JDMCombe

Rhyswh

Rhyswh

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45
Edit My Images
Yes
So I'm very new to photography. I bought myself a Nikon D3300 and recently got a 35mm prime lens. I mainly wanted a DSLR to take photos of my daughter and to try out some landscape shots. Turns out I'm terrible at landscapes and ok at portraits!

Anyway, another great interest of mine is cars! I went to JDMCombe in Castle Combe last weekend and had a great day. Took some nice shots and did some editing and I'm very please with the outcome.

This is the link to the album https://goo.gl/photos/RuypaVbz8Rdjbds87

Here are some of my favourites! Any helpful tips and criticism welcome :)








 
I'm not a big fan of Japanese cars, but that first one looks great, both as a car and as a shot. Getting low down really works well.
The problem with photographing cars at these type of events is space: there's not enough space around the cars to get space around it in the shot and there's not enough space to get shots without people in them. A few of the shots would be improved with a little bit of extra space between the car and the edge of the frame. Others could be improved with a shallower depth of field, blurring out the crowds.
Is shot 4 a moving car? If so, you want a slower shutter speed as you pan the camera in order to capture a sense of speed.

Good start otherwise.
 
Compositionally these are pretty good given how difficult it is to shoot at these events.

One thing I'd watch out for is the processing, some of them are quite aggressively done which has created a few issues and looks unnatural.

#3 and 7 look fairly natural and therefore retain a bit of a 3D look, but for others there are tell-tell signs of some strong highlight recovery (such as grey numberplates and flat colours).
 
For anyone else interested the first car is an RX7 with an RX3 front end! Beautiful thing. The back end of it is the last picture in the second post.

Yeah space was an issue. I also need to get better at gauging distance as I was constantly kneeling down and then realising I was too close! This is an issue with having a prime lens as well I guess.

As far as depth of field goes I'm not sure how to increas it. Most of the shots I took were using f1.8, so should have given me the most depth of field right? I could always do it in post processing I guess?

Yeah fourth one is a moving car, doing about 90-100mph at that point I would have thought. Never taken shots of a moving object (apart from a dog and a child!) before. I used the fast shutter speed to get it as sharp as possible and for the life of me couldn't figure out how to get the wheels to blur like I see in most motorsport shot. You saying to use a slower shutter speed just made everything click! As I pan across to take the shot I guess the slower shutter speed will make everything that isn't moving in the same direction as the camera (background and wheels) will be motion blurred?
 
ukaskew said:
Compositionally these are pretty good given how difficult it is to shoot at these events.

One thing I'd watch out for is the processing, some of them are quite aggressively done which has created a few issues and looks unnatural.

#3 and 7 look fairly natural and therefore retain a bit of a 3D look, but for others there are tell-tell signs of some strong highlight recovery (such as grey numberplates and flat colours).
Click to expand...

I always over do it on post processing, usually with saturation though which I think I've done ok with on these. Now you've mentioned the grey plates it stands out like a sore thumb lol
 
Rhyswh said:
As far as depth of field goes I'm not sure how to increas it. Most of the shots I took were using f1.8, so should have given me the most depth of field right? I could always do it in post processing I guess?
Click to expand...
You want to decrease/narrow the depth of field. IE Only have a small amount in focus. But if you are already at f1.8 then you're limited there. The closer you get to something, the shallower the depth of field and the more out of focus the background is. So if you got closer to the cars and focused on the nearest point of it, you'll throw the rest out of focus.

Yeah fourth one is a moving car, doing about 90-100mph at that point I would have thought. Never taken shots of a moving object (apart from a dog and a child!) before. I used the fast shutter speed to get it as sharp as possible and for the life of me couldn't figure out how to get the wheels to blur like I see in most motorsport shot. You saying to use a slower shutter speed just made everything click! As I pan across to take the shot I guess the slower shutter speed will make everything that isn't moving in the same direction as the camera (background and wheels) will be motion blurred?
Click to expand...
Yup. Stand in a steady position, feet firmly placed, set your camera to continuous-servo AF (AF-C) mode (this will keep the car in focus as you pan), select a shutter speed slower than 1/100. Now wait for the car, as it comes into the side of your view, half-press the shutter and hold this to keep the car in focus, start your panning move (turning from your waist) as you pan, fully press the shutter.
Remember to only press the shutter once you have started your pan, otherwise you'll get a blurry shot you don't want.

Here's one of my attempts with a police car going about 40-50mph and a shutter speed of 1/60s. The faster the car is, the faster the shutter speed you can have and still get motion blur.

It's the Police! by Alistair Beavis, on Flickr

It takes practice to get all the elements right, but worth it.
 
Thanks for the tips. Makes sense now. At the time my logic was fast moving object needs fast shutter speed. But that's where the skill comes in I guess, if you pan at the same speed as the object then technically the object remains still in the viewfinder!
 
I would agree regarding the processing though having said that I can be a little heavy handed myself at times. lol. Car shows can be a pain at times with the spacing and people but done right the inclusion of people and other cars can add to the atmosphere of the picture. Google car show pics and look at peoples different styles, at the end of the day you should shoot what YOU want in a picture, its art not all about the science. Take a look at my Flickr I was also at JDM Combe and see the kind of style I like. Personally I hate people in a shot but thats just my thing. When you see styles you like then figure out how they were shot and learn from there. Its all good bro :)
 
Just had a quick look through both albums. Love some of your interior shots, something I really struggle with! Just never seem to get it right. What camera and lens did you use?
 
All my info for photos is on with the pics. Track shots are Canon 7D and now my static shots are with Fuji XT2.
 
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