Edit my car show photo

[nerwin]

As part of my quest to learn better post processing skills, I'm asking you to edit a car show photo that I took. I'm at car shows a lot because I have a car that is often on display too.

I've been shooting at car shows for many years and I still haven't come up with a post processing style that works for me. I'm all over the place...sometimes I like the photo to be bright, contrasty and vibrant and others I like it to be subtle.

I'm just really curious to see how others would process one of my own car show shots to maybe help give me another perspective.

Download the RAW file here from my OneDrive: Erwin-160730-4497.NEF

This is something that I often do but for some reason I don't like it.

 

[astroNikon]

Artist: Nicholas Erwin
Copyright: 2016
Camera: Nikon D610
Lens: 50 mm f/1.8
Exposure: Auto exposure, Aperture-priority AE, 1/2,500 sec, f/2.2, ISO 100

 

[nerwin]

Artist: Nicholas Erwin
Copyright: 2016
Camera: Nikon D610
Lens: 50 mm f/1.8
Exposure: Auto exposure, Aperture-priority AE, 1/2,500 sec, f/2.2, ISO 100

I completely forgot to put that on there haha. My bad.

 

[astroNikon]

I would have taken the shot completely differently myself.
F/2.2 ==> you cannot even read the "Galaxie 500" near the right headlight due to a thin DOF.

I would also have not taken it at a 45 degree angle to the front, I would change the perspective, and also change the height towards the car. That's all a personal thing but it's something you should experiment with (watch how you want the hood to be portrayed, length of the car, front (angle and height).

such as this:

• ƒ/7.1

• 18.0 mm

• 1/1000

• 560

DSC_2799 by Steve Sklar, on Flickr

or
Cars-22 by Steve Sklar, on Flickr

 

[nerwin]

I would have taken the shot completely differently myself.
F/2.2 ==> you cannot even read the "Galaxie 500" near the right headlight due to a thin DOF.

I would also have not taken it at a 45 degree angle to the front, I would change the perspective, and also change the height towards the car. That's all a personal thing but it's something you should experiment with.

Hmm. Its tough because I just don't have much time as people always tend to walk in the frame, so I really have to be quick and I guess I tend to to take my shots 45 degrees to the front..its something I've always done. Maybe I'm wrong about it but I liked the shot. I wanted a shallow DOF effect but I guess that was wrong too. I decided to use my 50mm because I was sick of using my wide angle all the time and wanted to change it up.

Ugh, I don't know what I'm going to do. The more and more I keep sharing my photos here, its making me realize that I just suck at this form art. I really appreciate that everyone is trying to help me but with my learning disabilities, its just that easy for me and I'm just never going to learn it right. Man I don't know, maybe its time I just give up lol.

 

[astroNikon]

There have been times I've sat in front of a car for 10 minutes waiting for an opportune time to take a photo.

Think about CoastalConn and many other bird photographers. Think of how long they can sit in an area waiting for some bird action, which may or may NOT even occur. At least with car shows, the cars are normally just sitting there.

Photography can be a waiting game. Getting there at the right time before the sun is so bright overhead .. so early or late in the day may be better (especially for people/congestion).

I like a small DOF/Aperture when i'm emphasizing one thing about the car, such as the hood ornament.
Cars-1 by Steve Sklar, on Flickr

But when I'm taking a pic of the entire car seeing emblems, etc I think are important, such as the hood scope on the Mustang up above showing "TWIN-TURBO", or the Camaro emblems being legible on the hood and front quarter panel. And the perspective emphasizes the long hoods.

 

[nerwin]

I like this shot I took, but I'm sure its all wrong too. Lol

 

[jcdeboever]

Nothing wrong but to quote Gary A.

Keep playing with the wide, get in close and shoot tight. You will be rewarded.

 

[nerwin]

Nothing wrong but to quote Gary A.

Keep playing with the wide, get in close and shoot tight. You will be rewarded.

I don't think everything should be shot close and wide, but that's just my opinion and I'm positive that I'm wrong. Lol

 

[jcdeboever]

Nothing wrong but to quote Gary A.

Keep playing with the wide, get in close and shoot tight. You will be rewarded.

I don't think everything should be shot close and wide, but that's just my opinion and I'm positive that I'm wrong. Lol

OK... just saying, Gary or Astro haven't done me wrong yet...

 

[nerwin]

Nothing wrong but to quote Gary A.

Keep playing with the wide, get in close and shoot tight. You will be rewarded.

I don't think everything should be shot close and wide, but that's just my opinion and I'm positive that I'm wrong. Lol

OK... just saying, Gary or Astro haven't done me wrong yet...

The biggest issue I have with these wide angle lenses at car shows is that there are just too much distractions.

 

[Ysarex]

Nice car.

Joe

 

[nerwin]

Nice car.

Joe

View attachment 125465

Ha nice edit. That's funny because I also removed the power lines but LR was acting up so I decided not to just for the sake of this post.

 

[nerwin]

Here's another shot that I thought was pretty good.

 

[astroNikon]

Nice car.

Joe

View attachment 125465

I like that purple car .. less distracting.