Thread: Pictures from Tonight (Need Feedback)

Well, I went out again tonight and tried to take some better pictures. I'm certianly much more happy with the way this set came out compared to last night's, although I think there is still much more room for improvement.


Tell me what ya think.

Originally Posted by SyntheticShield

Street Wolf, do you want just a sorta blanket overview of how we think the pictures look or are you looking for particular photography thing that would help the pictures look better and such?

I'm looking for any kind of feedback I can get, just your opinions on how the pictures look, which ones are your favorites and what not. Or in depth details if you know alot about the photography stuff.

Oh, and send me those pics before I drive to Texas and hunt you down. Please.

Lmao, alright I'll send them to you ASAP. Beware though, I'm sending the full size copies so those E-Mails from me might take forever to open.

lookin' good, damn fire lanes

Originally Posted by SyntheticShield

Im on high speed.

I bet you still wait for 5 minutes.

Guess we'll see

Originally Posted by flynn

I think that 2, 4, and 5 are my favorites.
All look good, though!

Originally Posted by Ryan D.

lookin' good, damn fire lanes

Thanks.

Well ....the car looks alittle dirty. Im just kidding!!! You have got to polish my car!! That is shinier than new! What do you use? 4real? No tire shine?
Damn good photos!!

Originally Posted by GTPluv

Well ....the car looks alittle dirty. Im just kidding!!! You have got to polish my car!! That is shinier than new! What do you use? 4real? No tire shine?
Damn good photos!!

Lol, thanks. I'll polish your car for the right amount of $$$





I use that kit above with an extra bottle of Mother's Wax because after I clay bar the car I wax the entire thing twice.

Oh, and another thing. I wax entirely by hand.


And nope, no tire shine. Although occasionally I use it, maybe once a year.

That looks nothing like the clay the guy at Napa sold me. My crap looks like clay. It does however get off the stuck bugs. I usually use Meguires products. I'll definately try your stuff!

You see I like to take all my photos with hight tech Z3 Motorolla RIZR. haha
No, seriously, I love to take pictures. Hey Scotty, will you look at mine in my album? I could use the advice! I'm new. I don't know what to do. Theres an old building in the background. I took alot of our truck. I like blk/wht too.

Originally Posted by SyntheticShield

Well, I chase storms and photograph them. I particularly spend a lot of time photographing lightning (if Chance and Chris have no objection to me posting a link to my photography site I will do so) so a great deal of my photography is in very dark if not near pitch black lighting. With lightning, however, you can use the light from that to help expose things depending on the distance of the strike from your position.

That all said, I will kinda teach some photography. Those that know me are already running because they know this will be a long post, but Im going to try and surprise them.

You have a particularly tough shooting situation because you are trying to shoot a white car in a dark back ground with those street lights to add some extra complexity to it. All cameras whether digital or Film shot for an 18% gray exposure. In other words, cameras equipped with Through The Lens metering (TTL) which is most modern cameras, will try and set an auto exposure to get 18% gray. You can overide this on most camers but some you cannot.

What this means to you is a simple rule in photography. If its dark underexpose, if its bright over expose. Have you ever seen snow pictures that looked kinda dirty, grayish looking? Thats the camera using auto exposure and trying to expose for 18% gray. If you take a picture of snow, and you set the exposure a half to one stop over, it will look perfectly white. Shooting dark is just the opposite, you want to shoot one half to one stop under what the TTL says to use.

You see where this is going yet? You got a white car, with a dark background. Can you imagine the confusion on the part of the camera? when faced with such a situation, you should zoom in more on your subject (in this case, the car) so as to cut down on how much darkness the camera sees and thus give it a better field to adjust for properly. This is why the pictures of your car on the parking lot with the street light in the back ground and all that darness seem kind a two dimensional (technically they are, but you can shoot in such a way that it has a three dimensional feel to it, you'll know it immediately if you ever see a pictured done that way). In otherwords, they seem kind a flat.

This is why I like the ones that were shot with the building in the back ground, on the firelane, etc. Because you dont have all the darkness throwing off the exposure, you get more even lighting and exposure and more 3d type look, they have depth. The #4 picture is a good example of this. Want to know why? Because the color of the pavement is very close to 18% gray so the camera sees this and goes Oh Yeah, I know exactly how to expose for this. It sets the setting and everything comes out good. The white is white, the red is red and everything has a depth to it, it draws you into the picture.

