30days of night.

Guernica · May 2, 2008

i didn't think of that, do you mean like people with blankets? or what exactly do you mean for me to use the blankets for?

G

asfixiate · May 2, 2008

white blankets are used a LOT in movies to represent a base of snow. When I think of winter photography I immedately think white so it will help you accomplish the task. There's also things like stuffing of a pillow, styrofoam, etc. obviously you'd need photoshop probably to make it look less corny and obviously fake but you could accomplish it with that.

If you've seen 30 days of night you should check out the making of it on the DVD...a lot of interesting techniques used in that movie...the whole movie was filmed during the day.

Even a scene of people drinking hot chocolate with sweaters and have them sit in front of a window....through the window have a forester....you could probably spray the window with fake snow.

If you have a lake nearby and people willing to pretend they're going to go swimming that should be fine.

With fishing generally that's done in fall/spring where I live(Pennsylvania) but in Indiana i'm sure summer is easier associated with summer.

WDodd · May 2, 2008

The first thing I thought of when reading the original post was the car plowing through a bunch of snow or something. Usually when you see commercials they are all about how "tough" it is or whatever with its all wheel drive.

I think showing it at a variety of locations will really help too. I like the beach idea with some surfboards or something, no one will be mistaking that for anything but summer.

Mystwalker · May 2, 2008

For "Summer" ...

Car with lake in background.
Cannoe (sp?) on top of car.
Family unloading car with fishing pole in one hand and picnic stuff in other.

Probably work better for vidcam.

andrew99 · May 2, 2008

You are submitting a photo for every season? Do you have to? Why not just focus on the current season? I don't see how you can fake winter and snow without having a pretty hefty budget. Also it kind of sounds like Subaru is looking for free photos for their calendar!

Anyway, I guess you'll want to find a nice place for a good landscape photo, then put the car front and centre. If you visit some of the car makers websites, you'll get some ideas for photos.

Guernica · May 2, 2008

andrew it's not a "subaru" calendar, it's a calendar for a message board that is for Subaru Foresters and every month is a different members Forester.

thanks for the tips on going to manufacturers websites, for some reason i hadn't thought of that.

G

andrew99 · May 2, 2008

Guernica said:
andrew it's not a "subaru" calendar, it's a calendar for a message board that is for Subaru Foresters and every month is a different members Forester.

thanks for the tips on going to manufacturers websites, for some reason i hadn't thought of that.

G

Ah, ok, I see! That's better, I just hate when big companies try and take advantage of people.

Be sure to post your photos here when you're done!