How to get those auto show pics you have seen

[Goat Roper]

More than one person has asked how you go about getting pictures like what you have seen udlose, Nick and I post up here. The simple answer is post processing. Now obviously one needs to frame the shot right, get the focus right and generally set the camera up for what you know you will be doing later on with these pics as well.

Nick and udlose can chime in with what they do but I suspect that it follows pretty damn close to what I do.

OVERALL SETTINGS:

Camera wise, run the highest ISO at the lowest f-stop with the highest shutter speed that your camera can remain noise free at. The higher your ISO the more noise you are going to find in your shots. I googled for an image with noise in case anybody was not knowing what they is;

http://www.photoreview.com.au/reviews/digitalslr/noiseISO3200.jpg

On some cameras you will start getting too noisy at ISO800 others much higher. Results will vary per se.

SHUTTER SPEED:

The lower your shutter speed the more likely that any little movement you make, the even breathing, can blur your photo. Best I can do usually with a non-IS lens is about 1/20. If you need to go lower than that with your particular camera/lens setup I suggest grabbing a monopod.

EXPOSURE:

In situations like the auto show I will shoot about a half stop faster than what the camera is telling me to use. The reason for this is what I do in post processing which I will explain in a bit.

F-STOP

That creamy goodness in the unfocused area you see in our shots is called bokeh, or depth of field (DOF). More aptly, the lack of DOF. The lower your f-stop, the creamier your shots. The amount of DOF in your shot is directly proportionate to the distance to your subject and the f-stop count. In other words there will be less DOF (more creaminess) in a shot at f/2.8 when your subject is 3 feet away as compared to the same f-stop and the subject 12 feet away.

F/2.8 is generally a sweet spot for creating creamy goodness, stopping down lower to say 2 or 1.6 is when things get a bit more difficult to manage. At f/1.6 I can focus on a subject nose and the eyes will be out of focus. On some of the ZR1 shots on through my 50 prime lens on and at f/1.6 at 4 feet away the front of the ZR1 emblem is in focus and 2.5 inches away it is not. just saying to be careful in your shots.

If you have a lens that doesn't stop down to under 4.0 it might be difficult to get great shots without some assitance from a flash as well without running a crazy ISO that might get your shots too noisy.

If you are looking at purchasing a lens on the cheap that stops down that far look at primes. The Canon 50mm f/1.4 is around $300 and the Canon 50mm f/1.8 can be found for under $100.

POST PROCESSING

Where the fun stuff happens.

How everybody does this will be different, so I will just say how I do it and let others chime in.

I shoot everything in RAW format. This gives me more flexibility in my post processing. I use Photoshop CS3 as my editing tool. What I did for those car shots is simple; cranked up the clarity (better defined lines), brought my exposure up and brought up my blacks. Depending on the shots I may of had to play with the white balance or recovery but that is shot dependent and too user taste. If you do not shoot in RAW, only JPG, you can try and reproduce exposure and blacks with brightness and contrast. You can mute your colors by desaturating your shot, if your software allows it.

Now why did I under expose my shot just to over expose it in PS? When you perform it in PS in conjunction with the black adjustments it just looks better, thats all I can say really.

Before I save it in PS I sharpen to 50% and throw in noise reduction if needed.

Here is an example of a before and after and the actual PS RAW settings;

Before

http://www.webtrendsguy.com/images/mas2009/preprocessexp.jpg

After

http://www.webtrendsguy.com/images/mas2009/mas2009sm17.jpg

PS Settings;

http://www.webtrendsguy.com/images/random/canonrawsettings.jpg

Now I know I am forgetting some things which I am sure someone will point out but please, be sure to ask any questions you may have. I will treat this like a living document and change it up as things come up.

[Nick]

GREAT THREAD!!! I'm REALLY Stoked to contribute. Later tonight I will show some of my methods.

[udlose98]

Wow, sure wish this would have been here when I started. I will contribute as well but I think you guys have the market cornered.

I dont know what Nick and Scott think, but to me Post production is 75% the work of making a good picture and only 25%the actual original photo itself. I think the three of us use a somewhat similar editing format (actaully it probably varies greatly, but their are still several points the same.) None the less I like a lot of blacks, i know nick does, and judging from Scott's GXP picture he does as well. Adding black to me is the number one thing to get you started in post production, after that balancing out the white point, vibrance, etc will follow.

