Small Photo Shoot

[RKRAMOS]

Went out with a couple of my buddies last night for a small photo shoot. I think they turned out pretty good but let me know.
1. Adam VW GLI

VW GLI by RKRamos91, on Flickr
2. J. Cole's Nissan 370Z

Nissan 370 by RKRamos91, on Flickr
3. Erik's BMW 335i

BMW 335i by RKRamos91, on Flickr
4. My Chevy Cobalt SS

Chevy Cobalt SS by RKRamos91, on Flickr
5. Greg's Subaru WRX STi

Subaru WRX STi by RKRamos91, on Flickr
6. Travis' VW Jetta

VW Jetta by RKRamos91, on Flickr
7. Caine's VW GTI

VW GTI by RKRamos91, on Flickr

 

[o hey tyler]

Well, the white balance is consistent... Consistently wrong though. You should try and adjust your white balance so that the whites in the photograph appear white, rather than orange. A difficult task for outdoor nighttime shooting, due to the varied color temperatures of the lights, but shouldn't be an issue for these since they are pretty universally warm.

I also feel like the background (Livery Antiques) is too distracting. Not a particularly appropriate for cars IMO. It also helps to move your subject farther away from the background.

 

[RKRAMOS]

Well, the white balance is consistent... Consistently wrong though. You should try and adjust your white balance so that the whites in the photograph appear white, rather than orange. A difficult task for outdoor nighttime shooting, due to the varied color temperatures of the lights, but shouldn't be an issue for these since they are pretty universally warm.

I also feel like the background (Livery Antiques) is too distracting. Not a particularly appropriate for cars IMO. It also helps to move your subject farther away from the background.

Thanks, I don't know why everyone parked so close to the building, I usually let them do what they want and let them tell me what exactly they're looking for, I'll usually through in my .02 when necessary though. As for the lighting that's what we were going for, I put the white balance on incandescent to give me that effect, but for future reference what would have been the correct white balance to get whiter lights instead of the orange affect.

 

[o hey tyler]

If you're the photographer, you should be suggesting where they pose their cars. You should also suggest that a photo with a proper white balance will look MUCH BETTER than one with a totally off white balance. It makes the photos look like you took them on Auto White Balance and then decided not to correct it in post.

If you took them in RAW, just for shats and giggles, try correcting the white balance, and the photos will look much better. You've basically skewed the colors of the cars by choosing an incorrect white balance.

 

[photo guy]

Not too bad, though I they would have looked better with more lighting such as later in the afternoon or early eavining instead of night like these since the street and building lights tend to have more of an orange effect in the photos.

 

[Geaux]

The wrong white balance is horrendous imo.

 

[StevenLindberg]

Looks like you had fun!

Shooting RAW when you're not sure what the white balance will be is a great idea. I've ruined a few night shots recently because I couldn't get my white balance right. It's a tedious process, especially for those who aren't holding the camera.

It looked like in a couple of the photos (numbers 3, 4, 5, and 7) you were trying to play with the lights of the cars. Why? What effect were you intending? With the current lighting, they distracted from the photo. It made the photos more busy than they already were.

Lastly, the darker cars simply didn't turn out well against such a bright background. The Jetta and 370Z's lines disappear from the photo. A good alternative would be A) Angled lighting on the cars to define their edges better, or B) A darker background, allowing you to decrease shutter speed and open your aperture more and thus making the whole photo lighter.

What lens did you use?