Volkswagen GTI MkV

[Michael Chu]

I shot these last month for a client and he's very happy with the results. These are by far my most favorite stuff I've shot. I'm really pleased with the results and wanted to get some opinions from some of the experts here :)


http://mc-photography.net/gallery/Volkswagen/_MG_1933.jpg

http://mc-photography.net/gallery/Volkswagen/_MG_2073.jpg


Please tell me what you like/dislike about them. I've already had some stuff that I've noticed as I was retouching, and maybe we'll share the same opinions :)

Thanks!

[Daniel Buck]

I think the first one is great! I think a quick mask on the headlights and some curves to make them pop would really add a nice little touch.

The composition on the 2nd image is a little odd I think. The open bottom portion of the first image works pretty well I think, with the rushing road and all (very dramatic). However, the 2nd image just looks like it needs to be cropped a bit differently unless it's going to have some text or something under the car? It's very top heavy, the entire car is on the top 1/2 of the image, all the background "stuff" is all on the top 1/2 of the image, then there is just open concrete on the bottom. I think this works well when there is 1/2 sky on top of the car, but when the car is on top of the image I think it feels a bit top heavy, I'd rather have a bottom heavy image, it's a little easier to look at (generally, I mean). The only positive thing that I think the ground infront of the car has, is that the cracks arch towards the car, bringing your eye there.

Anyway, just my thoughts, I'm sure some others will dissagree :-)

[Michael Chu]

Thanks, Daniel!

What you mentioned about the second image was one of my main concerns. The composition looked odd to me at first and I had trouble deciding whether or not it worked or not. But I really liked how the line curved towards the car. That's why I decided to post this one up for C&C, wanted to get some outside opinions. I made sure I shot several of the same shots but with different compositions, including a more balanced one, just to be safe =)


http://mc-photography.net/portfolio/images/_MG_2077.jpg


This one works better, IMO, but it seems very "standard". So I wanted to try a little variation to it, and resulted in the one I posted above =)

[Jacob Leveton]

tighter crop on both of these. In fact, on 2, i like the idea of putting the headlights on the far right of the picture, and getting the garage doors and such on the left.

[Mike Ditz]

there is an awful lot of road in #1. Remember that there is nothing sacred about the shape of the image.
I would crop a lot off the top and lot off the bottom and make it a really wide picture or crop in from the top and the left side, putitng the car in the upper left quadrant of the frame. Try some burn in of the foreground pavement as it's tone is really similar to the car. It's an ok shot but could be jazzed up a bit.

Second one doesn't do a lot for me. and the safe one is just that.

[Justin Libano]

love your motion shots Micheal. that first one is great, but like Dan said, try to mask and get it to pop more. (i still like it!)

[Michael Chu]

Thanks for the comments, Jacob, Mike, and Justin!

After I posted these, I began to look at the first one and noticed there was a lot of road. I always notice more things when I post for critique xP

I like to keep things in the 3:2 aspect, and I think that's one of my weaknesses. I'll try to play around with some crops like you suggested, Mike, and I'll post up the results later.

Thanks, again!

[John Swenson]

Nice work, but...(there's always a but)—it kinda looks like you're using the rule of thirds and putting the focal point on the wrong third. I hope that makes sense without sounding cranky.