OT--How to take good pictures

[SuperDust22]

I am getting ready to take some good pics of my car. I have noticed a lot of you have really nice shots. Is there any tips. I have also noticed a few of you take pictures where the car is in prefect focus and the back ground is blurry. I really like that. How do you do it. Or what kind of camera did you use. I can get a SLR camera if I need to.

Dustin

EDIT also where can I get the zanio wax?

 

[swingline]

A lot of it has to do with the type of camera. The one I used for my pics sucks. If you are using a digital get the highest megapixel one you can afford. I prefer one with a mechanical zoom (what I call it) opposed to a digital zoom. Light has a lot to do with it as well.

 

[SuperDust22]

I won't be using a digital camera. I think if I can I will use a SLR 35mm camera. Digital camera just take as good of picutres as 35 unless I get like a 8 megapixel one. I just love the picutres where the car is in prefect focus and the back ground is blurry. I just don't know how to do it.

Dustin

 

[1hot5.0]

I won't be using a digital camera. I think if I can I will use a SLR 35mm camera. Digital camera just take as good of picutres as 35 unless I get like a 8 megapixel one. I just love the picutres where the car is in prefect focus and the back ground is blurry. I just don't know how to do it.

Dustin

It is done with adjusting your shutter speed. Do a search on google about it, and you will find more info than you will ever want to know.

 

[1105]

a local community college might have a night course in photography if you're willing to spend the money on it.

 

[1hot5.0]

a local community college might have a night course in photography if you're willing to spend the money on it.

I agree a photography course would help out a lot. I took one when I was in high school and I learned quite a bit.

 

[mo_dingo]

It is done with adjusting your shutter speed. Do a search on google about it, and you will find more info than you will ever want to know.

To make a the background, foreground, or the object blurry, you need to adjust Aperature, not shutter speed. Shutter speed should be set to whatever the film recommends. As to which aperature setting you want, I can't tell you. I took Photo in HS, but that was a while ago.

Just had an epiphany!

The smaller the aperature setting, the more things will be in focus. The bigger the setting, the less thing will be in focus. You will need to play with it though. It depends on how much background you want in/out. Plan on taking at least 5 different shots of the same shot to get it right (change the setting for each shot).

Once you take 200 shots or so, you will get used to what you like.

Also, you want to try to keep the top-right corner of the picture dark. When someone looks at a picture, they usually start at the bottom left, and move up to the top-right. If the top-right corner is really light, they won't want to look at the picture anymore. Any sort of dark color will work.

You will notice this when you look at professional pictures.

The top-right corners of these pictures weren't anywhere near as black as they look here. When they converted from 35mm film to a print, they project extra light just on the corner to make everything appear darker.

Here is some info I found. A good place to start.

Another thing I will say is the car will not change. It is what it is. You can change the angles all you want, but you will always be looking at the same car.

The background, however, can change very easily. That is what you want to concentrate on. Here are some quick photos I took of my car.

That is a cropped version of the original. It removed most of the road, and moved the left/right edges in more. The top-right corner is still too light, even with the shadow on the garage door.

Here I didn't include the entire car. It's ok to do that, but since 95% of the car is there, it leaves you to think "where the heck is the rest of it?" (i.e. If you want to take a picture of only the wheel & the space between the fender after a suspension drop, it serves it's purpose to just zoom on the wheel/fender. Back to my pic; Some cropping will fix the right & top sides of the picture can be fixed. But it's a complete waste of a picture w/o the entire car.

Scott

 

[donjohn]

mo dingo has some very good points about photography

i believe the correct term is called "depth of field," it referrs to the object being focused on hence how deep or far you want to focus your field or picture.

Personally I like to use manual focus which are easy to come by on regular 35mm cameras but are also available on more expensive digital ones (>$300). Anyways, i'm guessing most of the people on here just use manual focus to create this depth of field because adjusting aperature settings and shutter speeds are more difficult on the digital cameras. using a 35mm is so much easier but then you have to scan the picture into the computer and that just sucks.

I wouldn't dismiss 1hot5.0 or mo dingo because they both are correct. 1)The faster the shutter speed the less light you allow into the camera which also depends on the iso reading of the film, which is the quickness the image is recorded onto the film. The faster the shutter speed the sharper a moving object is, but if it's stationary it doesn't matter as much. 2)Aperature is also a setting which controlls light, the bigger the number, the less light is let in which helps your 'depth of field' greatly as mo dingo described.

THE BEST TECHNIQUE: use what mo dingo described about backgroud (it's really good information) but also use manual focus because it says it in the name, you're focusing manually which means you choose how focused or out of focus objects in your field are.

