Originally Posted by nate886
How do you guys find neat backgrounds for your pictures? Do they just strike you or do you go driving for a day and look for good pictures? I especially love city shots, but unfortunately my town isn't all that large. Perhaps I've just become calloused to my surroundings... I don't mean to jack your thread WCS - hopefully it will help you out too!
alot of times, I know of the particular spot or area that would be good to shoot at. Other times, I go driving around and smoke a bowl or 4 and stumble on some nice locations
Nate, try roadtripping to Clevland sometime. I'm sure you'll find plenty of places to shoot at.
Keep in mind, you don't nessisarly need an elaborate backdrop. A fence, or maybe just a line of trees will do just as well.
really, its about balance more than anything. And a good sense of perspective. Make sure the lines of perspective are clear (trees progressivly growing smaller as the distances grows, for example). Make sure the car is fairly centered, or off-center, depending on what you're going for.
this is a good example of lines of perspective:
or, this pic for instance:
its not the best pic in the world (I didn't take my time on it, plan on reshooting from there in the future). But note the angles from just the street itself. The light refraction on the top-right wasn't photoshopped on
this pic is all original. I think it might have looked 10x better if I had a longer exposure and if I took the time to position the car correctly in relation to the tower, the sign, and the light pole to the left.
some good shooting places:
- parking garages!!!
- wearhouse districts/docks/railroad transfer yards (or under bridges, railroad or otherwise)
- city skylines (can be acheived numerous ways, off bridges, parking garage roofs, hilltops, etc.)
- modern, post-modern, art-deco, and neo-industrial achetecture looks nice behind a car
- funny signs
- Hilly rual areas/canyon shots/in motion as well (for the last one, you need a second car to shoot from, and you both need to go the same speed. It'll look pimp :grinpimp: )
- on shoots, change up low- medium- and high-angle shots. Also, try to add some variety to the picture set by finding plenty of locations.
-sometimes, sharp angles help. see below:
heh, a good way to acheive nice high-angles....
taken from near the top of a hotel
that line parallel to the fire-lane marking is actually the ledge of the window, some 14 floors above the road. looks kinda neat....
hope that helps. feel free to add on....