A level Project - Article up opinions please :) - Saxperience

Lewis · 3rd February 2010, 20:38

Hey everybody, for my A level ICT strangly, ive been tasked with producing 12 pages of a car magazine. So i thought id do something along the lines of Redline/Top gear/Max power ect. Only thing is im not really in any way set up for a decent photo shoot.

The good: Ive managed to get quite a few local sax-pers involved so ive got material to shoot, i know of a good location to do the shoot also.

The bad: Ive got no 'advanced' photography skills, im not really familiar with the professional way to do it, and i havnt got a suitable camera. The only camera i have is a Canon Digital IXUS 750 10MP.

Ive been doing my research reading car mags, looking on the web getting ideas but i was wondering if anyone had advice to maximise my chances of a good grade for this project.

Mite be worth noting i have moderate skills on Photoshop, sorry for the essay but all help is very much appreciated!

Thanks in advance
Lewis

Chr15 · 3rd February 2010, 20:40

edit, doesnt matter

Ryan^p · 3rd February 2010, 20:58

one location - Fail. You need to mix it up if shooting seperate cars for 'different features'

Shots will be basic with the gear you have, so you need to select the time of day to have the right light for you, as you dont have anything to create high volumes of non natural light.

Look at websites from people like deanphoto/james(jamie)lipman

Jungle_Jim^m · 3rd February 2010, 21:30

as mentioned deans stuff is awesome http://www.flickr.com/photos/dean-photo/

as is most the stuff in this flickr group http://www.flickr.com/groups/automotivephotographers/

josh mackey is also definately worth a look http://www.flickr.com/photos/mackeyd...7606404521681/
he also wrote this book which i bought and its a great read, has some usefull stuff in there from the very basics right through to rigs and advanced lighting etc

more details of what is in the book are here
http://www.howtodigitallyphotographcars.com/

i bought it from here http://aphrohead.com/Product.aspx?pid=9477961 which was the cheapest i could find - its not that easy to get hold of in the uk so i would definately recommend this site.

Lewis · 3rd February 2010, 23:12

Brilliant!!! Thank you very much guys this info is priceless, i had no idea what to do. Ive read the 'golden hour' is the best time to take photos'. The location ive got has many areas to get different angles and backgrounds, but theyre all on an industrial estate. Will this get repetitive and un professional??

Thanks again

Jungle_Jim^m · 3rd February 2010, 23:27

yeah try mixing it up mate, also if you can get different style of cars that will help. most magazines will run with a graphic theme for each article. for example using colours that match the colour of the car for your design and the stlye of the car. so for luxury cars keep the layout clean and slick for modded cars use things like paint splats, graffitti and stencil style fonts etc. try www.dafont.com to source fonts for free.

Lewis · 3rd February 2010, 23:55

Thanks for the advice mate, i was thinking as the cars ive got to photograph are more refined modified ill go for a street but tidy look. Quite custom but still not over the top. The porshe photographer Dean did is amaing, its just like something from a professional feature.

Cheers

Ryan^p · 4th February 2010, 00:02

Dean shoots for a variety of publications.

His work is really heavily processed though, so not something you will get straight from a camera in most cases, and never from a point and shoot.

I prefer the look from those guys who tend to shoot for unity media/evo/top gear to the garbage pics that they tend to use in PFC.

Golden hours are early morning/late evening, its that or rent a shit load of gear for a week, although learning how to use an SLR/lighting propbably wont be doable in a week.

Merrick · 4th February 2010, 00:24

If you get hold of a DSLR make sure you use a tripod. No amount of photoshopping and post production will make up for an image that is slightly out of focus or suffering from camera shake. This is the biggest trap to fall into for making photos look terrible, especially if you are going to be photographing in lower light conditions (sunset) as you wont be able to use a fast shutter speed.

If you dont use a tripod, dont use a shutter speed slower than 1/60th of a second (this will be hard to do in dusk conditions)

Infact, use a tripod whatever camera you end up using.

Keep it simple with what you've got, dont try and be too fancy. A very simple technique which works really well is to use a wide apperture on the camera (something like 5.6) and take a close up picture of something whith plenty of background. The centre of focus will be sharp but the background will be out, giving a great visual effect.

Next make sure you think about the frame of the image, dont go cutting off the bottom of wheels, or clip out half of the name badge. It sounds simple but you would be suprised how many photos I see where people clipped off the edge of things make the photo look awful (ankles, tops of heads etc).

If you have to use a flash for whatever reason, make sure you dont point it directly at the subject, if possible try and bounce the light off something. Whatever you do dont be tempted to activate the awful on camera flash. Nothing says cheap and amateur like a horrible black outline to everything.

Finally, google search for 'The Rule of Thirds', read what you find and reap the benefits.

If you do manage to get your images as far as photoshop, a few very quick and easy retouches you could do are;

Slightly increase the contrast, this will make everything seem bolder and more defined (dont go ott)
Increase the colour saturation, this will make the colours brighter and bolder. You could also decrease it, this will gray the colours out and make it seem more modernish, but its harder to do well if you have no previous knowledge.

Also, sharpen your photographs abit once you have finished with them.

Jungle_Jim^m · 4th February 2010, 00:24

i was bored so just knocked this up in no more than 10mins, just going back to my idea about themes. obviously though a majority will be a lot more subtle than this

Merrick · 4th February 2010, 00:39

tbh just copy the rough layouts from some car magazines you like. dont copy them detail for detail obviously, but other than that unless your a-level tutor reads evo religously its not going to do you any harm.

