First time shooting a vehicle for a client. Please critique!

MCanseco · Aug 7, 2012

Ive been shooting for about a year and have never been critiqued! please give me your .2 cents! The vehicle is a Subaru WRX that puts down 500hp to the wheels. pics were shot in various locations around Los Angeles.

EDIT: My resizer greatly diminished the quality of the jpegs but i think you get the idea. The originals do not look so choppy. also, all pics were taken with available light. the last pic was taken inside of a coin car wash.

Blade_Runner · Aug 7, 2012

I like that last one, the rainy shot...

12sndsgood · Aug 7, 2012

I like the wheel shot, but the rest aren't really blowing me away. A lot of unbalanced light, bright spots, shade spots. Keep working at it.

tirediron · Aug 7, 2012

There are several issues I see with these images. First and foremost is that the car seems almost incidental; that is: It takes up far too little of the image space (esp. in #s 1 & 3). In #1, you have deep shadow on the near side, causing lack of detail. This might not have been too bad wiwth a white car, but a near black one demands extra lighting.

I don't really "get" #2. Other than a red rim, which is not especially unique, there's almost nothing to identify the car. Further, the line of trees on each side of the road forms an (I assume) accidental leading line, which draws the viewer's eye away the car and into the "nothing" in the background of the image.

#3 needs supplemental lighting; the rear of the car is almost totally lost in shadow. As with #4, both of these show the car in a receding position. While it's fine to includ a couple of those in a set like this, you really should have a majority of your images showing the car coming toward you.

Overall, they're not bad, but I have to be honest. If I were the client, I would not be happy with these. Two things which are essential for this sort of work are a polarizing filter and lots of lights and large diffusers.

Just my $00.02 worth - your mileage may vary.

~John

Tuffythepug · Aug 7, 2012

My only comment would be that I agree with John in the post above

durhamskywriter · Aug 7, 2012

#1 unfortunately, you gave too much away because you're showing what the background is made of. the background would have been more intriguing if you had taken the photo from close up.

#2 this simply doesn't work, although the photo would be a bit better if you had shown the entire wheel.

#3 this appears that the car is enjoying the scenery, much as a person would. it would have been cooler if you had been able to get much, much closer to the water and use that as a backdrop.

#4 i'm always scouting out newly poured streets and parking lots to use as scene-setters for auto shots. next time try to find a darker street (sans drain)it will add more drama to your photos. try to avoid having any distractions in the background. also, you need more detail in the car. try parking the car under a streetlight and experiment by taking photos right under the light up to 15 or 20 feet away.

ababysean · Aug 7, 2012

I have nothing to add about the first 3 but the one with the rain is very nice.

MCanseco · Aug 7, 2012

Thanks guys!

MLeeK · Aug 7, 2012

Vehicle photography of this sort is HARD AS HELL. I am interested in it, but I know I don't have enough lighting power to do it. I suspect that is what you are lacking. It takes some very careful planning and lighting to shoot vehicles like this WELL.

12sndsgood · Aug 7, 2012

I'm starting to work my way back into automotive photography. It's what got me into photography in the first place. trying to shoot a 69 camaro ss but rain keeps popping up when we go to shoot and this thing has never seen rain.

op if you are really into doing automotive stuff start picking up lighting as budget allows. it would have helped out a lot on these shots.

ababysean · Aug 7, 2012

I keep looking at the rain one, I would darken the background so you just see the pavement and the car.

412 Burgh · Aug 7, 2012

Just out of curiosity was the owner happy/pleased with these shots?

MCanseco · Aug 7, 2012

He was/ is happy.

These 4 pics are portion of what I took. The "rain" pic was taken inside of a carwash at 1am. I also have long exposure pics at the carwash with light trails in the background. Most of the location ideas were his and I was capturing what he had in mind. I didnt expect for the pictures to be mindblowing as this was the first time I was contacted to take photos of a car. I do appreciate the feedback though.