One New Photo...

[skitelluride531]

Well, last night I went out to take some new photos of my MINI for the July Contest. I got the one I wanted for the contest (won't reveal that one here) but I also got a few others I liked. Here is one of them. I will post some more later...

Comments/Criticism are always appreciated .



Please click on the picture to see the larger version:

[CustomAV]

WOW


sorry I can't be more descriptive but I just love the shot and that was my first reaction.

I just love how deep the MINI looks in this shot!

[Doodle Bug]

great shot........

[shukes24]

nicely done!

[krolyat]

looks good

[scooby]

hot car but i maybe biased with the look you got goin on there ;)

problem i find with shooting black cars is that you tend to lose areas of detail like in the aero kit

i guess there are ways around this which involves making use of the light you have around you and probably flash/lamp equiptment, deflecting light to the subject with say white boards etc

that said the shot u have there is very good!

[skitelluride531]

Thanks for the compliments guys!

And Scooby - it looks like we almost have twins!


Anyways...here is another one .

Please click picture for larger version

[speednut]

Wow, very nice. I'm still drooling over those nice wheels. I'll be looking forward to seeing your contest entry too.

How do you like the painted interior parts; did it come out looking like OEM? Did you do it yourself? I've been wanting to paint some of my interior parts to match the other anthracite bits.

[blacknblue]

Originally Posted by speednut

I'm still drooling over those nice wheels.

This was my first reaction also.

I like the second shot you posted, mainly because I'm a sucker for low-angled pics. What really stands out for me is that little bit of highlight on the passenger-side fender and tire.

-Juan

[skitelluride531]

Originally Posted by speednut

Wow, very nice. I'm still drooling over those nice wheels. I'll be looking forward to seeing your contest entry too.

How do you like the painted interior parts; did it come out looking like OEM? Did you do it yourself? I've been wanting to paint some of my interior parts to match the other anthracite bits.

Thanks! My contest entry is kind of interesting. I have never submitted one before...I am really curious to see the others to see if anyone took the same approach as me .

The interior...I LOVE the way it turned out. The only thing that bothers me is that the steering wheel does not match, and the speedometer/tachometer background does not match, but I am working on fixing that .

I attempted to do it myself in my backyard, twice (keep in mind I had no previous experience in spray painting...and spraying paintning, although not too difficult, is not exactly something that you can just pick up and get perfect the first time - it requires a little practice, and a lot of patience/time). Both attempts did not really meet my expecations, so a few months ago I just brought them to a body shop along with my aero skirts, to get sprayed "professionally". It came out exactly how I wanted it to, so I am happy. However, I feel like now that I have a good technique for spray painting (I painted my boot handle a few weeks ago) I think I would be able to achieve the same results - so if you are confident in your skills, I bet you would have no problem.

Originally Posted by blacknblue

This was my first reaction also.

I like the second shot you posted, mainly because I'm a sucker for low-angled pics. What really stands out for me is that little bit of highlight on the passenger-side fender and tire.

-Juan

Thanks!

I love the low angle pictures too! For the second one, I was down on my stomach to get the camera down to that angle, . It is kind of funny how low my MINI looks in the picture because of the angle - it is only on stock springs.

[skitelluride531]

Here is one more...I tried something new. I played with two exact copies of the same RAW image. Set the exposure of one for the MINI, and the other exposure for the background. I am finally getting familar with the layers in photoshop so I thought I'd give it a shot. It turned out OK, but I definitely still need some practice! Let me know what you think...

[speednut]

skitelluride531, one thing I hate when I'm working in PS and spending a bunch of time on layers is when my subconscious kicks in and says "It looks fake", yet I can't figure out exactly why. I feel like I have to salvage something for all my hard work but I look at it and it seems substandard to me. Funny thing is I'll go back to the same RAW image a few months later to try a new approach and get an amazing image. I think I'm seeing the same thing here with your most recent image. The first ones you posted are absolutely fantastic (some of Scooby's blow my mind with the B/W tones and you're very close). This recent one however has my subconscious rejecting it and I can't do a proper explanation why. Halo? Expect more shadow under the car? Higher contrast on the car, but low contrast on the background?

