New to car photography- looking for feedback

[adrift79]

Hi! I’m new to this website so im not really used to the controls.
Im only 14 and really starting to get into photography, especially car photography. I took the following photos yesterday and I really want to improve, achieving the professional feel on a photo. Im now here, asking for feedback.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thanks.

My camera is a canon 350d digital with an extension.

 

[AlanKlein]

Welcome to The Photo Forum. Nice shots. You're well on your way. I'm not a pro and certainly not with shooting cars. But here are some ideas. Go to the library and read a lot of Auto magazines. They have loads of pictures from pros. Watch ads on Youtube. FInd car shots there as well. Here in NJ where I live there are car shows of muscle cars like in my slide show below. If they have any near you, it might give you a chance to try out some practical shooting. Good luck and let us know what you're up to. Keep posting pictures. Alan.

 

[cgw]

You're on your way. A circular polarizer would help in taming reflections and allow you more control.

 

[Jeff15]

Hello and welcome, you seem to be doing ok, just practice as much as you can. Good luck.....

 

[Designer]

As you no doubt have discovered, making excellent photographs of moving cars is nearly impossible. Wait until you can catch then stopped. Ideally, with the owner's permission. Your first shot is really nice, keep doing it just like that.

 

[Warhorse]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[adrift79]

As you no doubt have discovered, making excellent photographs of moving cars is nearly impossible. Wait until you can catch then stopped. Ideally, with the owner's permission. Your first shot is really nice, keep doing it just like that.

Thanks for the feedback! Ill try my best to attend a car meet and catch some photos experimenting with different angles while the car is stationary.

 

[adrift79]

Hello and welcome, you seem to be doing ok, just practice as much as you can. Good luck.....

Thanks! I really appreciate it!

 

[adrift79]

Welcome to The Photo Forum. Nice shots. You're well on your way. I'm not a pro and certainly not with shooting cars. But here are some ideas. Go to the library and read a lot of Auto magazines. They have loads of pictures from pros. Watch ads on Youtube. FInd car shots there as well. Here in NJ where I live there are car shows of muscle cars like in my slide show below. If they have any near you, it might give you a chance to try out some practical shooting. Good luck and let us know what you're up to. Keep posting pictures. Alan.

Thank you so much for the advice! I will definitely take any opportunity I can find if its a car meet or even just a magazine. I really appreciate it!

 

[jeffashman]

Howdy and welcome!

 

[TJMcG]

My only comments here are that you seem to be getting a good handle on getting the cars sharp and well composed, but you could look into panning techniques and/or adjusting your aperture to blur the backgrounds better. Whatever you're doing in post to blur backgrounds here isn't working. There are many YouTube tutorials on how to effectively blur backgrounds in Photoshop or other software.

Keep shooting, keep learning, you're doing well.

 

[adrift79]

My only comments here are that you seem to be getting a good handle on getting the cars sharp and well composed, but you could look into panning techniques and/or adjusting your aperture to blur the backgrounds better. Whatever you're doing in post to blur backgrounds here isn't working. There are many YouTube tutorials on how to effectively blur backgrounds in Photoshop or other software.

Keep shooting, keep learning, you're doing well.

Thank you so much for the advice! Next time I spot a cool car, or go to a car meet etc. i‘ll have a play about with the different settings. When I took those photos, I didn’t really know anything about photography which is why I came here. Now, I’m more confident with the basics. Thanks!

 

[zombiesniper]

I'll echo all of the above.

You have a good start and appear to have the basics of shooting a sharp image.

Also as was suggested is to look at car photos you like and look at them with a critical eye.
What is different/the same in these images to yours? i.e. composition, lighting (time of day/direction etc) background (in focus or not, natural or urban).
Take each element that is the same and keep it. Take each element that is different and try to re-create it. This will take time to develop and in the journey you will start to discover the type of auto photography you like best and maybe even begin to put your own flavour on what you've learned.

Now the brush you used to blur the background has a very hard edge on the road. You can also see it around the body of the cars where it creates a colour blur (like the Ferrari mirror). To blur that close to the body of the car, using a mask will keep the outline of the car crisp but still allow for background blur. For the road, the blur has to fade in and not be quite so abrupt. Good attempt at a more advanced technique. Don't be afraid to try. It's how we learn.

Oh ya. Welcome to TPF!

 

[adrift79]

I'll echo all of the above.

You have a good start and appear to have the basics of shooting a sharp image.

Also as was suggested is to look at car photos you like and look at them with a critical eye.
What is different/the same in these images to yours? i.e. composition, lighting (time of day/direction etc) background (in focus or not, natural or urban).
Take each element that is the same and keep it. Take each element that is different and try to re-create it. This will take time to develop and in the journey you will start to discover the type of auto photography you like best and maybe even begin to put your own flavour on what you've learned.

Now the brush you used to blur the background has a very hard edge on the road. You can also see it around the body of the cars where it creates a colour blur (like the Ferrari mirror). To blur that close to the body of the car, using a mask will keep the outline of the car crisp but still allow for background blur. For the road, the blur has to fade in and not be quite so abrupt. Good attempt at a more advanced technique. Don't be afraid to try. It's how we learn.

Oh ya. Welcome to TPF!

Thanks, I really appreciate the advice. Next time I go out shooting some nice cars, I’ll keep this in mind and try blurring the background in different ways such as changing the aperture etc.
Thanks again!