a bit of a laugh really. no photoshopping, no touch ups....enjoy.

for full size, click me and click on each pic to find a link that says "full size media" above the pic for the super size.



















i threw this extra one in for a laugh...took it a while ago.

 

Great pics! Just curious how long the exposures were. Most digital cameras have a limit of a few seconds before the image gets too much noise. Also if they were digital, did you have the camera reduce the contrast?

 

there so cool like your MCS

 

Dude, I absolutely love your work! When I saw your post, I didn't expect any less. Way to go!

 

As usual the most awesome MINI pics on the net. It would be nice to know your equipment and exposure info. Care to share? Amatures like me would love to be able to pull off shots as nice as these.

 

You are a master, Hafid...awesome work as always.


Welcome to NAM, jordan...:smile:

 

Once again some more Great photos.

Earl

 

Haf, awesome pics!!!

 

Like really like the long exposures.
How about some technical info on some of them?
Excellent MINI you got there.
Ever thought of going to an autocross to take pictures of MINIs in action?
Might be neat.
Post some pictures if you do it.
Thanks.

 

Just more evidence why you can't enter anymore "Show me your mini" photo contests


Truly awesome work, and yes how about giving us some of the technical stuff or at least some hints? :smile:

 

Beautiful shots as always!!

 

Very nicely done shots! I'd love to try doing something like that, but doubt think my point and shoot digital will do the trick. I'd be interested to hear about the exposure times and other settings regardless however.

Steve

 

Absolutely awesome long exposures!! I fifth (? maybe seventh?) the request for info on apatures and exposure setting, and film speed used too.

 

Beautiful. Almost reminds me of Stanley Kubrick's style of lighting. Great contrasting, rich colors.

Miniature

 

Hafid, you're a pro! Is Time Life still hiring? Me thinks these are not digital Cam photos throw us a bone reveal your gear. I snagged one for a wallpaper looks like a star filter was used .... sweet.

 

Hey those are some cool pictures!!

 

Just as everyone else said--Beautiful as expected. Your photography is always incredible. How about a little details on that long exposure shot of the lights circling the MINI. What is that.............DOHHHHH, I just saw it in the other pic, it's another MINI. HAHAHAAH, very sweeet. How fast was the other MINI going? Seems like a pretty tight place!

 

Wow! Thank you for all the kind comments.

I'm happy to share how I did this. It certainly isn't difficult, technically. The hardest thing is obviously getting all the other pieces into place - those being composition, lighting, and location. But before I get into that, how did I do this? Well, several things are needed in that tangible sense.

First off, a decent camera. I don't have a great camera but it seems to really do a great job and I've figured out how to really use it. It's just a Canon S45 and the most important point about it is the manual controls.

A tripod is an absolute must. Nobody can hold a camera in the air absolutely still for more than half a second. These are 15 second exposures and the key is to have zero blurring. It's very difficult even with a tripod sometimes b/c the mere process of pressing the shutter release will shake the camera and blur the image so sometimes you need to use the self timer.

Next up is lighting. I like to shoot at night b/c I feel I've got an understanding for what my camera can do under low light conditions. The shots on the bridge are taken under the lighting of the bridge which is no more than the equivalent of several hundred candles. The main point is that the lighting is EVEN. There are really no hot spots so the colors and visual interpretation is truly fantastic. The pictures *almost* look fake, like they were done in CGI.

Technically, all these pictures are set to ISO 50 (for practically no grain or "noise") and an open aperture (hence you see the "star" effect with the lights). The rest is determined on practice of how long I think the picture needs to be exposed based on the lighting. This is a lot of trial and error at first. The white balance for the most part is adjusted for each pic to what I think is the closest to "normal". Hard to explain really - you may be better off leaving the WB to automatic at first.

Location.

This is a tough one for many. You see, although the car is nice, to me, I need a powerful scenery to go with it. Location though is a by product of having the most important requirement for any of this....the "eye".

Car photography follows a certain pattern and sadly I am no where near having a full grasp of it. If I had a digital SLR, I could do so much more (like create some real depth of field for example). But anyway, there's that issue of composition that one needs to create. It's very hard to teach someone this. If you're of the artists' eye, then you've got a headstart. I'd say you need to spend a lot of time studying car pictures. While learning, try to recreate the shot you see in terms of the composition. Technically, you probably won't know how they did that (and more often than not the magazines are going to touch up a picture in photoshop to add more to it). However, that doesn't mean you can't try!

A friend who also has a good eye to come along with you helps. My friend Chris in came with me and certainly was paramount to helping me try a couple of shots. He's a CG animator by trade and so has that "eye" for seeing things visually. He was amazed by how "fake" some of the pictures appeared to him b/c he can come very close to creating the same pic completely in 3D Studio Max.

Style.

Everyone has it, but the trick is expressing it. I love movement. It just adds a new dimension to the picture - the ability to show that some time had passed while taking a picture. I try to show this in night photography by the "trail" of lights. It's an easy trick but you need that long exposure for it to work, and a car passing by

We determined that the bridge has *just* enough room for the turning radius of another MINI. It was literally down to a few inches on each side. So, we did several 13-15 second exposures with the car driving around my car. Some had the hazard lights on, some used the brake light. The pic with the faint car in the picture is because the car came to a stop just before the picture finished taking so you got a stronger impression of the car and it came out like a "ghost".

I'm rambling here and should stop. If you have more questions, post away!

Thank you again for all the comments.

haf

ps. I'll put the pics up in my gallery and you can always check them and others anytime. Cheers.

 

damn hafid, you the man! It's not just about that slow exposure, but

how you positioned your camera and the colors and everything. For a second,
thought I was watching some CG animated movie. :smile: That's how much motion
your picts have.

 

Damn a digital camera! They have really come of age. I have a similar camera but my pics don't turn out like that!

 

Fantastic shots Haf!

Where is that tall cone-like structure?

 

MINI Rings. It's Not Saturn, it's MINI!

 

DAMN

 

Outstanding post Haf, well said.
Are you familiar with JAlbum? It's a very cool free web gallery software often used by photographers. Most templates include the option to display the camera EXIF data so that others can see your camera settings (and learn).
http://www.jalbum.net/
I'm using it for my site now because it makes it so much easier to update (click my sig).

I'm sure that people on the DP Review forums would love your work!
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1010

Thanks for the inspiration. :smile:
Mike

 

Mike, thanks for the tip!

George - the blue structure is the new Frank Lloyd Wright -inspired spire at the corner of FLW Blvd and Scottdale. I think it's ugly but makes for a good photo opp. The real FLW designs are ones that are supposed to blend in the desert - not stick out like a sore (and in this case blue) thumb.