Hey guys, my name is Andrew, some of you know me as VisualEchos, others as Rig-Pro, and even others as UltimateLurker. I've been doing professional automotive photography since 2005, and have helped a lot of guys during that time. I get questions and requests for CC (constructive criticism) on a daily basis through various forms of social media, and figured I'd start a thread here to help 'Ziners out.

Instead of posting 50 paragraphs about how to do this and that, which is something most people won't even read, my approach to this thread will be that of a Q&A. If you have a question, ask it, and I'll answer to the best of my abilities. Please keep in mind that my answer is my opinion, not the ultimate word. Photography is a form of art, so it's really up to you to decide what's right and wrong. However, I find that it's best to first learn the rules and why they are there, then break them because of personal preference. This, again, is just my opinion.

I'd like to keep this thread CLEAN, so please keep the banter to a minimum, post 1 picture at at time, and only if you're looking for CC on it, or have a question about it.

A few links for you.

https://www.facebook.com/AutomotiveRigPro/

https://www.facebook.com/VisualEchos/

https://www.flickr.com/photos/visualechos/

I photograph my Exige regularly as a test vehicle, and for fun. Here are some of my more popular shots.


Orion. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


The Golden Rule. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


Vapor Trail. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


Tommy Gun. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


Cocked. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


The Illusionist. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


The Last Hurrah by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


The Hills Have Eyes. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


Topless. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


Far Beyond The Sun II. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr


Hell hath no fury... by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr

 

Thanks Andrew! Appreciate it brother

 

No problem man, feel free to post up a shot for CC, or just ask a question, I don't keep secrets .

 

Nikon 200mm F2!

 

Quick shot this morning.


Tulips. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr

 

Here's one - i like how some of the shots you take kind of like focuses on the car, right, like almost like it stands out, and everything else is blurry - is that just editing, or can you manipulate the camera to do that - i'm pretty to new to the camera life - mostly just been using my phone, but I wanted to up my game so I was fortunate to get a Nikon D3300 as many said it was a good entry level dslr. I've been snapping photos like crazy - i took 156 at our Cars and Coffee yesterday

But here's acouple shots from a week or so ago, for your feedback, i typically drive with my camera in the car and will often stop when I find something interesting and looking good for a backdrop...
20160402_090326.jpg
DSC_0011.jpg
DSC_0002.jpg
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let me know your thoughts, trying also to get better on composing the shots too

 

That's mostly a function of aperture (f-stop). The lower the number, the bigger the hole in the lens, the more light it lets in, but also, the blurrier the background.

This shot was taken at 35mm ƒ1.4



This shot was taken at 35mm ƒ8



With CC it's always best to do one at a time, so let's look at your first shot.

The composition here is good, the car is within the Rule of Thirds (look that up, it's a fundamental rule of composition). It's not too close to the bottom, or right side, and you're not too closely framed on the car (you're giving it room to breathe). You also did well with having more room in front of the car than in the rear.

Unfortunately, the shadows and light is all over the place. Because you're parked under the bridge you have a huge black area on the hood and front fender, and it's cutting up the car into pieces. In fact, there are just too many reflections all over the place. To get someone to look more closely at your subject, clean it up, don't have so much going on. You can do this with aperture, and with a circular polarizer, which will give you massive control over reflections. I'll post an example of what a CP does in a moment.

 

I've always been a big fan of your work. Would you ever consider doing a video tutorial of your editing process?

 

To see the power of the circular polarizer, sometimes referred to as a CPL, save these two pix and flip back and forth between them.

 

Not really, my editing process is pretty old-school, and minimal really. Besides, my approach to editing comes from my personal feelings about how I see the world, and how I want to show people the world through my eyes, it wouldn't make sense for someone else to do it the very same way.

 

thanks for the input, I read up on the rule of thirds, and have been analyzing my photos and did a read up on Circular Polarizers as well. Thanks for sharing on how to create photos by changing the f-stop, def' be trying that out. Appreciate the support/coaching brother.

There is a car show in Cocoa Beach next Sunday that I will be attending with the Acura Crew in Florida, Hometown Heroes, so I will be def' be getting some shots in.

 

No problem man. It's all be said before, but sometimes it helps to just have someone to ask.

Car shows seem like the perfect place to get cool shots and practice photography, but in truth they're the worst place ever (unless all you are wanting is detail shots). With no control over light, or background scene, every picture will fail as a decent automotive photograph. Just so you know that going in .

 

^^Oh yeah, I went to the Cars and Coffee Saturday morning - (check my progress for the shots) and people all over the place lmao...but did capture some decent photos i believe, and i'll post some up next week after the Hometown Event. I'm meeting up with Acura group before the show so we can roll in together/park together, and will try to catch some group shots before.

 

What you need to do is use car shows for places to meet guys with cool cars that you may be able to shoot for free, and later on, charge for.

