I was using the Nikon software before we got CS here. CS makes life far easier for doing this stuff. I shoot RAW for almost everything, unless I know specifically that the photos will be sued for lo-res web apps, or soemone needs a bunch of things really fast. RAW does slow down the work flow a bit, but gives you so much control over the image.

 

Submitted for y'all's criticism . . .

 

Can you post the shooting data?



Initial thoughts:
- I like the composition of the image.
- The white balance looks a little off, and it looks like there are some black spots just under your windows.
- That looks like a pretty tough lighting environment. The top of the light pole is overexposed, but the side of your car looks underexposed (since it was lit from directly above).

 

I agree with DiD. White balance is off. Definitely not an easy shot to do though. It needs some supplemental lighting on the MINI. I'd think that the reason you would shoot a picture like this would be to show off the MINI and not the building and the MINI looks muddy especially for Indi Blue.

Good work though. Let see some more.

 

I guess that would help huh . . .

Camera: Olympus C2020Z
Date/Time: 2004:07:31 22:44:50
Aperture: F 2.5
Exposure: 1.00 sec
Exposure Program: Normal
ISO Speed Rating: 314
Metering Mode: Pattern
Focal Length: 8.5 mm


Thanks for the criticism. I'm hoping to go back and reshoot.

I think the black spots are the side graphics and the curb and myself being reflected.
(That and noise.)

 

Since you're shooting .jpg and not RAW, I would bracket the white balance. If you have an incandescent WB mode, definitely use that as one of the exposures with those streetlights.

Also, I would try to frame the picture such that the lamp pole wasn't in the picture (zoom in closer on the MINI). That will prevent the pole from being a hot spot in the picture. With that bright spot out of the way, I would then bracket based on time.

Maybe you pick three different WB settings and three different times (1 second, 5 seconds, then based on how 5 seconds turns out maybe go up to 10 seconds or down to 2 seconds). You would shoot a maximum of 9 image total OR if you're happy with one of the white balance settings after the first white balance bracketing, stick with that and then bracket time all on the same white balance setting.

Another suggestion: lengthen out the exposure to 10+ seconds (adjusting the aperture accordingly). THEN get out a flash light and "paint" your car with it while the shutter is open. Move it back and forth over the side of the car so it isn't concentrated in one spot. Maybe only do this for part of the exposure. It will help bring out the detail on the side of the car.

Your results may vary. (story of my night photography experience so far )

 

I tried that with this shot. (all settings same as above) As you can see, the noise is still there, the white balance if off, and the clock hasn't changed.

The bracketing idea makes sense.

 

I saw those pics with light trails and such. I'll try it.
Now if only I had a better camera . . . . say a D70.

 

I had some luck with the flashlight method. It will help if you can get a longer exposure to give the light some opportunity to show up. If you're going to do that, I would also recommend covering up any reflectors you have so that they don't stand out in the picture.

 

Ah yes, the joy of finding good lighting. It's very difficult. I've only a few places I could rely on for even light that does wonders for the car. A couple of examples:

ISO 50, exposure 15 seconds. F 4.1 WB is actually set to "auto" on these pics.





It's almost unrealistic when you really look at them for a long time. It's strange. That's another MINI going around my car...perfect turning radius..we were lucky on this shot.

 

Hafid, I'm still blown away by your MINI Saturn shot. LOL. Very inspiring stuff as always!

Richard

 

Ok I got two sets of pix here. This was my first test shot of the night, when I had nothing but a digital camera and this handy little bucket. You can see how dark it was.



I set the exposure to Fireworks Setting on my Nikon 4300. I didn't really know what I was doing at the time. Didn't know how to focus, etc. But I loved the angle.



This was encouraging so I decided to do some REAL shots, and these will be in my next post.

 

Here are the real shots. I'll start off with my favorite, and go on to show what I did differently each time. This is my favorite.



Camera: Cheapie Nikon Coolpix 4300
Basic settings were f2.8, 8 second and 4 second exposures. Manual Focus & Noise reduction on.
Lighting: Natural (Streetlights) & External flash unit

Most of you should recognize this kind of picture. Its what happens when you don't white balance. It's got its own quality, but I much preferred the "correct" balance in these shots.



This is what happens when you set a camera to an 8 second exposure and fire off an external flash. Color balance is off due to the mix of lighting. I could have spent more time color balancing the flash, but I think Photoshop would work just as well. During the 8 second exposure I fired the flash 2 times. In the next picture that is a bit brighter, I fired it off 4 times.




This time I decided to change the angle a bit to get a closer view of my car. In the same way as using the flash, I decided to lock my doors to cause the lights to flash. This provided some illumination.


Similar shot with ambient lighting only. No flash.



