Are there any professional or semi-professional photographers in the DCMM ranks? I'd like to have some nice photos of my Mini, but the ones I take always seem to be lackluster...

Or, does DCMM ever have like a club photography day for their cars?

 

I'm not an expert in automobile photography but I might be able to help taking some shots. Let me know.

 

photo meet! I'll bring the beer

 

And I'll try to learn to use my cam!

 

Now, we're talking.

 

my car is one black door handle from being 'done'....well, at least the outside. Maybe Recaro's if I can work out this interior swap.

 

Cool....Im sure the beer will help the photographs immensely! LOL

I was thinking some glossy night photos would be cool, too with lights and stuff reflected on the Minis...

I have a friend that does wedding photos...I wonder if he'd be willing to try auto photos for a low fee....

 

Oh, you've got help already.

 

Ive been known to take a few pictures...not a professional though...yet

You can check out some of my pictures through the links in my sig

 

No I dont have help already....was just thinking aloud...

 

We have been toying around with this idea for a while.
Make some plans, get some dates, set it up! We can make an event out of it! Lordy knows, I need to add to my MINI photo collection, with Cecilia and all. and I really don't have many pictures of her and her big brother together either...really just the one in my sig. I'd be happy to join up for some cool shots of my babies!

 

Four simple rules for a good photograph…

• Keep it simple
• Keep it close
• Frame
• Look for details

These rules work as each or together, but the bottom line is if you would like a great photograph follow these.

Keep it simple is just that. Do not have a busy background, but calm and serene.

Keep it close. Don’t take the picture and later say I want to crop it. Don’t use the zoom function on the camera if you do not have to, walk up to the subject to the subject, and get close and make it the full attention of the shot.

Frame. Look for two or three things in the background that will make the subject be the center piece, i.e. trees to the outside with a cloud above and the subject in the middle.

Look for details. How many times have you taken a snapshot and found a tree sticking out of the head of someone or a telephone pole for an antenna of a car when you saw the actual photograph? Actually look at the background of what you want to take a picture.

 

Nice pointers sndwave

 

Easy with that thumb dude.
It takes years to be a professional at photography, but with those four simple rules anyone can take a great photograph and not a snap shot.

 

Okay...I'll see what I can find out. I wonder what kinds of places people would be interested in as backdrops for the cars. I think downtown DC would be the most appropriate place for the "DC Metro Minis" but I bet alot of people would dread driving their cars into the city....

I was also thinking that it might be nice for DCMM to have Flickr album with members cars....has anyone attempted to do something like that?

 

Nice photos ssallykat....I'm torn on the idea of just have a photo day where everyone can just bring their cameras and we can wade through all the photos to select which ones were the best...or maybe hiring a professional to produce uber slick photos for a price....

 

Mark and I spoke again at the Tate Breakfast about a class... I plan on sitting down, going through my INTRO DIGI CLASS SYLLABUS and tweaking it for the workshop we have chatted about... Dates we have batted around would be end of October. Plan on at least 2 sessions, with a run involved. Also will set up a "SHOW" at Penn Camera of the prints. My goal is that everyone will walk away with 1- 13x19 print. Any interest?

 

Background is definitely key.

Interest? Ummm yeah?!!

 

OOOOOOOoooooo......That sounds promising!

 

I'd love to do a group sesion. As much as I would like to do a DC location the problem with such a location would be traffic. It would be difficult to get everyone together in a good workshop location (nice back drop and all) on a weekend. I think the idea of a session or two which included a drive - with a stop here and there would be a good start. Maybe instead of a collective drive get folks to break up into groups of three and four with a common meeting place in a few hours. At the common meeting place do a review of shots captured. I know that I make better shots when I am with other photographers. I tend to feed off the energy.

John

 

Glad to hear that there is interest for Laura's class.. I promised her there would be! So it will be worth all the hard work she puts into teaching it! I am excited about this class and have a feeling it will be a great hit! So stay tuned for at least that event, but we can do more than the class. I know a lot of you have better cameras than mine and would be interested in photo shoots.

A Flickr DCMM photo page..good idea! isn't Flickr free? I will look into it! I have been wanting a place where we can post pictures from our events..may just work..OOH you have my brain goin!

