GT at Sycamore Canyon

[Daniel Buck]

I couldn't find the 'ego biscuit' section, so I'll post here. (just kidding! critique if something stands out!)

I was out shooting landscapes this evening, and just as I was leaving I scored a killer location for a vehicle shoot and just had to try it out :D My car was dirty as hell itself, but it came out ok in the picture. (nothing a little photoshop couldn't help anyway! haha!)

I dig the dirt ground on the car, I know some folks like concrete, but I like dirt/gravel :)

I usually love the 2x3 ratio of 35mm, but since I have been shooting my mamiya alot, I have fallen in love with the 6x7 ratio, so I cropped this one 6x7 :)


http://www.danielbuck.net/wip/sycamore_canyon_01.jpg

[Joel Parker]

yeah, the 6x7 feels very weird to me. But whatever works..

Anyway, the first thing I noticed was how the car is in the dark part of the photo. This may not necessarily be a bad thing, but generally the brightest part of an image is the initial focal point and here the car is sort of secondary, or even tertiary. Having the car centered let to right also comes off as a bit out of the ordinary for me.

It's hard to critique this way.. because I like the photo. But all that I mentioned above kind of makes it an odd one for me too.

[John Jovic]

Very nice.
JJ

[Jessica Germiller]

I like it! I think the 6X7 format is great and really works with this shot. (then again I am a fan of more 'environmental' shots where there is a lot of environment and the car isn't the main focus...but it IS the main focus-did that meke sense??)

There are only a few things I notice...I might bring up the front end a little bit it looks like a tad too dark for me...but it doesn't look bad. Also there is a white rock that kind of sticks out to me...no biggies.

Beautiful shot! What does you licence plate mean?

-Jess

[Todd Corzett]

Really great job... I love the sky, and how it sets-off the car. Like Jessica said, it's great when the car isn't the only interesting thing in the photo. I like the non 3:2 ration, as too much sky would have made the photo less interesting. I like the exposure, nothing is too dark for me. The only thing that catches my eye (other than the white rock that I didn't notice at first) is the passenger side front tire poking out of the other side of the car. Maybe if the shot was done from a foot farther to the right? I don't know... it just bugs me to see the tread, but I wouldn't want the tires to be turned any less.

What does you licence plate mean?
It is an internet thing... DNS = Domain Name System, Fail = didn't work (ie. it couldn't find the address you wanted).

-Todd...

[Erik Anderson]

I like it and it works for me. The items that I see for possible improvement is to change the angle enough to incorporate the entire front wheel rather than have it cut off, and to clean up the plastic in front of the headlights (esp the drivers side).

As I said, it works for me, and I like it alot. It has a characteristic Daniel Buck feel.

[Daniel Buck]

Thanks for all the comments and critiques :-) I might get back to this location this weekend, but I doubt I'll have the nice cloud cover that I had last weekend :-(


Erik, you are right on the money about the front wheel! Thats one thing I had never really thought about before. Looking back on some of my older photographs, I guess my style of having the 3/4 showing a bit more of the front than the side, and cranking the wheel so much creates this problem!

Todd is correct about the license plate. Don't ask. haha!

[Daniel Buck]

well, as I suspected the clouds were nonexistant this evening, :(

I tried two different things today, the first was shooting at F8 aperture. I usually shoot at F4.5 or F2, but since I have been heavy into landscapes lately I figured I might as well keep the background somewhat sharp, and I really like the background on this site.

The second thing I tried new today was the use of a neutral grad filter instead of blending two exposures in photoshop. I found that in shots where headlights aren't on, it works fairly good. There is a little bit of contrast lost in the very dark areas (black car!! lol!) , but on bright objects I get a noticable flare/ghost (like headlights). I'm going to reserve my decision to keep or sell the grad filters until I have more chances to use them, but from what I have seen this evening I think I'll stick to blending two exposures. (unless I can confirm that a better brand than Cokin will eliminate the ghosting!), I did rather enjoy using the grads though, very fun to get both the black car and the bright sky in the same exposure :)

I did try to get a better front angle to include the full front wheel, but I wasn't liking how the car looked from that much more of a side angle, and just about everywhere else I went I got broken reflections in and out of the 'sholder line' of the car. I guess this new location doesn't offer as much as I thought it did. Maybe with other cars it would work differently.

My self critique on this one is that the wheels should have probably been turned 180 degrees so that the point of the star points up instead of down. It might also be a little bit dark for some folks tastes. I'll probably have to brighten this one up a tad before printing, I think. (my monitors are a bit bright, I found out)


http://www.danielbuck.net/wip/sycamore_canyon_02.jpg

[John Thawley]

Hmmmm.....

Clouds aside, I think the first one is more dramatic. I'm not sure this angle shows the car off as well. What I liked in the first image is that the car looks pissed. In this one only the wheels jump out.

I think I'd like to see the top image with a touch less angle (but be careful of the dreaded tripod look up on three wheels) and in landscape format. I just think the car has more attitude and the shot has more tension.

Conceptually, I do think the is the right direction for this car. They're great looking images.

JT

[Daniel Buck]

I shot a landscape version of the first shot yesterday as well, I'll post that when it's finished. I agree, the 2nd image doesn't have the same intensity as the first, I think it was shot to late, the reflections don't pop near as much.

[Daniel Buck]

here is the same angle, a bit higher, but I think I'm getting the tripod look here. I wasn't able to move more to the right to get more of a side shot, the reflections went screwy along the sholder line. Doesn't look as "pissed" as the first shot (great description BTW, I like that!), but I think it's looking better than the 2nd image.

my attempts to replicate the exact colors on the first shot just aren't working, I think the cloud cover changed the light quite a bit, so this one is a bit more monochromatic


http://www.danielbuck.net/wip/sycamore_canyon_03.jpg

[Mike Ditz]

No the car doesn't look as agressive becuse it showing more side than front. A longer lens helps in the agressive look too. (200mm and more) The side shot doesn't really work as well, the light is coming from the wrong side, and you start to see how high the rear end is riding.
I wonder aboout the location...how does it relate to the car? I am hoping Black Gold 4 will be in a different spot ;^) Maybe do a split exposure wih the camera locked down in one spot, shoot once when the light is beautiful on the hills and then shoot when the light is tright for the car. Right now the light is favoring the car and the background is suffering. And if you are doing that, do a shot for the headlights so they don't burn out so much and layer that in as well.
Looks like you are getting some flare or maybe it's just the jpg web compression. The black border is a cleaner black than any black in the picture. Reset your black point?

MD

[Daniel Buck]

Thanks for the suggestions mike :-) I have found that I like the length of 135mm pretty good. I do like the super compression of 200-300mm, but I hardly ever find a good spot that lends that much room to shoot :-( For these shots, I was already standing in the middle of the road with a rock cliff to my back :-\

When I have someone with me, I usually do that headlight trick, but for these I'm by myself, I'll try to be a bit more up and atom next time and remember to do that :-)

I haven't found to many other off-road locations in Sycamore Canyon, but maybe I'll try a shot on the road (it's a rarely traveled road).

Thanks!