Shots from my open house

[DI-Joe]

Had an open house for automotive photography earlier this month, here are some of the results. 10 of my fav's...

http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359436407_Vevkh-XL.jpg

http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359429416_gpWeQ-XL.jpg

http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359439387_4JnoU-XL.jpg

http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359782407_6EMHM-XL.jpg

http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359408316_CTVVG-XL.jpg

http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359407362_WoMvg-XL.jpg

Of course my car gets in on the action:
http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359266237_j58Dn-XL.jpg

http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359266422_qxNmo-XL.jpg

http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359413812_rSP9W-XL.jpg

http://www.dev-inspirestudios.com/photos/359792834_UCKVs-XL.jpg

Thanks for looking. :P

[black mamba]

Good stuff, overall. It's a shame you didn't have a better setting to work with....too many distractions to draw the eye from the subject. I shoot a lot of car shows and I know the difficulties you face.

Tom

[Scraff]

Your pics look great! Would you mind sharing how you did your post especially in the 2nd and 3rd pics? I have some friends that had asked me to take some pictures of their cars and I want to try and process them just as you did. Nice job again!
Thanks...Scott

[DI-Joe]

Your pics look great! Would you mind sharing how you did your post especially in the 2nd and 3rd pics? I have some friends that had asked me to take some pictures of their cars and I want to try and process them just as you did. Nice job again!
Thanks...Scott

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Scraff, I'd suggest you study up on HDR photography both from a physical aspect and artistic aspect. Once you figure out how to achieve it, finding your own style shouldn't be too hard.

[Scraff]

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Scraff, I'd suggest you study up on HDR photography both from a physical aspect and artistic aspect. Once you figure out how to achieve it, finding your own style shouldn't be too hard.

What software did you use? I have done some work in Photmatix and had some pretty decent results.

[DI-Joe]

I use photomatix and CS3. Here's a hint about photomatix. ignore the preview, learn to read the histogram.

[Darren Troy C]

Awesome imaging DIJ!

[Scraff]

I use photomatix and CS3. Here's a hint about photomatix. ignore the preview, learn to read the histogram.

Can you suggest any sites/books that you have come across to help you with these images?

[DI-Joe]

Can you suggest any sites/books that you have come across to help you with these images?

Not really, other than the tutorials and learning the physics of how HDR works, the rest is interpreting the software and understand what your art is. Like I said, I didn't start getting amazing results until i stopped fixating on the preview and started focusing on the histogram. Learn how histo's work and give it a few tries.

Also, open the RAW files directly in photomatix, the best way to do it is drag the 3 exposures right from Adobe Bridge into photomatix.

The basic formula is 3 exposures at 2+- stops, the key is where this set lies against a properly exposed shot. So for light cars, I want no hot spots, for dark cars I'll take hot spots but bring up the reflections a little bit to help me make the car super shiny.

For my cars, I go against the rules of thumb.... HARSH noon sunlight, no shade... The more light the better... for cars anyway.

Lemme see what you come up with.

[Scraff]

Not really, other than the tutorials and learning the physics of how HDR works, the rest is interpreting the software and understand what your art is. Like I said, I didn't start getting amazing results until i stopped fixating on the preview and started focusing on the histogram. Learn how histo's work and give it a few tries.

Also, open the RAW files directly in photomatix, the best way to do it is drag the 3 exposures right from Adobe Bridge into photomatix.

The basic formula is 3 exposures at 2+- stops, the key is where this set lies against a properly exposed shot. So for light cars, I want no hot spots, for dark cars I'll take hot spots but bring up the reflections a little bit to help me make the car super shiny.

For my cars, I go against the rules of thumb.... HARSH noon sunlight, no shade... The more light the better... for cars anyway.

Lemme see what you come up with.

Thanks for the tips...I am going to try this weekend...my dad just bought a new BMW X5 all black and I am thinking with the right background and lighting...I should be able to get some decent pics. I will let you know how I make out.
Thanks...Scott

[Scraff]

I played this weekend a bit...shot this car which is my neighbor's but I could not get a good full car shot without anything around so I tried this out....let me know what you think.

http://scraff.smugmug.com/photos/362001931_PCFxU-L.jpg

[DI-Joe]

I played this weekend a bit...shot this car which is my neighbor's but I could not get a good full car shot without anything around so I tried this out....let me know what you think.

http://scraff.smugmug.com/photos/362001931_PCFxU-L.jpg

That's hawt, man. nicely done.

[jeffmeyers]

Great HDR shots! Love em!

[Scraff]

I have one more....but again...I only had so much to work with becuase I could not move the car. I really just wanted to shoot it and play with some different techinques...this one is a bit different...please let me know what you think of this.....

http://scraff.smugmug.com/photos/362025261_vujzN-L.jpg

[DI-Joe]

are you using the lens correction vignetting? You should avoid that as it does more damage than good as it just paints a dark circle instead of lowering the luminance like the light room effect or ACR vignette slider.

I'd say your HDR intensity is a little high in the second one. you can see where the differing exposures are blended together along internal edges, make sure you're looking at your histogram and put the peak just to the right of the left edge, not in the middle. If it's too far left, expand the softening one to the right to quiet the image down. Also try warming that image up a little, it's a bit on the cold side.

I hope that helps. :)

[Scraff]

are you using the lens correction vignetting? You should avoid that as it does more damage than good as it just paints a dark circle instead of lowering the luminance like the light room effect or ACR vignette slider.

I'd say your HDR intensity is a little high in the second one. you can see where the differing exposures are blended together along internal edges, make sure you're looking at your histogram and put the peak just to the right of the left edge, not in the middle. If it's too far left, expand the softening one to the right to quiet the image down. Also try warming that image up a little, it's a bit on the cold side.

I hope that helps. :)

Is there another way to vignette? I could not find anything other than lens correction. I am hoping there is becuase it looks like that filter is very limited.
Thanks...Scott