Gimme some ideas for taking pics of my car. I see some of you guys (txhatch, 18sec, doood, etc.) with some great shots. I love the lighting and what not...

I have a PowerShot A40 and some setting help would be great too.

Thanks guys!
Josh

 

Long exposure is the key..it makes even the darkest night look bright. Dont use the flash it just ruins pictures. Do you have manual focus? For low shots use it so the camera doesnt focus on the ground, but on the car.

 

Here's the camera: http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/a40-30/index.html

I'm stupid to this kind of stuff. I just know how to put it on auto and turn the flash on or off.... hehe. :happysad:

 

Deffinately use a tripod! Especially at night with long exposure.

Make sure there isn't a bunch of crap in the background like other cars and what not (unless you intend to have them there).

 

Any good sites for a tripod for this camera?

thanks guys.

 

Play around with manual mode on your camera. Its basically trial and error. You can do a lot with your camera, but sometimes just having more mega pixels help. My friends a80 is 4 megapixels and even in auto mode it just takes great pictures.

With backgrounds and layouts try to square things up and shoot in places with lots of angles. Its hard to describe...mainly crawl around and look for shots that seem unique.

Any camera store will have a good tripod. They do help greatly.

 

:werd: Try to avoid symmetry. Asymmetry will look more creative and will be more interesting.

Tripods are pretty universal from what I understand. Even walmart has cheap tripods. The might be lighter weight and not hold up as long, but for you purpose they would probably work fine.

 

There are camera guru's in the basement...
they can help :goodjob:

 

this is what i do when i take car shots sometimes...

we all see things from a certain perspective in life. that prospective is from 5'8-6' off the ground. i really dont care for pics taken from that height, unless its really good. so dont be scared to get on the ground with some worm-eyed view shots. something that ive always wanted to do, is go higher than the car. im really digging this right now....like the one attached.

something you should learn is composition. one rule is the rule of thirds. meaning picturing every shot to have a grid like this.



you want to place the horizons or any strong lines with the lines on the grid. and you want your subject to be where the lines cross. and picking the subject is important, you may be photographing a car, but you can make the subject, or the first thing the eyes turn to be the headlights, or the wheels. and DONT PUT STUFF IN THE MIDDLE. it really irks me. thats one rule, but one thing about photography, some of the best shots break all the rules. :exnbp:

depth. get some. you dont want a flat 2D image. you want to allow the eye to wander....

also, when you are photographing a moving car..."let the car move" so lets say the car is moving towards the right of the pic....frame the shot so that there is space in the right for the car to move to...


my mind just went off...so thats it for now. h:

 

Also, do not take your pictures in direct sunlight. The best time of day for lighting is right before the sun goes down. Over-cast days are the best.

If it is bright out, block the sun from the camera lens with your hand.

Since your camera probably doesn't have F-stops, and you probably can't vary your shutter speed much, learn to use photoshop for stuff like bluring the background so your car really stands out.

My dad is one of the better professional photographers in San Diego. I have picked up a lot of info through the years. I will post more ideas as I think of them.