1. Hone your craft on your own car/friend's cars
2. Meet guys with really cool cars at car shows, offer to shoot for free
3. Take great shots, print them out 24/36 on metallic paper and print
4. Take to car shows as exhibits of the type of work you do
5. Make money
6. Camera equipment paid for with photography
7. $0 cost hobby

 

Hey Andrew, thanks for starting this! I honestly didn't even know about this section of AZ.

I'll post up something for CC soon. I'll probably try one that I thought was pretty good and see what you would have done differently.

 

I didn't know it existed either, until 2 days ago when I made the thread.

Sounds good.

 

Following so I can post some pics and so I can see your Cc to other members.. I may go out today and take some we will see.

 

^^I like this - didn't even think of it honestly

 

I shoot mainly during the day and on aperture priority and get some decent shots. I would like to start shooting at night but had some trouble recently. Do you have any recommended modes, ISO settings, etc for night shooting? I remember setting a very slow shutter speed but without a tripod they came out blurry. Any help would be appreciated!

 

Unfortunately, if you're shooting at night you must have a tripod, or put the camera on some stable surface. I even use a cable release for shooting at night because even the movement of your finger on the shutter will cause blurriness. Check out B&H photo, a lot of times they have deals on Manfrotto tripods, and they're awesome.

 

What's a good program for getting watermarks on the photos to help maintain ownership...

 

I think you can put a watermark on a photo with any program. I have the ability to change the file name, and add my name internally to the metadata on my D800, but that depends on the exact camera used. Best to just add your name somewhere, and never post them bigger than 1280 on the long side, otherwise people can print them fairly good quality and you'll see them for sale on eBay .

 

I freaking LOVE your posted shots! They're the same quality photographs as the ones you see in in car brochures. One of the styles I strive for in my post-edits. I love the monotonic contrasts in some of the photos and composition in relations to the scene. Simply brilliant and very artistic. There's only one drawback for me, perhaps it's my monitor, but some of your photos are a tad dark on my screen?

I have one photo that I would like for you to critique. This was my personal favorite shot of last year.



Autumn Leaves

After reading about your CPL post and how it tones down highlights and brightness details, I think all of my shots in general will benefit greatly with it on. Quick question, there are several different brands out there for CPL filters, is there one you'd recommend? I see Stiffen filters are available for <$20 as opposed to Nikon's at >$100. I'm currently using a D5100 with hopes of upgrading to a D7200 in the near future, if that helps with further breakdowns.

 

First, thanks for all the compliments, they are appreciated.

Second, the monitor you're viewing on makes all the difference. If you're going to get serious about photography, you really need an IPS monitor at the very least, and they're not so expensive anymore. I'm also aware that most people see my photo's darker than they really are for this reason, and I'm ok with that .

Third, if you're going to buy a CPL, get B+W, there is certainly all the difference in the world. No need to break the bank, just get the $75 slim one. If B+W isn't available, yes, get the Nikon, none of that Tiffen or Hoya trash, please.

Onto your shot, which is really nice, and has the all important atmosphere, but really could have been much, much better with some tweaks.

Below are the list of things I would have changed.

1. Sunroof down, every time.
2. Angles this short are really bad, need to see more of the side of the car, or a straight on front.
3. Circular polarizer on that windshield for sure.
4. Warm the road up to match the background. Yes, I know, shadows are blue, even in Fall, but they look much better warm to match, then desaturate most of the color from it.

This is probably the closest example I have. Please ignore the reflections, that was the point of this shot, to pump the reflections. Notice how the background is warm, and so is the street, but it has been desaturated. Also notice the side angle, and the low shooting angle compared to yours.


295&#x27;s by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr

 

This might be a better example from the front.


Lunar Caustic. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr

 

Same thing here, look at the street, the angle, and the angle of view. Of course, again, I'm pumping the reflections for the client, but you get the idea of the polarizer with the back window, meaning you can see right through it, adding interest.


Spring Fling. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr

 

Sometimes you're really going to want to push those reflections on the windshield, and with using the CP you'll have the opportunity to choose. A lot of times I make it sound like "this is the way it should be done", but I don't really mean it that way, I just mean that you should give yourself the opportunity to be able to CHOOSE, and to do that you need to shoot multiple angles, apertures, focal lengths, polarizations, exposures, the whole bit.

I probably took 200 shots to get the one below, and it's a combination of probably 10, but without taking all those shots there would be no way to choose exactly what I wanted to show.


Amazing Grace. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr

 

Thanks for that breakdown!

I do own an IPS that I use for all my design work, I think should have mentioned that I was viewing it from my work's monitor and it's not even calibrated properly (used for CAD's drawing).

Can you clarify the benefits of B+W as opposed to stiffen? Quality of build or photo production quality or...?

