Edit my car show photo

[astroNikon]

take the focus mode out of Auto
Goto AFS-Single. Learn how to use it.
you'll like all your photos much better and get many more keepers.

 

[nerwin]

take the focus mode out of Auto
Goto AFS-Single. Learn how to use it.
you'll like all your photos much better and get many more keepers.

I'm sure. But there are times I forgot that I am in single mode and then I see a photo opportunity and by the time I change my focus point...the moment is gone. It has happened more than once already this year. I'm just not as fast as you are or even having the remembering capabilities. Lol.

 

[astroNikon]

take the focus mode out of Auto
Goto AFS-Single. Learn how to use it.
you'll like all your photos much better and get many more keepers.

I'm sure. But there are times I forgot that I am in single mode and then I see a photo opportunity and by the time I change my focus point...the moment is gone. It has happened more than once already this year. I'm just not as fast as you are or even having the remembering capabilities. Lol.

use AFC-S then and keep it like that. or 9 point.
being in Auto Focus mode just relies upon the camera to make the decision for you. If you are a in a single focus point as long as that one point is pointed to the subject you're going to get better focus potential then letting the camera decide, especially if you are in a wide aperture.

Do you know the focus point of the car/sky photo?
I think it was 4 feet in front of the tire between you and the car. Nice of the camera to think the ground was the main subject.

 

[nerwin]

take the focus mode out of Auto
Goto AFS-Single. Learn how to use it.
you'll like all your photos much better and get many more keepers.

I'm sure. But there are times I forgot that I am in single mode and then I see a photo opportunity and by the time I change my focus point...the moment is gone. It has happened more than once already this year. I'm just not as fast as you are or even having the remembering capabilities. Lol.

use AFC-S then and keep it like that. or 9 point.
being in Auto Focus mode just relies upon the camera to make the decision for you. If you are a in a single focus point as long as that one point is pointed to the subject you're going to get better focus potential then letting the camera decide, especially if you are in a wide aperture.

Do you know the focus point of the car/sky photo?
I think it was 4 feet in front of the tire between you and the car. Nice of the camera to think the ground was the main subject.

It was actually on the car, I do remember. I wouldn't let the camera focus on the ground. I'm stupid, but not that stupid.

Sharp enough for me.

 

[astroNikon]

take the focus mode out of Auto
Goto AFS-Single. Learn how to use it.
you'll like all your photos much better and get many more keepers.

I'm sure. But there are times I forgot that I am in single mode and then I see a photo opportunity and by the time I change my focus point...the moment is gone. It has happened more than once already this year. I'm just not as fast as you are or even having the remembering capabilities. Lol.

use AFC-S then and keep it like that. or 9 point.
being in Auto Focus mode just relies upon the camera to make the decision for you. If you are a in a single focus point as long as that one point is pointed to the subject you're going to get better focus potential then letting the camera decide, especially if you are in a wide aperture.

Do you know the focus point of the car/sky photo?
I think it was 4 feet in front of the tire between you and the car. Nice of the camera to think the ground was the main subject.

It was actually on the car, I do remember. I wouldn't let the camera focus on the ground. I'm stupid, but not that stupid.

Sharp enough for me.

View attachment 125480

that's a lot better than when I zoomed in to the photo above. must have been the degradation from downsizing it.

 

[nerwin]

take the focus mode out of Auto
Goto AFS-Single. Learn how to use it.
you'll like all your photos much better and get many more keepers.

I'm sure. But there are times I forgot that I am in single mode and then I see a photo opportunity and by the time I change my focus point...the moment is gone. It has happened more than once already this year. I'm just not as fast as you are or even having the remembering capabilities. Lol.

use AFC-S then and keep it like that. or 9 point.
being in Auto Focus mode just relies upon the camera to make the decision for you. If you are a in a single focus point as long as that one point is pointed to the subject you're going to get better focus potential then letting the camera decide, especially if you are in a wide aperture.