This is a great example to me of why post production is so key... The other day my friend was showing me his wedding pictures, pictures I did not take. I looked at them and couldnt believe how washed out they looked and unfocused. I took them home and played with them and here is what I came up with...(the original first)

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3036/3318217152_8d25e8c45f_b.jpg

This is the original to me its taking far too much focus off the subjects and putting it onto some stupid red bus. Now if you arent familiar with post production, what I mentioned before "adding blacks" probably does not make a lot of sense, but the picture below does a good job of illustrating what adding blacks can do for a picture...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3142/3318225532_240132c653_b.jpg

In my opinion this shot is greatly improved. I wasnt to big a fan of it to begin with so I added a lot of vinette (darker black circle around the outside of the picture) to take the focus off the bus, arguably too much, but again, it wasnt my shot to begin with.

So much can be done with great programs like photoshop and others, even if you are just using a point and shoot. I use a pretty low end DSLR, but through post production I am able to kick out some pretty nice images.

Thanks to Scott for making this thread.

[udlose98]

On another topic though I think it's also improtant to talk about shot selection.

Now when you think of taking a picture, any picture... what comes to mind is someone standing perfectly upright taking a picture from their point of view. In some cases this is perfectly acceptable and what you are looking for. For example see Scott's signature, there he was shooting a model and the appropriate shot is from his point of view (or roughly about there), no need to get overly creative with camera angles there. But when you are not shooting with models (assuming the majority of us), how boring is it to see the same point of view shots over and over? very boring. To me the picture is all about finding a unique angle which you do not see everyday. This means that, yes I was crawling around on the ground at the milwaukee and chicago show becuase everyone has seen the Corvette Zr1, but has anyone seen the ZR1 from this angle.....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3495/3302888068_15b8903d7c_b.jpg

Now i could use my camera, take a picture from my height and edit the crap out of it and probably make it look ok, but the point is when you introduce a new angle that a lot of people havent seen it just pops off the screen at you. Sometimes Im not even concerned with the results, I just keep shooting, what I think are interesting pictures, get back home, open them up and some just strike me as "wow, did i take that?"

I guess the lesson here is to be dynamic with your shots, there are plenty of cases where taking a picture from your height is the right thing to do, but theres also equally as many cases where finding a new angle will really make a great photo. A few more example of unique angles.....

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3378/3317349152_b6defaf788_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3077/3230036561_4c19cf2483_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3648/3302865644_6edc84a7bc_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3083/3230869486_df8fd0b7a0_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3454/3316531739_102cab19df_b.jpg

And a few examples of where being upright was optimal.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3058/3249964896_1497b4c627_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3113/3219948224_3878cc1e8e_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3625/3302844172_18f0558a59_b.jpg

[Nick]

....

[udlose98]

A question for Scott and Nick, did you guys create your own "signatures" and how do you add them to each shot?

also do you ever shoot with filters attached, outside of UV?

[Nick]

I almost always have a circular polarizer on my lenses when I am outdoors. I use a UV when indoors. I would really like to start playing with graduated filters though. Always a polarizer outdoors though.

The watermark I have was designed by me. I Mainly have my initials which I did in Illustrator, I created a transparent PNG file and with my smugmug account, I control the watermarking when I upload content. I make sure to watermark all of my content online though.

Here are my initials from my logo "NP"
http://www.artbynicholas.com/header770-2.jpg

Just made it fit into a small bottom right hand watermark for my images. took a number of trial and error efforts to get it the way I want it, but i'm sure it will change again. Not the initials, but the wording.

[udlose98]

any special brand you use for your filters?

[Nick]

I mainly stick with Tiffen. I have a SUNPAK on my 70-200 right now.It does the job.

[Z28Envy]

Awesome thread. I use gimp right now as it is free and I can practice with it. Still have a long ways to go till I know what I am doing with it.

[Nick]

I have never heard of this Gimp program.

[Goat Roper]

Very popular app and free even. Powerful enough to do many of the things we do in PS

[udlose98]

alright another question, would it be a worthwhile decision to go from my D60 to a D300? Unfortunately Nikon doesnt offer any decently priced full frame SLR's. I dont think anyone here shoots with Nikon, but im sure you'll have insight into it.