BTW (Camera Shopping): The best digital cameras aren't necessarily the ones with the biggest megapixel rating. You also want options so you can take pictures like you are describing. Action shots like your stang running down the dragstrip require bigger shutter speeds. manual focus is one of the most important tools imo because i like taking pictures like you're describing (currently my camera sucks so the only good pics i have are old ones that are on my AIM info- superchrisophe03) 8 mp would be great but only on a good camera and that's gonna be at least $500+. Don't buy a camera that has that as their only offer it'll be crap. Read reviews and visit dpreview.com if you're gonna go shopping for a new camera.

so long but so good, i'll add if i think of anything else.

I'm always open for conversation on AIM (superchrisophe03) or pm, when i'm not too busy

 

[mo_dingo]

Completely agree with donjohn.

If you use anything under a 400 (I think) shutter speed, you need a tripod. Otherwise your hand movements will create a blurry image. Playing with the shutter speed is a great way to create sweet looking night images and time-dependant events. But you need a less sensitive film to compensate. Otherwise the longer shutter speed will make the picture come out completely black (exposure length too long).

Stick with 200/400 film and play with the DOF. It will give you plenty to do for now.
Scott

 

[SuperDust22]

I have been using 400 for a while now. Thanks for the tips guys. I was just going to scan the pictures but I think when I develop them I will just have them put them to CD. Does that work good?

Dustin

 

[donjohn]

If you are talking about the negative scanner, i've never actually tried it but i think it would probably be pretty good, dunno how much better than just scanning the developed print thought. I'm not sure if developers will put film media to a disk if it's not from a digital device- but if they did, it's kinda a professional job so i'd imagine it would be pretty good quality

 

[SuperDust22]

Yeah they can take my 35mm film and put it to CD. I don't know how they do it. I have also thought about buying a negative scanner but that would be after I buy a better camera and lens. What kind or cameras are you guys using?

Dustin

 

[Killercanary]

Take your pictures when the sun it at your back, and its better to take them either early or late in the day... and not in the middle of it. that's how I take all of mine.

 

[donjohn]

well, my digicam just died (it was cheap so i'm not too bummed). I bought a waterproof housing to take pictures of me and my buddies bodyboarding and it turns out that it wasn't too waterproof- partly my fault though

anyways, my friend got a canon a70 which is already outdated. It's a 3mp camera with some good bells and whistles. It was my favorite camera at the time and actually still is at that price. My dad about 2 weeks ago bought the sony p7 i think which is almost exacly like the canon a70 but a little more expensive for the good sony name.

for under $300 i definitely recommend the canon a70 - you can even attatch this converter thing (which is available for all the canons a70,75,80 and probably others too) in which you can use your other lenses meaning hook your 52mm zoom lens up to the digital to get like a conversion of 8-10x optical zoom depending on the lens, which is cool. The part is actually in the mail so i don't know how it'll turn out. If you want me to tell you what happens when it arrives shoot me a pm

if you're going for top of the line, look into the digital slr's. If i had an extra $700 i might just decide to let the stang sit there and buy one. They're really cool. Check out dpreview.com to like compare contrast, it's really good in the forums if you have q's too

 

[1hot5.0]

To make a the background, foreground, or the object blurry, you need to adjust Aperature, not shutter speed. Shutter speed should be set to whatever the film recommends. As to which aperature setting you want, I can't tell you. I took Photo in HS, but that was a while ago.

Scott

My bad I knew it was aperature or shutterspeed, must have had a brain freeze.

 

[SuperDust22]

I think I am going to stick with a 35mm camera. Pictures come out much better I think. I am leaning towards a Canon ESO Ti or Nikon N55 or N75. Those are both SLR cameras. Thanks for the info guys. I want to buy a 100-300 zoom lens so I can take better picutres at the track.

Dustin

 

[Nik_95Cobra]

I Bought an Olympus, don't remember the model #, but it controlls everything automatically. It cost about $850 bucks though, but it's worth it, I never have to touch up any of my pics, and it takes videos too. Best thing for night shots that I did was to buy a tri-pod for it. Works Great.

 

[SuperDust22]

Okay. I got my pics back from the 35 mm. Yeah are okay. I don't really like them. I used a canon sure shot camera with the Kodak HD 400 film . The CD processing didn't really come out that good. My car looks black in some pics. And some pics are fuzzy. I think it was becuase of the film. I am buying a Nikon N75 this week and I already bought some Fujichome Provia 100F film which is a Super Fine Grain film . I will post pics later and show you how they came out HD pics came out.

Dustin

 

[donjohn]

do you mind- how much are you buying the nikon n75 for?

 

[SuperDust22]

Well I am trying to ebay it and if that doesnt work out it is about $280 in the store with one nikon 25-90mm lens-- (i think). I really like the nikon cameras. My uncle has a F100 and I used it alot when I was in Texas and that thing is amazing. Best pictures ever. I also want to buy a 100-300mm lens.

Dustin