Automobile 101

[Ryogenetic]

And I think that's a lesson we could all learn from - it's not just the car but it's what the location says about the car.

Mike

That is a very good point, there are also some good leading lines in most of them too. I really like the shapes he got when shooting the gas caps. The color of the car adds nicely to the image. I hope to be at that level some day.

Ryo

[arith]

True enough Mike.

[arith]

A bit high key but still not sure if I can get away with the small blemishes.

[GlenM]

Here's some recent shots of my wife's car - just after a day long valet and polish!
Comments welcome

[Sidekick]

Hi,
I like the tones and highlights in the top two pics, and I especially like the 2nd pic, I'm just a little concerned as to whether the reflections are a little too distracting - did you think about trying a few shots with a polariser to see what effect it might have?
I also like the third shot - good use of backgrounds, except.....while I fully understand why you did it, the eye is drawn to the reg plate and maybe a slightly different point of focus may have lessened its impact a bit.
But with all that said I think you're heading in the right direction on what is a surprisingly difficult subject to shoot well.

Mike

[arith]

I like the second one Glen and I don't know how to get around number plates. Spooky surroundings.

[arith]

Only Gaussian blur applied top and bottom and quite a big pic to show off the sharpening.



Now I can concentrate on doing some again with better knowledge; trying to find a way to do windows better.

[Ryogenetic]

Glen I like your use of the light to show the contours on the car. They do seem a bit noisy (to many distractors). Perhaps cloning out some of the smaller ones? I really like the composition of #3, and agree with Mike on the registration plates. Easy way to edit that would be to drop a white block that matched the boarder plate.

Steve nicely done, I am not sure what you are looking for on a process for the windows?

Here is a pic that Steve and I have been working jointly, I have been trying a new technique to isolate the subject using color.



Steve took this great shot, but as with any place you go you can always end up with people and distractions in the background. I have attempted to mute those by adding a BW layer and then just painting back in the subject. I think it is an effective technique.

Here is variation 2, using lytebox you may notice what I have done to refine it more.



The greens of the grass and the browns from the road were being reflected an the silver bits on the car, I went back with another layer and colored them.

I have taken the process a bit further on my next set of photos, here is a teaser:



Thanks
Ryo

[Ryogenetic]

My visitor to Coffee and Cars:



























Thanks for looking, any feedback? BTW tempted to enter #9 into The Themed Photo Challenge #26... its a kids toy right?

Ryo

[arith]

You must have to slip into it like a fighter aircraft Ryo. It is definitely a kids toy and a crowd puller. I notice a couple more in the background but this must be the star.

[Ryogenetic]

I was temped to slip into as the owner offered to let me, that would have upset life as I know it. I could very well see my self going home afterwards, selling all of my cars, the house, and other odds and ends just to come up with a down payment for it.

I was happy that the colors came out looking the same. The MP4 was definitely a crowd puller, I think I took over 100 pics the car. These set above were the ones that had the least amount of people in the back ground. I figured that the color of the car, on BW backgrounds worked very nicely.

Another from the day:



Again applying the the same process of BW out the backdrop.

Thanks
Ryo

[arith]

I like the close ups.

What about this redo from earlier:



I try to get the chrome shiny, plus remove some stuff.

[Ryogenetic]

Very nicely done, I am impressed with the cloning out of the car ML. On a pixel peeping note, with the blur on the back ground, is a very effective way to draw attention to that wonderful bonnet. If you still have it in PSD form run over the windows at 10-20% opacity, and zoom in tight to the windshield trim. But overall well done, took me a moment to catch all that. At first glance in Lytebox I thought it was 2 different images.

Ryo

[Ryogenetic]

Man alive, had an eye opening experience today. I had always heard about composition, but never bothered to find out what it meant. Going back and reviewing my photos of the MP4 wow did I ever miss the mark. I am going to have to stay out of parking lots, and work on that new tool composition.

Thanks
Ryo

[arith]

That is something I thought you was good at Ryo. Definitely you know what is interesting and cars are hard to do.

[Ryogenetic]

Its a continual battle, but I need to slow down. Take my time and explore what caught my eye in the first place, and capture that. Practice, practice, practice...

Here is on more from the MP4:



Thanks
Ryo

[Ryogenetic]

Composite:



Origs:




The owner has done most of the work himself, he used a Tupperware lid to template the air vents in the hood .

Thanks
Ryo

[Ryogenetic]

Here is another composite that I worked up: Vauxhall 14



Thanks
Ryo

[Gene Bjerke]

Now for something a little different. This sequence is the polar opposite of the sleek road rockets we all love but I was amazed at what some vehicles can do. I don't know why it copied so grainy. If someone could explain it to me I would appreciate it.

Gene

[Ryogenetic]

That looks like a ton of fun....

I think your DiMage A2 may have a noise reduction function that was turned off when you were shooting. But it is possible if you were shooting in RAW (.MRW) that photoshop did not recognize the format, and applied the wrong settings to the photos. Last thing to look at if it is nice and clear on your computer, perhaps your saving/uploading to tinypics was incorrectly compressed.

Ryo