[JohnnyT]

alright another question, would it be a worthwhile decision to go from my D60 to a D300? Unfortunately Nikon doesnt offer any decently priced full frame SLR's. I dont think anyone here shoots with Nikon, but im sure you'll have insight into it.

I am a newbie at best, but have gotten a LOT of good information from here:

http://www.kenrockwell.com/

I have a D60 as well and l like it. You can get some good info on the D300 in comparison to the d40x/D60

http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d300.htm

[Nick]

Also note Ken Rockwell is a bit of an ego maniac and a bit biased when it comes to Nikon.

But yes, D300 is a great cam. Very comfortable ergonimically, very well balanced too.

[DirtyMax]

Good stuff fellas. In addition to the help you've been to me personally already, this is good info to add on to the post processing information overload I've been getting lately.


Post production is 75% the work of making a good picture and only 25%the actual original photo itself

I agree with this statement 100%. I'm finally starting to get the hang of Lightroom and just now learning the ins and outs of CS3.


any special brand you use for your filters?

I was advised to use Hoya or Tiffen after trying to be cheap and use Ebay specials. I ended up finding some deals on Hoyas so that's what I use now.



A question for Scott and Nick, did you guys create your own "signatures" and how do you add them to each shot?

Since I just went through this too myself, I'll chime in... I found some steps to create my own watermark in CS3 so I just did that recently myself. Then, like Nick, I use smugmug and have it added to anything I'm going to show in a public gallery. I don't photograph anything special (dog shows mainly) but still don't want people jacking the photos.

[Goat Roper]

alright another question, would it be a worthwhile decision to go from my D60 to a D300? Unfortunately Nikon doesnt offer any decently priced full frame SLR's. I dont think anyone here shoots with Nikon, but im sure you'll have insight into it.

A light year jump if you ask me. Better frame rates, better AF, better everything.

[Goat Roper]

A question for Scott and Nick, did you guys create your own "signatures" and how do you add them to each shot?

also do you ever shoot with filters attached, outside of UV?

I have a static PSD file that I add to each one of my shots and size according to the size of the image.

Like Nick, a circular polarizer is about it PLUS I use a "fall enhancer" filter from time to time if I need reds and oranges to pop. I am a fan of Tiffen and B+W filters.

[udlose98]

Well I bit, the D300 should be here Thursday!!!!!!!!!!

[Nick]

You're really going to love the feel of that camera. Get a battery grip for it and you will be set to go!
http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Power-Packs/25359/MB-D10-Multi-Power-Battery-Pack.html

[udlose98]

up to 8 FPS with the grip, im interested in getting the software that connects via wifi to it so i can view the live view from my comp while it is remote.

edit, damn nm, that transmitter is EXPENSIVE!!!

[DirtyMax]

Congrats on the new gear purchase! To me, this hobby could quite possibly be worse than a crack habit... :)

[udlose98]

Congrats on the new gear purchase! To me, this hobby could quite possibly be worse than a crack habit... :)

ha, the only thing I waste more time on is call of duty.

[Nick]

ha, the only thing I waste more time on is call of duty.

PS3 or 360?

[udlose98]

Ps3

[Nick]

Are you on my friend list? I'm RudeMood2
You must add me. I love COD4

[udlose98]

Done deal, i devote too much time to that game.

[DirtyMax]

I played it one time and got killed repeatedly, LOL. If I bought a PS3, I don't think I'd ever sleep, haha.

[HRSEPLA]

I just got a Canon XSI last week, and you guys are making my head spin with all this!
I guess I have a lot to learn, I didn't realize there was so much work after the shot was taken.
I love the camera so far!

[udlose98]

I just got a Canon XSI last week, and you guys are making my head spin with all this!
I guess I have a lot to learn, I didn't realize there was so much work after the shot was taken.
I love the camera so far!

Its unbelievably addicting as everyones pointing out. In car terms its like going from NA to turbo. First you buy the turbo kit, well then you need upgraded injectors, engine, trans, etc etc, and then eventually a new turbo.

First you buy a new camera, then lenses, flashes, tripod, ......

I will continue to stick it out as (as far as i know) the only Nikon guy.

[HRSEPLA]

Dr. Doom is a Nikon guy too, and I hope this goes easier than my Turbo.. lol

[DirtyMax]

I just got a Canon XSI last week, and you guys are making my head spin with all this!
I guess I have a lot to learn, I didn't realize there was so much work after the shot was taken.
I love the camera so far!