As for my photo, I wanted to capture that "sun ray spot light" shining towards the car and it was tough because I only had a window of 3-5 minutes due multiple obstacles; the Sun's rotation, the tall trees, and constant traffic coming through that narrow park's road. So, while I did try for 3/4 angle, I actually liked this front shot the most out of the 50+ shots that I had taken for this specific spot, mostly because I was able to catch that overexposed sun in the background. The background colors were saturated and tweak because the leaves were mostly green... I cheated. I was waiting for them to turn colors but this was late October and I had a feeling a storm would come through and blow all the leaves off if I had waited too long, and it did the week after this photo was taken. Sunroof was intentional haha.

I know you're using a full-frame camera, but which lens do you find best for automotive shots? I love the "Amazing Grace" shot of the BMW in motion! I've studied your EXIF data and it reads 2 seconds, how did you manage not to get any blurs on the car while it was still in motion?! The only thing I can think of is multiple exposure with a tripod, obviously, but the car is super sharp. I am baffled. I'd love to be able to do rolling shots more properly.

Thanks!

 

I like B+W for build quality, I have had others just literally fall apart. And the glass is manufactured to a higher standard as well.

The BMW shot is called a "rig-shot". I sell rig equipment under the name Rig-Pro.

Have a look at these 2 links.

https://www.facebook.com/AutomotiveRigPro/

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...5617628&type=3

 

I'm just here to steal all of your secrets.:gheyfight:

 

Cool, the biggest "secret" is hard work. Get to stealing .

 

Good job man. Your photo work and editing is definitely legit.

 

Damn Andrew...what a fantastic thread. Can't believe more haven't asked for criticism. The automotive feelings you try and convey through what you see and what you want others to see/feel...is the level I'd like to eventually get to.

Practice makes perfect...I have about 2000 mediocre shots with some decent stuff mixed in. I need to focus more on learning and quality over volume. Instead of having 20 cool shots to post, I need one that really makes your pants move.

Either way, sub'd and thanks for sharing.

 

Hey man, thanks for that, happy to help if I can.

 

I'll play...
Here are a couple that I've been proud of recently. Curious to hear your suggestions. Keep in mind that I like to keep it simple and I'm not good at merging photos or photoshop. I just use lightroom4.

Thanks!
DSC_3785 by rock star, on Flickr

DSC_3739 by rock star, on Flickr

 

This one is pretty nice as-is really, good exposure (looks real, not faked), nice, clean location, beautiful car, a little bit of a wider aperture to separate the car from the background, lower than normal viewing angle. All of that was done very well.

If you wanted to leave the composition this way I would have done just a few things differently. A polarization for the windshield, turning the front wheel face towards the viewer a bit, and cloning out the roof in the background. All would have given this shot some more pop.

Personally, I tend to shy away from centered compositions, especially when the subject is centered in front of a tree, but that's a bit of personal preference. I find centered compositions to be hard to pull off really, and much prefer rule-of-thirds. I can see there is more area behind the car than in front, but the bulk of the interest is near the middle.

I know you say you're not good at merging photo's, but you really should get into that, it'll bring your photography to a whole new level IMO.

In general though, well done.

 

This shot is much less successful for several reasons, and for sake of space I'll just list them here.

- the light on the car is much more harsh
- the background is less interesting, and less balanced
- the trees intersecting the rear of the car definitely hurt this one
- the centered composition
- less aperture
- less saturation
- no polarization
- front wheel face again

This just isn't a successful shot IMO.

This is a somewhat similar shot I did (forget the fact that it's a Lotus), and it has almost no processing whatsoever.


Clean &amp; Green. by Andrew Thompson, on Flickr

But notice the background, composition, light, front windshield, front wheels, they are all working in concert to produce something better than each individual part. Nothing about this background is spectacular, but it's SUPPORTING the subject, not taking away from it.

This blue car you shot is beautiful, I know it is, the wheels are fantastic, the stance, the tires, it's literally unreasonable for a TL to look that good. But the light is making it look worse than it is, so are the reflections, and the background, so it's the presentation that is the issue, not the subject.

I feel like you know all this already though, I'm just repeating it to you .

 

Shit, I thought you'd be much more critical of it all actually.
I appreciate you taking the time.

I actually know basically NOTHING of the science behind photography and rules etc...I literally just use my eye and what looks good to me, and obviously doesn't hurt that I've shot the cars no less than once a week for the last 3 years Even a shitty photographer will eventually get decent. I don't even have any uber expensive glass...just something decent in every range (save for long distance, I have a cheap lens for beach titty pics from a mile away ).

I do appreciate your feedback and I'll try and keep that in mind when I shoot next.

 

tell me more about this lens

 

nothing special...$80 shipped from FredMiranda for a 70-200 Fsomethingsomething.