You had asked me earlier about masking and the trouble is that I was hoping to find better instructions for you. I can tell you what I do, but it isn't necessarily the best or proper way. The halo you have on the driver's side rear is the same one that haunts me frequently. As per other's suggestions here, I do like you described and double process the RAW file, then overlay the two images post RAW processing. Sometimes I went too far in the settings between the two RAW files which makes it look fake once I'm done. When that happens, I'll create a new updated layer from modified ACR settings, then copy over my mask from the previous layer so I don't have to redo my mask work. To do the masking, I'll add a mask to one of the layers then use the brush tool to modify it (colors set to white & black). I'll typically start with a very large brush with 0% hardness so I have very soft edges between the layers. From there I adjust the brush size a bit smaller and reduce the opacity depending on what needs to be touched up (typically 10-50%). I'll continue to reduce the brush size until I've been able to remove all of the halos. During this whole time, I'll switch between the black and white colors to add or remove from the mask (sometimes due to the round brush shape, it's easier to paint extra mask and remove it selectively for some shapes). Oftentimes, I alternate turning channels and layers on and off to help me paint the mask, especially turning colors off so I'm in a B/W edit mode. This is what I did on Juan's photo in the July contest thread and I think I masked pretty well along the can's edge except for by the rear fender.

I still hold my head down ashamed that 4 months ago I was still using the eraser to remove parts of a layer instead of a layer mask until others here corrected me. My hope is that some of these same PS experts (or close enough) will see my long winded instructions and offer better suggestions for both of us.

P.S. Thanks for the info about painting the interior bits. I'll have to discuss with you more later rather than hijacking this thread.

[skitelluride531]

Originally Posted by speednut

skitelluride531, one thing I hate when I'm working in PS and spending a bunch of time on layers is when my subconscious kicks in and says "It looks fake", yet I can't figure out exactly why. I feel like I have to salvage something for all my hard work but I look at it and it seems substandard to me. Funny thing is I'll go back to the same RAW image a few months later to try a new approach and get an amazing image. I think I'm seeing the same thing here with your most recent image. The first ones you posted are absolutely fantastic (some of Scooby's blow my mind with the B/W tones and you're very close). This recent one however has my subconscious rejecting it and I can't do a proper explanation why. Halo? Expect more shadow under the car? Higher contrast on the car, but low contrast on the background?

You had asked me earlier about masking and the trouble is that I was hoping to find better instructions for you. I can tell you what I do, but it isn't necessarily the best or proper way. The halo you have on the driver's side rear is the same one that haunts me frequently. As per other's suggestions here, I do like you described and double process the RAW file, then overlay the two images post RAW processing. Sometimes I went too far in the settings between the two RAW files which makes it look fake once I'm done. When that happens, I'll create a new updated layer from modified ACR settings, then copy over my mask from the previous layer so I don't have to redo my mask work. To do the masking, I'll add a mask to one of the layers then use the brush tool to modify it (colors set to white & black). I'll typically start with a very large brush with 0% hardness so I have very soft edges between the layers. From there I adjust the brush size a bit smaller and reduce the opacity depending on what needs to be touched up (typically 10-50%). I'll continue to reduce the brush size until I've been able to remove all of the halos. During this whole time, I'll switch between the black and white colors to add or remove from the mask (sometimes due to the round brush shape, it's easier to paint extra mask and remove it selectively for some shapes). Oftentimes, I alternate turning channels and layers on and off to help me paint the mask, especially turning colors off so I'm in a B/W edit mode. This is what I did on Juan's photo in the July contest thread and I think I masked pretty well along the can's edge except for by the rear fender.

I still hold my head down ashamed that 4 months ago I was still using the eraser to remove parts of a layer instead of a layer mask until others here corrected me. My hope is that some of these same PS experts (or close enough) will see my long winded instructions and offer better suggestions for both of us.

P.S. Thanks for the info about painting the interior bits. I'll have to discuss with you more later rather than hijacking this thread.

After looking at the third one again, I think I definitely agree with you. Looks of good information in your post, so I appreciate it! Definitely some things I can play around with. I think I might do a second attempt and see how it comes out .

[skitelluride531]

Another feeble attempt: (with the halo again, unfortunately - still working on that )





Doesn't do much for the poor lighting. I think what Scooby said earlier is right - proper lighting would definitely ehance the details, especially on the black cars!

[89AKurt]

Tried out a different location... for me.

I didn't know where else to post this. Should we start a new thread? Call it the "Parking garage" or similar theme.

[skitelluride531]

Originally Posted by 89AKurt

Tried out a different location... for me.

I didn't know where else to post this. Should we start a new thread? Call it the "Parking garage" or similar theme.

I like it. Maybe could have been an opportunity for a photo contest entry if the focus was on the guard rail. Nevertheless, good photo! Good idea on the "Parking Garage" thing though. But, you can always just start a new thread too.

[89AKurt]

Originally Posted by skitelluride531

...Good idea on the "Parking Garage" thing though. But, you can always just start a new thread too.

No. You start it!
Thanks for the compliment. Looking at other shutterbug's ideas expands my own canvas.