So I like most of the shots you have with the building in the back ground with excpetion of a couple that were over exposed. The very last picture, just a touch more lighting or exposure and that would be an automotive centerfold. Overall you did an excellent job with what you had to work with.

Sorry for the long post, but I like to teach a little on photograpy. Im no expert, but I dont mind passing along what I do know. I hope to see even more pics from ya in the near future as you keep practicing. Let me know if this was at all helpful.

Do you chase tornado's?

Considering how freaking difficult it is to take good night shots....that looks great.

And I don't say that about white cars very often!

Originally Posted by SyntheticShield

I'll put it like this. If they are in the area, I'll go after them. If they arent, I dont. My passion has always been the lightning. I have just always been fascinated with lightning. Did you know that if you are close enough to it, you can hear it 'sizzle' in the air as it travels. Its the coolest thing I think I have ever heard.

That would be too close for comfort for me lol. PM ur photography website, I'll check it out!

Most of those WERE taken with my cell. So there.
Just general ideas. I always manage to cut peoples heads off. I guess all my "good" ones are not in my album.oops. My scanner quit.cheap crap. I feel that if I keep the lens cap on, everyone looks better in the end.

Originally Posted by SyntheticShield

Well, I chase storms and photograph them. I particularly spend a lot of time photographing lightning (if Chance and Chris have no objection to me posting a link to my photography site I will do so) so a great deal of my photography is in very dark if not near pitch black lighting. With lightning, however, you can use the light from that to help expose things depending on the distance of the strike from your position.

That all said, I will kinda teach some photography. Those that know me are already running because they know this will be a long post, but Im going to try and surprise them.

You have a particularly tough shooting situation because you are trying to shoot a white car in a dark back ground with those street lights to add some extra complexity to it. All cameras whether digital or Film shot for an 18% gray exposure. In other words, cameras equipped with Through The Lens metering (TTL) which is most modern cameras, will try and set an auto exposure to get 18% gray. You can overide this on most camers but some you cannot.

What this means to you is a simple rule in photography. If its dark underexpose, if its bright over expose. Have you ever seen snow pictures that looked kinda dirty, grayish looking? Thats the camera using auto exposure and trying to expose for 18% gray. If you take a picture of snow, and you set the exposure a half to one stop over, it will look perfectly white. Shooting dark is just the opposite, you want to shoot one half to one stop under what the TTL says to use.

You see where this is going yet? You got a white car, with a dark background. Can you imagine the confusion on the part of the camera? when faced with such a situation, you should zoom in more on your subject (in this case, the car) so as to cut down on how much darkness the camera sees and thus give it a better field to adjust for properly. This is why the pictures of your car on the parking lot with the street light in the back ground and all that darness seem kind a two dimensional (technically they are, but you can shoot in such a way that it has a three dimensional feel to it, you'll know it immediately if you ever see a pictured done that way). In otherwords, they seem kind a flat.

This is why I like the ones that were shot with the building in the back ground, on the firelane, etc. Because you dont have all the darkness throwing off the exposure, you get more even lighting and exposure and more 3d type look, they have depth. The #4 picture is a good example of this. Want to know why? Because the color of the pavement is very close to 18% gray so the camera sees this and goes Oh Yeah, I know exactly how to expose for this. It sets the setting and everything comes out good. The white is white, the red is red and everything has a depth to it, it draws you into the picture.

So I like most of the shots you have with the building in the back ground with excpetion of a couple that were over exposed. The very last picture, just a touch more lighting or exposure and that would be an automotive centerfold. Overall you did an excellent job with what you had to work with.

Sorry for the long post, but I like to teach a little on photograpy. Im no expert, but I dont mind passing along what I do know. I hope to see even more pics from ya in the near future as you keep practicing. Let me know if this was at all helpful.

Awesome, thanks a ton. I'll keep this in mind. Up until recently I haven't really had a digital camera that I can do much with. So now that I have one it's time to learn.

Originally Posted by Reptile

Considering how freaking difficult it is to take good night shots....that looks great.

And I don't say that about white cars very often!

Thanks.