Sam - Check out the thread I posted titled "useful photography info". all that stuff is supposed to help the learning curve. :thumbsup

Stick close to Kanter too... he's a Canon guy as well and he can help you out also.

[Nick]

Its unbelievably addicting as everyones pointing out. In car terms its like going from NA to turbo. First you buy the turbo kit, well then you need upgraded injectors, engine, trans, etc etc, and then eventually a new turbo.

First you buy a new camera, then lenses, flashes, tripod, ......

I will continue to stick it out as (as far as i know) the only Nikon guy.

The nice thing for me is that I don't care about modding cars anymore at all. Huge waste of money IMO. At lease you can get most of your money back with the high resale values of the camera lenses and accessories.

I still plan on restoring an old mustang one day.

I've got a little over 8k into camera stuff now. An 85mm prime is calling my name too...

[DirtyMax]

An 85mm prime is calling my name too...

Depending on which 85mm prime is calling your name will determine how borked you're gonna be soon, LOL. The 1.8 was plenty lens for me.

[Nick]

Yeah, ive been looking for some used 1.2 L's on ebay and stuff. The Mark I (2003? version) versions which are about half the price of the 85 1.2 L II

There are differences of lens flaring and slower focussing in the old one, but with filtering that could be omitted I think. Who needs an extra 8milliseconds faster focussing anyway? :p
I'm tapped for cash right now though so it would have to wait anyway.

[udlose98]

The nice thing for me is that I don't care about modding cars anymore at all. Huge waste of money IMO. At lease you can get most of your money back with the high resale values of the camera lenses and accessories.

I still plan on restoring an old mustang one day.

I've got a little over 8k into camera stuff now. An 85mm prime is calling my name too...

unfotunately i am still addicted to both.

[JohnnyT]

Its unbelievably addicting as everyones pointing out. In car terms its like going from NA to turbo. First you buy the turbo kit, well then you need upgraded injectors, engine, trans, etc etc, and then eventually a new turbo.

First you buy a new camera, then lenses, flashes, tripod, ......

I will continue to stick it out as (as far as i know) the only Nikon guy.

Not the only Nikon guy... I have a D60, and am jealous of the new purchase!!! :)

[udlose98]

Not the only Nikon guy... I have a D60, and am jealous of the new purchase!!! :)

ah, the D60 is just fine but I am starting to take a ton of pictures and am finding some area where I'd like some new features.

[dr doom]

You arent alone, I shoot a Nikon D80. Ill probably be getting a D300 in the near future.

[udlose98]

New flash just arrived!!!, Nikon SB-600

Now a demo of how important a flash is, nothing special, nothing edited, just our messy kitchen.

Here is a pic with the camera built in flash
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3322/3327581980_1be917a75f_b.jpg

Now one with the SB 600 without the diffuser
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3341/3326739953_620370ac3e_b.jpg

Now the SB600 with the diffuser
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3611/3326742681_b87fd8a0b9_b.jpg

AWESOME!

[Z28Envy]

I just bought a used canon 380ex flash and its fun to use!

[udlose98]

Well after reading a ton of reviews on both bodies I opted for the D90 over the D300. Its slightly cheaper though through everything I have seen takes slightly sharper images. The D300 is for the active sports fan looking to shoot high FPS, this is not the case with me. So D90, next week, and I have a D60 for sale if anyone is interested pm me.

[Goat Roper]

So D90, next week, and I have a D60 for sale if anyone is interested pm me.

The D60 was one of the cameras recommended for a good entry DSLR to someone where I am at right now who had inquired. PM me how much ching you are looking for and if it includes any lenses and I will ping her on it.

[udlose98]

Scott, tried to PM you, not sure if you box is full or if my pms arent wroking but it said to try again in 172 million seconds....I figured this would be quicker

Would be selling just the body, swapping the lenses over. I dont know how to look up actuations, but im guessing around 500 MAX. I have all boxes, access., paperwork, etc. Looking for $350.

[twirkin50]

Are you all using Lightroom? I have PS 7.0, but can't find the screen shots that Scott and udlose are showing.....

[udlose98]

i use adobe PS CS4 W/O lightroom.