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Really Bad image... advice needed

T

tomoisyourgod

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 3, 2007
239
0
Liverpool, UK
Exposure: 1/30 at f/10
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 45mm
Max Aperture Value: f/4.5

What would be the best settings to shoot a photo like this?

mini6.jpg


Many thanks in advance!
 
What type of camera are you using to shoot that. No offense but it looks way bad... like point and shoot with no lighting on automatic bad.

Either way... you may need to bring in some more light to get rid of the dull flat color. Grey makes for a good background but you will have to light it if you want to get good color can clarity out of it (just like any background) and you will have to shoot at a higher aperture to get the image sharper.

Just my initial $0.2
 
You have harsh shadows underneath the car.

That's really grainy for ISO 100, so maybe it is extremely compressed. Shoot with as high a quality as you can.

Use a faster shutter and aperture, this will let you hand hold the shot better. Open the aperture up until you can shoot atleast 1/100s.

try a different angle. The car looks like it is popping a wheelie, which is kind of wierd.
 
You seem a tad bit too high... I would perfer a slightly lower angle to give the picture a more realistic look, and not such and objective point of veiw... But thats just me, and that is a very nice model too
 
[How to improve it?

1) use some "softer" lights. And more light
2) You can get better depth of field and a little more sharpness at
about f/8 than f/4.5
3) use the lowest ISO setting your camera has
4) Use a tripod.
5) even on a tripod you can shake the camera. Use the self timer so your finger does not move the camera when you trip the shutter
6) shotting in raw mode will allow more options in post processing
 
First, set the camera on a tripod. Then, zoom in on the object so it fills most of the frame and doesn't need much cropping. Then, turn your flash unit off and anything else that may cause unwanted white specks of reflected light. If you have a digital SLR, set the lens aperture between f/5.6 and f/8. Then, shoot and post process your contrast, levels and color. so the object stands out against the background.
 
Its a Canon 350D - in the manual it states that the maximum aperture of the lens is f/5.6 - therefore AF Mode is not possible in Manual mode...
 
Photograph it with the sun on it. Put in on the lawn (or on a small table) and get your camera *right down* next to it so it looks like a realistic viewpoint. Try it on the grass, or with your house as the background or with your white mini-backdrop. (blacktop is too dark - if you put it on the tar, then try to keep it out of the photo - ie. point the camera up slightly.) Get the car to fill up the photo more.

At the moment it looks like it's in the garage, on a dirty uneven bit of paper, lit by a single strip light. If you can't get sun or even outside, put as much light as possible on it - a 400-watt work light, and get that camera on the ground, and a mini-tripod (or put the camera on the ground / a couple of books) and use the self-timer.
 
That's nice - what did you do?

I'm no photoshop expert but I guess either autolevel or fiddling with RGB channels to boost intensity/saturation of the colour areas, and shifting the white/black points on the histogram.
 
Settings aren't the real problem, as you can see, a little PS can do a lot. Your main problem is perspective and your second problem is lighting. You have a few choices to improve them:

1. Go out and shoot some real cars outside. Pay attention to the perspective and lighting at various times of the day facing various directions. Emulate the ones you like.

2. Get some car magazines and look at their best pictures. Emulate the ones you like.

3. Google the heck out of model photography- most of the helpful sites are about model railroad dioramas, but the lighting tips will help a lot.
 
RedTomato said:
That's nice - what did you do?

I'm no photoshop expert but I guess either autolevel or fiddling with RGB channels to boost intensity/saturation of the colour areas, and shifting the white/black points on the histogram.
Click to expand...

I did a quick run through Adobe RAW. Never threw it to Photoshop. As you said, white balance, levels, curves, saturation tweak, etc.
 
If you look at photos of cars (real or toy) a lot are shot from the drivers side hood up. Better lighting would help. The standard three light set up key, fill and back is a start. You could also go for the tent light set up so everything is soft and even. A shallower depth of field could help to give some drama. A gel or two would work. A textured base adds interest. This could be any contrasting material, rusty metal, wood etc. A low light playing across the texture makes an interesting effect. A low angle would make the car look bigger.
 
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