Ryan^p · 4th February 2010, 00:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrick

If you get hold of a DSLR make sure you use a tripod. No amount of photoshopping and post production will make up for an image that is slightly out of focus or suffering from camera shake. This is the biggest trap to fall into for making photos look terrible, especially if you are going to be photographing in lower light conditions (sunset) as you wont be able to use a fast shutter speed.

If you dont use a tripod, dont use a shutter speed slower than 1/60th of a second (this will be hard to do in dusk conditions)

Infact, use a tripod whatever camera you end up using.

Keep it simple with what you've got, dont try and be too fancy. A very simple technique which works really well is to use a wide apperture on the camera (something like 5.6) and take a close up picture of something whith plenty of background. The centre of focus will be sharp but the background will be out, giving a great visual effect.

Next make sure you think about the frame of the image, dont go cutting off the bottom of wheels, or clip out half of the name badge. It sounds simple but you would be suprised how many photos I see where people clipped off the edge of things make the photo look awful (ankles, tops of heads etc).

If you have to use a flash for whatever reason, make sure you dont point it directly at the subject, if possible try and bounce the light off something. Whatever you do dont be tempted to activate the awful on camera flash. Nothing says cheap and amateur like a horrible black outline to everything.

I dont agree with quite alot of points here as a must, it is possible to shoot below 1/60 handheld and get a steady image with ease. It depends on how you are shooting, if the subject wanted to shoot a faster shutter speed for whaterver reason, there is the iso to playwith. Tripods are great but not a must for all situations.

Flash, bouncing > If you look at alot of the flash work done for cars they use off camera flash, however its not bounced it is generally shot from above at around 45 degrees of the car. Some people use speedlites, or portable lighting set ups like I have (elinchrom rangers) or in america alien bees and a vegabond.

5.6 isnt wide

but you need to be careful that you dont stop down to much that you end up with parts of the car OOF.

What im trying to say by highligihting those points is dont stick to everything regimented, part of photography is about being adaptable and 'breaking' boundaries and rules. Otherwise alot of peoples images would look the same.

Merrick · 4th February 2010, 01:01

Difference in practice then I guess. I never even think about shooting low light without a tripod, its just inviting dissapointment. Its virtually impossible to shoot slower than 1/30th hand held in anything other than bright conditions, definately not slower than 1/15th.

Still it all depends on the output, if the images are only going to be small you wont notice it, which works in your favour.

(the reason I suggest 5.6 was for the very reason you mentioned, any wider and you probably wont have even your subject in focus (most entry level cameras wont be able to go much wider than that anyway even if you wanted them too).

ISO is a nice cheap fix, but watch it doesnt increase the grain by too much.

I'm all for breaking rules, but to break them you have to know what they are.

Ryan^p · 4th February 2010, 01:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Merrick

Difference in practice then I guess. I never even think about shooting low light without a tripod, its just inviting dissapointment. Its virtually impossible to shoot slower than 1/30th hand held in anything other than bright conditions, definately not slower than 1/15th.

Still it all depends on the output, if the images are only going to be small you wont notice it, which works in your favour.

There arn't many appertures wider than 5.6 bud, most digital cameras wont go wider than the region of 4, and you wont find 2.8 on many lenses you haven't paid good money for.
(the reason I suggest 5.6 was for the very reason you mentioned, any wider and you probably wont have even your subject in focus)

I'm all for breaking rules, but to break them you have to know what they are.

not many apertures wider than 5.6? like f4, 2.8, 1.8 1.4 and 1.2? And the aperture is dependant on the glass itself not the body. So 1.8 glass is 1.8 on all bodies its designed for (so the one mentioned is all EF fit canon cameras.

You can pick up 1.8 glass (not great IQ canon 50mm for under a ton).

I know many photographers who shoot lower than 1/60 easily without a tripod, and their images are not small as magazines often require highest resolution posible for printing with. Like i said before the 'rules' are not true

The rate at which processors are improving iso really isnt as much of an issue these days, even a cheap body can get useable images at 800-1250 iso, more dollas and 6400 is useable.

Viper · 4th February 2010, 01:10

surely it would depend on how the project is being marked?

If the photography isnt being marked then it won't better about your lighting etc?

Merrick · 4th February 2010, 01:13

I didn't say wider appertures didnt exist, but considering how many appertures there are smaller than 5.6 I would say it qualifies as being placed closer to the 'wide' end of the scale, wouldn't you?

Apples and oranges anyway, Im sure we dont need to turn a thread about this guys a-level project into a techno-wang battle.

But just so we know which playing field we're on...the smallest apperture on my wista 45 150mm lens is f64

Jungle_Jim^m · 4th February 2010, 01:26

lewis also try some moving shots whether you do it by making a rig, shoot from car to car or just do some simple panning shots it will create more interest than multiple static shots.

If you want to make a rig have search through this thread might find some usefull info
http://www.saxperience.com/forum/sho...d.php?t=206085

or search google for photography on the net official rig thread

Lewis · 4th February 2010, 12:19

Absolutly amazing guys, cheers everyone for all the assistance. That mock up magazine Jim is incredible, its exactly what i want. Ive been reading Max power (Forgive me) and i noticed they have random patterns and shapes dotted about in the background, how do i put these in and make it look professional?

Also that rig is amazing, ive got loads of alluminiu tubing but is there another way to get the pole to stick to the car?