Photoshoot S2k

bigboi3 · Apr 1, 2009

Hi everyone. Noob here. haha. So I took this pic last week and wanted to get your guys' C&C. Shot with my Nikon D80 and 50mm 1.8D, edited in Bridge and CS3. Enjoy!

Sherman Banks · Apr 1, 2009

Pretty nice. Scenery surrounding the car doesn't support the photo much so you could probably do a tighter crop. And you could probably bring down the exposure on the ground in front of the car using photoshop.

Kondro86 · Apr 1, 2009

cool car

bigboi3 · Apr 1, 2009

Sherman Banks said:
Pretty nice. Scenery surrounding the car doesn't support the photo much so you could probably do a tighter crop. And you could probably bring down the exposure on the ground in front of the car using photoshop.

thanks! what would i need to do to bring down the exposure on the ground in front of the car? Select the area and then bring the levels down?

Sherman Banks · Apr 1, 2009

That's one way. Are you shooting in RAW? If so, you could just use Adobe Camera Raw which has a fixing brush that lets you bring down the exposure. Otherwise, you could just select the area and change the levels, or burn, or numerous other things.

elemental · Apr 1, 2009

Assuming that intercooler is hooked up to something, that looks like a beast. I always wanted a turboed S2000 with the hardtop. Is it yours?

I think I agree about the background. It isn't too intrusive, but I think you could crop tighter here or (even better) look around for more coherent and interesting backgrounds. Your info says San Jose; is there anywhere nearby where you could park it with the ocean and sky as a backdrop? Another common location is an empty parking garage with a fairly blank concrete background but a little bit of an "industrial" feel. You could also experiment with shooting earlier or later in the day to get softer lighting. Am I correct in guessing this was fairly close to noon?

matt62485 · Apr 1, 2009

hardtop s2k = sects. sweet ride, cool pic! how do you like that 50? im lookin for a new lens to add to my recently purchased d40 and im a photog noob.

Rokson · Apr 1, 2009

Awesome! Nikon is the best camera in the world. I have one and thinking of buying one more.

manaheim · Apr 1, 2009

awww, I miss my 2000 S2000.

On your pic...

Seems to be that there's not enough of the car in the pic. This is ok when the background is really interesting, but this particular background seems kind of dull and that "40" back there is really distracting me for some reason.

I also notice you have the car "moving" away from the empty space. For some reason this feels off-balance to me. I think the usual wisdom is to have the car moving into empty space in the picture. (so in this case, point it to the left or move the camera to the right)

Also, get yourself a circular polarizing filter. It will cut down that harsh light, increase saturation and reduce/remove reflections and glare. In lieu of that, shoot closer to dawn/dusk, or shoot on overcast days.

bigboi3 · Apr 1, 2009

Sherman Banks said:
That's one way. Are you shooting in RAW? If so, you could just use Adobe Camera Raw which has a fixing brush that lets you bring down the exposure. Otherwise, you could just select the area and change the levels, or burn, or numerous other things.

I am shooting in RAW. I don't have Adobe Camera Raw, so I'll try selecting the area and adjusting the levels.

bigboi3 · Apr 1, 2009

Thank you all for the C&C. By the way this isn't my s2000, its one of my friends buddies car. This was shot at noon as a couple of my friends wanted to do a photoshoot but the best time for all of us to get together was at this time. I know that the best time to shoot is during dawn or dusk. I have two circular polarizers, a toshiba which is thicker and a vivitar which is much thinner. I used the toshiba but it gave me some weird glare on some of my shots that day.

manaheim · Apr 1, 2009

That was shot with a cpol? Wow.

bigboi3 · Apr 1, 2009

Rokson said:
Awesome! Nikon is the best camera in the world. I have one and thinking of buying one more.

YESSS, I started with a D60 then went to a D80, next I want to get a D300.

bigboi3 · Apr 1, 2009

I found this picture.. does it look like a better shot? From the same day I shot the first photo I posted. I also need to correct myself. I shot these with a Nikon D60 w/50mm 1.8