Thanks Sndwave for those tips. I have never really thought about that. I will have to take them into consideration as we are trying to get a good shot of Cecilia to 1) add to our family photo wall, and 2) make a new sig! Plus, I just like pictures in general and want to get more and more and more shots of my friends and their MINIs!

 

One thing to keep in mind too is that the camera doesn't necessarily make or break the picture. If I remember correctly, the guy that used to post absolutely amazing shots, hafid, just had a standard point 'n shoot digital camera with decent resolution, and a tripod. But by looking at his pics, you'd think he had a million dollars in photographic equipment!

I think if you do a search for his name on NAM, you can find his old posts...


-Paul!

 

If I may refine this suggestion, don't use the digital zoom. A digital zoom just crops the picture resulting in lower resolution. The optical zoom range or zoom on a film camera is fine. That being said closer is almost always better!

Most digital cameras have a indicator to warn when you're switching from optical to digital zoom.

A zoom with a good ratio, say 8-10x or better or a camera with interchangeable lenses allows great perspective control. To put it simply one thing you'll notice is a telephoto compresses things. Makes things in the backround look much closer to the foreground. A wide angle does the opposite.

Ever notice a football game on TV where it looks in one shot like it's snowing like crazy then in another shot just a flurry? The telephoto shot makes the flakes over a good distance all appear to be at about one distance hence looks like a blizzard. The they switch to a 'normal' lens and you realize it's not snowing that heavily.

So for example you can control how far a item seems to be in front of or behind the subject through use of the appropriate focal length, or "amount of zoom". Then move the camera close enough to get the subject a appropriate size.

Then there's the difference in depth of field of a wider shot and telephoto shot (in addition to due to the lens apeture) and the use of depth of field to prevent / provide emphasis on the foreground or background, but maybe that'd be better saved for a class?

/sorry, you did say simple tips - lecture switch off! Can you tell y'all hit one of my 'interest buttons'?

 

To simply say "don't use zoom (in optical glass)" is simply wrong advice depending upon the situation.

Any longer focal length always provides less depth of field. There are time where you want little depth of field to throw the background out of focus (similiar to a larger (smaller number) F-stop). For example, if you have a cluttered background but want that picture of your car, take it with the longest focal length you got from far away. You WANT little depth of field and throw the cluttered background out of focus (couple this with a fast f-stop).

Having the subject "in the middle" contradicts the "rule of thirds" ... Boring pictures are ... Here's my car in front of the Eiffel tower. While creating natural frames around the subject is GOOD. Subject in the middle are usually ... boring.

BTW, an 8x - 10 x zoom. 35mm equivalent thats like 50 - 500mm. I think 10X there is only one zoom in existence and thats the Sigma Bigma that is way too big, poor resolution, and normal people with pack horses don't carry around If you mean digital zoom. As you said, digital zoom is crap. All it does is give you less pixels, less resolution.

There is NOTHING more important than buying good glass. Unfortunately, its one of those things where you get what you pay for. I agree 100% that composition is extremely important. If you don't understand the basics, then all the fancy gear in the world won't help. But assuming you do know photography 301 or whatever ... then good glass is worth its weight in gold because sooner or later, your going to want to print out and make some nice enlargements for your wall and cheap glass will get you ... cheap enlargements.

 

Some general thoughts. I am not a great photo hound so take them for what your paying. I happen to have a SLR camera (Nikon D-70). When I can I like to place the camera so the opening is less than 100mm and greater than 50 (for a film linse, in my case for a Nikor digital linse more like 40mm-70mm range). This is an effort to keep the lines much like the ones seen to the eye. As mentioned earlier that requires moving around.

I also like to photograph cars like I photograph kids. The headlights are the eyes. I try to get the camera low enough that the camera is almost the same height as the headlights (if done with a wide angle this makes the hood look very long).

Then there is something I learned from Killboy's site when I pan shoot a car. I try to have some open road in front of the car if it is comming moreless at me, and behing the car if it is going away, not exactly adhearing to the rule of thirds but close. The Nikon will put a grid in the viewfinder. Using the grid will help keep the car located in your shot as you pan.

Wide angles tend to curve streight lines. Photo shop can fix that but ya got to know how (I don't). Sometimes I will use that effect just as I will use the forshorting effect a long telephoto has.
John