practiced my shots tonight need pointers and advice

B15Chris · Jan 26, 2012

I went out tonight and practiced my shots.I used my car as a gunea pig for this practice session. I played around with my settings with the ISO,I did my settings from 100 to 400 as well as the shutter speed and max sensitivity mode. I used my tripod which was a huge help. I first did outside shots in a ok lit parking lot, then went to a mall parking deck. can you guys point out to me what i did right and wrong?? night shots i def need to practice before the car season starts once it gets warmer here the pics are unedited btw.the shots are the same just to show what I used

AceCo55 · Jan 26, 2012

Given the number of views and no replies this post has had, I suspect you are asking for information that is impossible to give.
Are you wanting information about your lighting of the car, reflextions, noise, straight out exposure ...???
If you wanted comments about your settings, perhaps include them with each photo so that it is easier to compare.
You also have posted too many photos, and in a variety of setups, (in my opinion) to really get much useful information/feedback.
I'm not clear on what you are hoping to get from this post ... but there may be others much more insightful than me that can help.
Just wanted to give my perspective as I saw none after so many views.

ann · Jan 26, 2012

:thumbup: too many images, I started looking and my eyes glazed over. The first one is out of focus , as it seems most of the outdoor ones may be as well. How did you focus. Manual focus may be more helpful in these conditions.

cannpope · Jan 26, 2012

Agreed. They all look OOF and blurry to me.

cgipson1 · Jan 26, 2012

F9, 5 to 6 second exposure on the first set.. and 1 second exposures on the last. All shot at 18mm. Nikon D3000. Auto WB on all.

Learn to focus (manually and AF - SPOT can be your friend if the 3000 will do that).

Use the highest ISO you have that gives a decent image, and learn how to work with NR in PP.

Don't use 18mm when close because you will get distortion. If you aren't close.. then zoom in to fill the frame.. you don't need all of that dead space.

Learn to use your WB... Auto does not always cut it, when you are using artificial light sources.

Learn to use your aperture creatively.. both to increase low light usage, and to help with those UGLY backgrounds.

That should keep you busy for a while..... let us know when you have mastered those.

B15Chris · Jan 26, 2012

cgipson1 said:
F9, 5 to 6 second exposure on the first set.. and 1 second exposures on the last. All shot at 18mm. Nikon D3000. Auto WB on all.

Learn to focus (manually and AF - SPOT can be your friend if the 3000 will do that).

Use the highest ISO you have that gives a decent image, and learn how to work with NR in PP.

Don't use 18mm when close because you will get distortion. If you aren't close.. then zoom in to fill the frame.. you don't need all of that dead space.

Learn to use your WB... Auto does not always cut it, when you are using artificial light sources.

Learn to use your aperture creatively.. both to increase low light usage, and to help with those UGLY backgrounds.

That should keep you busy for a while..... let us know when you have mastered those.

Im going to give it a shot. I know my focus was on auto last night,I will try it with the manual setting.I also have a longer lens but it does not have a stablizer. this is why I went out last night I will continue to practice till I get this right

cannpope said:
Agreed. They all look OOF and blurry to me.

some do

ann said:
:thumbup: too many images, I started looking and my eyes glazed over. The first one is out of focus , as it seems most of the outdoor ones may be as well. How did you focus. Manual focus may be more helpful in these conditions.

the focus was auto but I can try manual for the next time

AceCo55 said:
Given the number of views and no replies this post has had, I suspect you are asking for information that is impossible to give.
Are you wanting information about your lighting of the car, reflextions, noise, straight out exposure ...???
If you wanted comments about your settings, perhaps include them with each photo so that it is easier to compare.
You also have posted too many photos, and in a variety of setups, (in my opinion) to really get much useful information/feedback.
I'm not clear on what you are hoping to get from this post ... but there may be others much more insightful than me that can help.
Just wanted to give my perspective as I saw none after so many views.

besides the ISO settings,I have now learned my mistakes with the focus.I just need to sharpen on my night skills since I dont ever take night pics as much as I should

fwellers · Jan 26, 2012

So 1 second to 9 second exposures without a tripod ??

2WheelPhoto · Jan 26, 2012

listen closely....thats the car DIMMLY screaming "I NEED TO BE LIT"

gsgary · Jan 26, 2012

They look ok, but someone parked a piece of scrap in the middle of your shoot

Tony S · Jan 26, 2012

Needs more controlled lighting to bring out the car and composed so they are not all bullseyed right in the middle of each shot..... and some new flashy wheels.

maaatter · Jan 26, 2012

Fill the frame with whatever you're shooting more. Right now you have about 25% object and 75% of worthless background.

cgipson1 · Jan 26, 2012

fwellers said:
So 1 second to 9 second exposures without a tripod ??

he said he used tripod in his first paragraph!

cgipson1 · Jan 26, 2012

If your lens has OS or VR.. turn it OFF when using TRIPOD.....

B15Chris · Jan 26, 2012

gsgary said:
They look ok, but someone parked a piece of scrap in the middle of your shoot

I guess you are talking bout the parking deck shots

Tony S said:
Needs more controlled lighting to bring out the car and composed so they are not all bullseyed right in the middle of each shot..... and some new flashy wheels.

I see what you mean but never mind the wheels lol doing pics is my main deal now