M3: Perth, Australia

[Ghost]

(Post whoring on multiple forums...)

Spent last night taking a few photos.
Any advice/critic would be appreciated- I'm a real novice with an SLR.






Ash

[permit]

I hate you.

[Eurospec]

F@#$ing beautiful!!!

The pictures look a bit grainy. Other than that, great composition. Did you use a tripod, what was you iso setting?

[DanGillan]

car looks clean as hell. good job. i love it. the only photo suggestion i can give is to use a lower ISO, they seem really grainy. might be scans though, i dont know.

[uofom3]

absolutely perfect... i love it

[Ghost]

Cheers.

I'm using a DSLR so no scanning. You guys are right- I should have paid more attention to the ISO settings. I'll have to go back out there and do them again.

The first is without a tripod (and combined with high ISO) so it lacks sharpness.

Thank you for the advice :)

Ash

[parkerbink]

Amazing car, great pictures. Thanks !

[c0rnfl4k3]

The night pic with the lights is pure sex.

[325Projectz]

Mmmm mm Bitch.

That shit is nice!

[Digitalwave]

I'll give you a little critique of each shot, don't take this badly, just trying to help out.

#1: Car is too centered in the frame. The car is also out of focus. The lighting on the car is great but I think the headlights should have been off.

#2: Car is too centered again, and that lamp and the background are way distracting. Since the side of the car isn't lit well, my eye isn't drawn to the car.

#3: Should be a tighter crop, all the road in the foreground should be gone. Other than that, great shot.

#4: The car is out of focus and the grain is high, but the composition is great.

Overall, it looks like you used way too much JPEG compression because most of the pictures have a ton of artifacting. I also think you should have resized the pics much smaller, but thats neither here nor there.

That being said, I think your car is PERFECTION, and you have a lot of untapped potential as a photographer. Keep up the good work.

What camera and lens are you using by the way?

[DEV0 E30]

Holy jesus. Those rims really complete it. There isn't really a bad color on M3s but lach is one of my favs.

[Jand3rson]

The night pic with the lights is pure sex.

Seconded, and my new desktop.

[OLD323]

Hey Ash,
Good to see another Aussie on board,

Car looking as good as always.

Glenn aka DTM190

[Ghost]

I'll give you a little critique of each shot, don't take this badly, just trying to help out.

#1: Car is too centered in the frame. The car is also out of focus. The lighting on the car is great but I think the headlights should have been off.

#2: Car is too centered again, and that lamp and the background are way distracting. Since the side of the car isn't lit well, my eye isn't drawn to the car.

#3: Should be a tighter crop, all the road in the foreground should be gone. Other than that, great shot.

#4: The car is out of focus and the grain is high, but the composition is great.

Overall, it looks like you used way too much JPEG compression because most of the pictures have a ton of artifacting. I also think you should have resized the pics much smaller, but thats neither here nor there.

That being said, I think your car is PERFECTION, and you have a lot of untapped potential as a photographer. Keep up the good work.

What camera and lens are you using by the way?

I really appreciate the advice TJ, thats exactly what I'm looking for and why I post. I'm a keen photographer but I've only just started, I have no technique or theory which is something I am aiming to develop (pun not intended).

RE Critique:

#1 - completely agree, I had traffic coming in both directions so the shot was hurried and without a tripod- just a full auto snap.

#2 - I was aiming to get some shadowing from the lamp to bring the angles of the car. I'll head back and try that one again with out the lamp.

#3 - That pic is uncropped (they are all uncropped, unedited, straight from the memory card) and I agree- too much foreground.

#4 - grain? as in use a lower ISO?

Artifacting? The pics were resized in MS paint :P The idea was show you unmolesed photos to make it easier to critique so I can gain more from your advice.

I'm using a D50 with the standard kit lense (18-55 crapola)

Thanks for taking some time out to write an educational response. Really appreciated :)

Cheers
Ash

[Digitalwave]

Ash,
Artifacting is when you use too much compression; colors get skewed and instead of having smoothness, you get jaggies and a lot of 'blocks' in the picture. It's hard to describe.

See, you have a lot of balls posting raw pictures. I never post pics that aren't edited. MS Paint is rubbish too, thats why you got poor quality compression. I spend at least 5 or 10 minutes editing EACH pic I post online. I think photography is 10% equipment, 70% the photographer, and 20% post-processing.

As for the grain, there are numerous ways you can reduce it. A wider aperture, a longer shutter speed, or a lower ISO can all reduce grain.