I think it's cool. Any tips?

[Rebelxsi]

Hi. I have a 14 year old camera that used to be my mom's. Doesn't take video but takes really good photos. I need tips on how to take a bit better photos and when I have enough I will buy a lens with 1.8 exposure 

 i love cars so it's a perfect mix

[stevet1 · Accepted solution]

Rebelxsi

I like your shot, and I appreciate what you were trying to show.

You've encountered a couple of problems. One is taking the photo in portrait mode. You weren't able to show the whole car. Try putting your camera in landscape mode. You'll get more of the and less of things like the sky.

The second problem is a little trickier to address. You've run into what's called high dynamic range. That's the difference between the high brightness of the sky and the darkness of the rear end of the car. Your camera is trying to average them both out, and in the process, winds up losing detail in both.

Next time, try zooming in and take a picture that has less extremes of lightness and darkness in the same shot. Maybe a shot of just the fin, or a shot of just the lettering. If you want to try and get the whole car, try either zooming in, or angling your camera, so that you don't have sky in your picture, and put the sun behind you. You could also change your perspective by squatting and getting down lower.

If you have a polarizer filter, try putting that on and see if it will cut down on the reflections.

I hope you don't mind me offering some tips. They're just my opinions. That and a buck might get you a cup of coffee these days.

Cool car.

Steve Thomas

[stevet1 · Accepted solution]

Rebelxsi

I like your shot, and I appreciate what you were trying to show.

You've encountered a couple of problems. One is taking the photo in portrait mode. You weren't able to show the whole car. Try putting your camera in landscape mode. You'll get more of the and less of things like the sky.

The second problem is a little trickier to address. You've run into what's called high dynamic range. That's the difference between the high brightness of the sky and the darkness of the rear end of the car. Your camera is trying to average them both out, and in the process, winds up losing detail in both.

Next time, try zooming in and take a picture that has less extremes of lightness and darkness in the same shot. Maybe a shot of just the fin, or a shot of just the lettering. If you want to try and get the whole car, try either zooming in, or angling your camera, so that you don't have sky in your picture, and put the sun behind you. You could also change your perspective by squatting and getting down lower.

If you have a polarizer filter, try putting that on and see if it will cut down on the reflections.

I hope you don't mind me offering some tips. They're just my opinions. That and a buck might get you a cup of coffee these days.

Cool car.

Steve Thomas

[Rebelxsi]

Ok thanks for the feedback. I do have a few pictures of the car in landscape mode. I am looking at a few  polarizers on Amazon too. As long as I can get more feedback then I could take better and better pictures. Again thank you and I'll take those tips into consideration.

[stevet1]

Rebelxsi,

You're off to a great start and I wish you much success.

Happy photographying 😀

Steve Thomas

[Christhephotog · Accepted solution]

I like what you were trying to accomplish. A nice tight 1/4 view of the car. I would suggest shooting the car in much better light. See if you can talk to the owner and photograph the car in a place with a nice background behind it. Shoot it at sunrise or sunset. A tripod can really help out here in lower levels of light.  Go on youtube and look at photographing car tutorials. Have fun you are off to a good start by asking questions.