Do you know the focus point of the car/sky photo?
I think it was 4 feet in front of the tire between you and the car. Nice of the camera to think the ground was the main subject.

It was actually on the car, I do remember. I wouldn't let the camera focus on the ground. I'm stupid, but not that stupid.

Sharp enough for me.

View attachment 125480

that's a lot better than when I zoomed in to the photo above. must have been the degradation from downsizing it.

Yeah I just zoomed into 1:1 in LR and did a quick screen grab.

 

[nerwin]

This is how packed car shows are sometimes lol.

 

[nerwin]

@astroNikon Do you processing any of your car shots in b&w?

 

[Designer]

This is how packed car shows are sometimes lol.

It's not you, it's the organizers of the car show. They are placing the cars for people to walk around and look at "touching" distance without regard for photographers. Cars shows are just that way. That is why some posters have suggested "close and wide" as a way to minimize the extraneous distractions. If you get to know some of the owners you can ask for a private photo shoot where they can pose the car with a better background.

 

[gckless]

I think you did a decent job. Don't worry about finding your own style, just edit them as you like and eventually your own style will come.

I've been doing cars for a couple years. I'm still not that good. I've been doing a lot of on-track stuff this year, but I'm actually editing a car show from Sunday now. I don't use Flickr a lot anymore, but I'll post a couple examples of mine.

These following 3 were from very busy shows. Literally about 70 people around that F40. Sometimes you just have to wait in position until people are out of frame, and jump while the iron's hot. I may have waiting 10 minutes crouching down for these shots. Usually if you wait there long enough, people will notice you and move so you can take a photo. There are some that are oblivious though.

These are probably a little dark, figured out my monitor was too bright not too long ago

F40 by Gilbert Kless, on Flickr

Triple Barrel by Gilbert Kless, on Flickr

327 by Gilbert Kless, on Flickr


Sometimes it can't be avoided, and you have to focus in on details. That's when the small aperture comes in. Though as has been mentioned in the thread, the correct aperture for the subject. That's one thing I don't think I get right.

Eyes Half Shut by Gilbert Kless, on Flickr

'Vette by Gilbert Kless, on Flickr


Another option, and what I do lately, is to go either at the very beginning or very end of the shows. Honestly, with the heat and amount of people at shows lately I just don't go, or go early (morning shows) or late (night shows). I do hate waiting for people.

Looming Clouds by Gilbert Kless, on Flickr


One thing I can pass on for sure, because it was told to me (on this site actually, yay for learning!), is not to crop too tight. It's sometimes very hard to do at shows. I crop much tighter than I would like to at shows. But, just be aware of it. Oh, and explore different angles.

 

[nerwin]

I like that Impala shot. That's my kind of style...I have yet to shoot a car show at night though. I don't live in a city so that's really hard to come by here! But that would be really fun.

Thanks for sharing your photos, they are great. I guess I'm on the right track, I just gotta keep working at it and I'll get better (hopefully).

I'm just going to process my photos my own way and avoid useless filters that make my photos look like someone else's and hopefully as you mention, with time it will come to me.

I don't mind playing the waiting game at car shows because after all..its really for the people to see the cars and I don't want to be in their way looking at the car so I wait for my moment when its clear and take the shot but I can't wait forever either so if there is a ton of people around the car then I try to add that element to the photo as it is a car show and there's going to be people and that's part of it.

Kind of like this, not a TON of people but you get the point.

 

[astroNikon]

@astroNikon Do you processing any of your car shots in b&w?

No, I don't recall converting any to black and white.

 

[Dave442]

This is probably what I would go with. It has a 16:9 crop and tilted up slightly. I have also included a screen shot of the focus point that was used by the camera as I think that was one of the questions in the thread.

Focus points

focus point legend:

 

[nerwin]

You can get focus points from the raw file?

 

[Dave442]

Using a plugin you can see them from inside LR:
Show Focus Points Plugin for Lightroom

The Nikon software Capture NX-D can also show the focus point.