First Post: STi Pics

[Costas Stergiou]

I've posted these pics on other forums before, but never really been critiqued much on them. I was wondering if you could guys tell me what I'm doing wrong and what I could do to improve some of these shots, thanks.

1
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album20/DSC_8257.jpg

2
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album20/DSC_8248.jpg

3
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album20/DSC_8148.jpg

4
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album20/DSC_8229.jpg

5
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album20/DSC_8356.jpg

6
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album21/DSC_8876.jpg

7
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album21/DSC_8885.jpg

8
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album21/DSC_8895.jpg

[Costas Stergiou]

9
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album21/DSC_8828.jpg

10
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album21/DSC_8878.jpg

11
http://digitalremix.net/albums/album20/DSC_8150.jpg

They're two different shoots by the way, and you can find more of them here

http://digitalremix.net/gallery/album20

and here

http://digitalremix.net/gallery/album21

[Todd Spoth]

im going to post because i posted in this section once and got like 40 views and ZERO comments. i love these and love number 9, but you guys gotta be careful with that little sunset gradient dealy, its a little repetitive when i see it over and over in nancy's work too. when someone looks at the photo and knows within 5 seconds what steps you used to get there in photoshop, let alone that you used photoshop at all then its iffy. youve gotten a lot better though.

[John Thawley]

I've posted these pics on other forums before, but never really been critiqued much on them. I was wondering if you could guys tell me what I'm doing wrong and what I could do to improve some of these shots, thanks.]

Costas:

Thanks for participating in the forum.

While we welcome, and are pleased with your participation, please note we have a posting limit imposed on single thread because we don't want you to exceed that.

Also, this post was moved from the Critiqe section. The "Shooters Boards" are for discussion..... obvioulsy with 11 images, you want to discuss your body of work and technique. The Critique board is for seerious critique of one or two images.

And, as Todd pointed out, you will get much more feedback here.

All the best and thanks again,

JT

[Costas Stergiou]

Thanks for the heads up John, I'll keep that in mind next time I post pictures.

Todd, Nancy copied me =O I try to keep the whole gradient thing to a minimum though and will keep that in mind for future reference. P.S. - Sileighty is next to me and he says hi, lol.

[Todd Spoth]

haha tell harrison whatsup. lawl.

[Mark Delbrueck]

Nice stuff! I think the color cast is a bit too much on number 1, but it works well on number 2.

I would fix the poles growing out of 6,7, and numbmer 10.

What was your lighting setup on the 9th shot?

[Costas Stergiou]

Unfortunately I don't have the money to purchase any lighting equipment, so it was actually just a combination of burning and dodging in photoshop. The original picture before editing looked like this:

http://www.digitalremix.net/upload/uploads/DSC_8828_orig.jpg

I've tried using my friends AB's lighting before with just one strobe, but it was causing some really harsh highlights and reflections on the car and just looked horrible overall. I guess when it comes to lighting, you have to use atleast two lights? All I really have to work with right now is an SB600, but I haven't had much success with that for automotive photography either.

If you could offer some tips for lighting I'd really appreciate it.

[Mike Ditz]

...when i see it over and over in nancy's work too.

Who's Nancy?

My 2¢

Suburban street looks like a potentially great location, just not for this car.

Blue sky sky shots don't really do anything for me. Looks like they were all done in about 20 minutes. The city shots are the strongest but my eye goes to the 'no parking sign', the light is a little sucky but you plays the cards you got. Loading dock. What does this car have to do with a loading dock? At least PS out or pick up the trash.

[Jeff Boerio]

Costas,

Welcome to the forum, first of all. I hope you find it as educational as I have so far.

I like the shots in suburbia. I just wonder about the exposure times. #4 seems like it's underexposed to me. I like your at-speed shot in terms of clarity and focus, but not a fan of the background. Now .... get THAT shot taken amongst the trees from #1 and you've REALLY got something :D

I like your burn/dodge in #9, but not a fan of the wet look. The beaded water on the hood turns me off.

I agree with what others have said about the sky gradiant. It's particularly obvious in #11.

My fave would be number 2. But if you're going to shoot the car, don't Photoshop out parts of the plate. Take the plate off :D

- Jeff

[Costas Stergiou]

Jeff, we couldn't do much about the water lol. We wanted to take pictures but it was raining all day, so we resorted to going to a covered spot in downtown. Apparently it's where all the homeless people take leaks so the smell was pretty horrid resulting in me taking a few shots and then leaving ASAP.

As for the sky gradient, in the originals it seemed very bland and boring, for example:
http://www.digitalremix.net/upload/uploads/DSC_8150_orig.jpg

What else can I do to bring it out more without causing it to look too "fake"?

[Jeff Boerio]

Well, the post-processed one certainly looks better and grabs attention better than the original :)

MY opinion is that you went too far with the postprocessing. It also seems like the "sky" visible "through the clouds" wasn't touched in post. You might want to work on that a bit.

MY opinions might be different than OTHERS though :D

- Jeff