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Archive 2015 · A new ride

  
 
ben egbert
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · A new ride


I just spent 4 hours of torture yesterday buying this. But I will love the car.

Just a documentary shot, but I tried to do a decent job of it. so I thought I would post here for comment. Not the sort of shot I do often. So let me have it. Processed y new way.







Jul 17, 2015 at 07:23 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · A new ride


Self critique. Should have driven around and found a place with less background and foreground clutter and waited for a cloudy day or do it before or after the sun was in the picture. Maybe an oblique angle too. The angle was fixed by other junk I had to eliminate.


Jul 17, 2015 at 07:31 PM
JohnBrose
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · A new ride


Yep, just looks like a snapshot of a new car. I'm sure you'll do better in the future. I just picked up a new Mustang this spring and drove 1200 miles to bring it home, so I had a few nice spots along the way to get some nice shots of it. It is fun to get some new wheels! What kind of car is it? we can't see any emblems or model marks on it.


Jul 17, 2015 at 07:38 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · A new ride


Toyota Avalon.


Jul 17, 2015 at 07:42 PM
Greg Campbell
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · A new ride


JohnBrose wrote:
Yep, just looks like a snapshot of a new car.


Not to dogpile, but your self-critique and John's observation align with my first impression.

Suggest you take 85% of the time spent in post and apply it to 'pre-processing,' the photography thing, the stuff that happens before the shutter drops. Adding pretty light, an interesting backdrop, non-static composition and POV, getting closer and using selective DOF to highlight the subject, etc., would make all the difference.



Jul 17, 2015 at 07:50 PM
ben egbert
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · A new ride


Greg Campbell wrote:
Not to dogpile, but your self-critique and John's observation align with my first impression.

Suggest you take 85% of the time spent in post and apply it to 'pre-processing,' the photography thing, the stuff that happens before the shutter drops. Adding pretty light, an interesting backdrop, non-static composition and POV, getting closer and using selective DOF to highlight the subject, etc., would make all the difference.


Yep, my ideas too other than I am not a fan of selective focus. I did not spend much time processing either. The original intent was to get something to put on FB. When I got done, I thought it would be fun to post here for comment. I don't really have much for here because I am mostly a landscape guy.



Jul 17, 2015 at 09:40 PM
lylejk
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · A new ride


Looks like a nice ride Ben. I also know exactly what you are talking about since I had to do the same a year ago. lol




Jul 18, 2015 at 05:31 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · A new ride


I have family arriving today but I could maybe get a chance to reshoot next week. My thoughts are to choose either cloudy or twilight and maybe park on a hillside with nothing but sky behind it and enough space to get an oblique angle.

The idea is to be able to get the entire car within dof and avoid semi sharp or distracting background. Not sure I can find such a place but that is the thought.



Jul 18, 2015 at 09:06 AM
Camperjim
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · A new ride


New camera, new lens and now a new car. Glad to see you are enjoying the result of years of working.

The starburst adds a nice touch to an otherwise plain image. Did you add that in post?



Jul 18, 2015 at 09:12 AM
beavens
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · A new ride


For what it's worth I think you did what exactly you set out to do - grabbed a decent documentary shot of the new whip. Shot is clean, well processed and goes well with the surrounding suburbia.

Could you take a more interesting pic? Absolutely.

My $0.02!

Congrats on the new ride.

Jeff



Jul 18, 2015 at 09:43 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · A new ride


Camperjim wrote:
New camera, new lens and now a new car. Glad to see you are enjoying the result of years of working.

The starburst adds a nice touch to an otherwise plain image. Did you add that in post?


The sunburst just showed up. This was shot in full sun.

Yep, I retired in 2004 and my investments have kept pace. I actually live pretty frugally other than cameras. I sell any unused gear. Selling my 8 year old 500F4 a couple years ago for more than I paid for it has funded several recent upgrades. This car replace a 2002 with 168000 miles.



Jul 18, 2015 at 09:46 AM
Camperjim
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · A new ride


Way off subject, but I am getting overdue for a new car. My wife bought a '95 Regal just to have some transportation when I was traveling and she was helping with the grandkids. We spent a lot on repairs so the next time it acts up we will be looking. Your Avalon looks great but is probably too sporty for us. We will probably go with a small SUV.