Here's that 2nd picture from the beginning, and I adjusted the Color Balance in Photoshop to remove some blue from the midtone and highlights.

I think it looks much better, atleast on my monitor.

Compare to the original

 

OctaneGuy and blacknblue: where are those buildings?

OctaneGuy: That's a great demonstration of white balance and varying exposure.

It looks like the back part off your MINI is a little our of focus? Is it that, or are there some strange reflections on the rear corner/hatch area? I love the building you're at, but that little pinkish building at the end is a little distracting.

 

Richard, wow, that's one heck of an adjustment in color balance! I'm really impressed with the result, and the location is spot on only adding to the wonderful composition. It really is amazing how a picture can change dramatically with just some minor corrections here and there...

 

Bank of Norwalk building is a preserved building in the older section of this southeastern LA County suburb. Front Street has a few other buildings like that.

 

Thanks DiD! It was really my first attempt at doing night photography, and especially the first with my 4300. Manual focusing on the 4300 is kinda tough, and so it's very possible the back is out of focus. I actually set focus to my meatball. The first set of pictures I did were all blurry! Hahaha, I packed up my stuff, and was ready to leave when I decided to zoom in on my pics further, and realized it was all out of focus.

So I took my camera out again, and setup the shots again. That first no white balance shot was part of that "blurry" footage.

This forum helped me do these pics. When I saw how dark and flat Juan (Black and Blue) car was, I knew there had to be a better way to illuminate it. So I actually did a test in my garage. With all the lights out (pitch dark), and set to an 8 second exposure, I did these 2 tests using my external flash. Yeah sorry, my garage is a mess!




Notice the difference in shadow behind the car, this was due to the number and angle of flash bursts. I know the wheels are overexposed and there are reflection issues, but the test was good enough to prove that my flash unit was good enough.

This is the flash unit I used. It costs around $99 and is designed for inexpensive digital cameras that don't have flash capability. Basically it has a built in slave that is triggered by your own flash. Also, most digital cameras fire off a preflash that's used for white balancing, before firing off the main flash. This unit can be set to fire on the 2nd flash, or used as a standard flash unit. I didn't use the on camera flash in these shots, I just fired off the unit manually.


Product Review


Where are those buildings?
Los Angeles is home to some of the coolest architecture. This is a building by Eric Owen Moss, whom I used to work for as an architect. It's in Culver City. His website is:
http://www.ericowenmoss.com/

This building is known as the Stealth which is basically the intersection of two geometric forms that get twisted, and the center core is the result.


That Pink building
That's funny, I must have been really tired last night at 1AM, cause I didn't really notice it. But you're right! Not sure why it's pink though. The building is stucco and concrete block. It's known as Trivida---another project I worked on. If you look at this picture you'll see that concrete block isn't normally used this way. And that's really what this architecture is all about--challenging convention and exploring the possibilities.


RE: HAFID
Thanks Hafid and for inspiring me!!!

 

If I had another one of these flash units, I'd set it to slave, and position it towards the front of the car to even up the lighting. Maybe even throw on a softbox on the flash to soften up the reflection.

I think my next priority is to get a remote trigger. The Nikon remote MC-EU1 is around $90 and with this I can set exposures up to 60 seconds. Not that I need longer than 8 seconds, but I can do shots without having to look or hold the camera.

Hmm although another flash unit is about the same. Decisions, decision!

Ooops, that flash unit is now $79.
http://www.srelectronics.com/

 

OctaneGuy and blacknblue,

Would you guys be interested in an L.A. Night Photography Get Together?

 

:jealous:!!

 

Just thinking outloud:

What's half way between scottsdale and L.A.? Joshua Tree? Nice nighttime photo spot - away from all the city lights.

 

Blythe, AZ, and it isn't pretty.

I'll have to coordinate a trip out to LA and do something with you guys out there. Lord knows I'll be travelling a ridiculous amount starting next week...I have no doubt I'll run into you guys soon.

*** OctaneGuy apologizes for mucking up Hafid's post. I accidentally hit Edit instead of making a new post.

 

Hey Hafid!

That would be cool. I can set up a drive to all the coolest modern architecture for photo spots. Good locations are Culver City and Hollywood. Culver City is the best for not being bothered cause it's quiet, and mostly visited by late night production people. When I did my pix, there were like 4 Rent a Cop security guards milling about complaining about their children!

Richard

 

Haf Coop and i have talked about this quite a bit....that would be really intereesting ....we'd need a night or two though just for shooting...more like two....and it of course is better during the week...could be promising though...

 

sadly the laguna seca blue is too dark....



so, i was determined to capture the color with a better angle...



at least when wheels are black, you have a good excuse for them being under-exposed!



the rest are here:

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