How can these shots be improved?

[DEvianT]

Hi guys,

Was out practicing with the D80, and took the following shots:







I was playing around in Photoshop, trying to improve the richness of the colors, but it didn't seem to be working for me.

I want to know what is involved in getting quality like this:



What sort of post-processing would be involved? There's no HDR here, so what do you guys think might give these photos such rich and smooth color and texture?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks :thumbsup:

Hi Sean,

You said you're practising and you want to improve so I'll take you at your word and be frank with you about the shots.
1/. First thing that strikes me is that the point of view you are using for the shots is pretty poor it's very high and also very distant from the subject. I think it was Capa said there are no bad photographs you where just too far away. That's very true in these images. I notice in most commercial car photography the killer point of view seems to be low down to the car or close in and abstact. I'd experiment with different focal lengths, heights and positions. Work really hard at your composition it needs attention if you wish to crack this kind of photography.
2/. Cars shot commercially are shot in controlled conditions with humongous softboxes and spill kills, tremendously complex lighting set-ups are used. I doubt very much you have this option. I know I don't and I have studio equipment just not enough! The only other option then to reduce reflections is cloudy overcast days, evening shots and polarizers. The good news is that cars don't move on long exposures like the shots you've taken so it's not hard to do.
3/. Ever thought of getting a manfrotto gadget to fasten camera to car body at various angles and drive about taking pictures with a remote release. You could get the gear to do that for about £50 and it makes for some killer photography and some great fun also. Check out Chase Jarvis's blog this week for inspiration on that front.

Hope that all helps,

David

[sean_damien]

Hi Sean,

You said you're practising and you want to improve so I'll take you at your word and be frank with you about the shots.
1/. First thing that strikes me is that the point of view you are using for the shots is pretty poor it's very high and also very distant from the subject. I think it was Capa said there are no bad photographs you where just too far away. That's very true in these images. I notice in most commercial car photography the killer point of view seems to be low down to the car or close in and abstact. I'd experiment with different focal lengths, heights and positions. Work really hard at your composition it needs attention if you wish to crack this kind of photography.
2/. Cars shot commercially are shot in controlled conditions with humongous softboxes and spill kills, tremendously complex lighting set-ups are used. I doubt very much you have this option. I know I don't and I have studio equipment just not enough! The only other option then to reduce reflections is cloudy overcast days, evening shots and polarizers. The good news is that cars don't move on long exposures like the shots you've taken so it's not hard to do.
3/. Ever thought of getting a manfrotto gadget to fasten camera to car body at various angles and drive about taking pictures with a remote release. You could get the gear to do that for about £50 and it makes for some killer photography and some great fun also. Check out Chase Jarvis's blog this week for inspiration on that front.

Hope that all helps,

David

Thanks for the advice David.

Here are a couple of new shots from today:





Please let me know when you guys think.

Any post processing tips on these as well?

Thanks!