I can relate with the frustration of buying a vehicle. Even with the internet help in standardizing prices, there is more than enough games and tricks at the dealerships.



Jul 18, 2015 at 11:09 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · A new ride


My wife has so much back pain that she needs a super soft ride. Both us are too big to be comfortable in a smaller car like a Camry and she cannot ride in my Tundra anymore, too high to get into it and the ride is not soft enough. Its a pretty smooth riding truck.

The Avalon is basically like a Buick.



Jul 18, 2015 at 11:12 AM
Lynn Ross
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · A new ride


Excitement gets the better of all of us ... just wanting to show your newly acquired car is enough to make any of use just put it in the driveway and snap a shot...

I like how you got some star points on the chrome .... Nice car!

Lynn



Jul 19, 2015 at 09:12 AM
RustyBug
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · A new ride


Kinda "snapshot" as others have mentioned, but also kinda "Toyota-esque" in the suburban setting.

A couple things come to mind for me.

We are looking the side of the car that is in shadow, rather than in key lighting. Some contours of the car are catching the "full sun", but mostly, this is the shadow side. Most of the rest of the image is in key lighting. If you'll run up the supersat tip to 100%, you'll see how blue the lighting is that is on the side of the car that we are seeing.

In this case, the blue color of the car doesn't feel much hurt from the blue lighting, but ... the luminance value of the subject is below that of setting, so you might want to lift the car (judiciously) a bit to show off its color a bit more ... or on a re-shoot, have it in key lighting rather than shadow compared to your foreground / background.

The other thing I might do here is to pull down the saturation in the setting (same issue as above) to rebalance the subject / setting relationships. The grass, houses, sky all have nice strong saturation (byproduct of key lighting), but they kinda pull us off the subject a bit.

Also ... shooting cars, reflections are always gonna be a huge challenge. Here, we see the reflections of the driveway, the grass and have color variance from front to rear. While that just comes with the territory in such a scene as this, it can be something to consider when scouting for a reshoot location. I'm thinking a drive to one of your "wide open" spaces that will have a very "even" foreground will allow you to minimize the reflections somewhat.

Alternatively, you could shoot it with your fondness for moonlighting landscapes.

Anyway, just tossing out some thought fodder. Congrats on the ride.






Edited on Jul 19, 2015 at 11:19 AM · View previous versions



Jul 19, 2015 at 11:01 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · A new ride


Great tips as always Kent. The big trick will be getting the car away from my before it is no longer shiny and clean:-)

I am still scratching my head about where to go.

Here are some other views I took but did not show because the background was even worse. But maybe a better angle. I would have liked a front/side angle shot myself for just the car but there was too much clutter. .


















Jul 19, 2015 at 11:18 AM
RustyBug
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · A new ride


The shot with the mountain background has some potential.

I'd turn the car around 180 degrees, so we see the front / side vs. the rear / side. Of course, it would warrant clean up of power lines, etc., but the message is then the car parked in suburbia, but headed "out" ... and "out" includes the grandeur of the nearby mountains.

Not exactly a Jeep / FJ Cruiser commercial headed to the wilderness, but for suburbia and a plush Avalon ...



Jul 19, 2015 at 11:26 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · A new ride


Thanks Kent, will give that some thought. Had a great sunset last night, but probably be competition for the car.


Jul 19, 2015 at 12:42 PM
Lynn Ross
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · A new ride


Ben, you live in American Fork that canyon has a lot of different views before you enter the canyon I've been there many a time ... I know that you don't want to take a photo that has to much landscape in but and I don't know how much that area has grown in the last 6 yrs ... it's beautiful place ...
Good luck

Maybe go up to the guard station going into the canyon and find some place around there..

Lynn



Jul 20, 2015 at 07:33 AM
ben egbert
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · A new ride


Hi Lynn, I go up that canyon all the time so I know it intimately. I have a house full of guests now and the car needs to go in Thursday to get a sprayed on bra, so we need to keep it clean.

I was thinking Squaw peak though with a low position and high overlook over Utah Valley and Utah Lake.



Jul 20, 2015 at 09:01 AM





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