I've never shot any vehicles in the dark before. Granted, there have been those night shoots with my old point & shoot that have turned out good, but those were outside in a parking lot\parkade with lights. You just set the night mode on the camera, put the camera on the concrete, set the camera on the ground, set the timer, and let it do its thing.
I like digital photography. I'm learning at a slow pace, but learning nonetheless. I have my "Canon Rebel XT for Dummies" book, that I haven't fully read yet. But the biggest support comes from a couple of my friends that I talk to when I watch them shoot things. Its nice to be able to ask them questions about what settings to use in a certain situation, or how they would go about looking at things. I thank for them for that, you should check out their blogs for some of their stuff:
Anyways, back on topic. I wanted to do something on my own. Something where I would be left alone to shoot, and figure things out for myself. I think thats the best way to learn. I've always been envious of those shoots in a dark warehouse that come out looking insane. And it just so happened that I got my chance. An old friend asked me if I wanted to take a shot at shooting his bikes. I jumped at the idea, I haven't really taken pics of any vehicles in a long time. What made it more intriguing was the fact that his bikes were hiding in his shop.
So armed with my XT, my kit lens, my wide angle, and my flimsy tripod, I met him at his shop. I have no lighting equipment, so I didn't know how well this would turn out. Only thing we had was one of those yellow industrial flood lights that was WAY too bright, and the shop lights. I worked with what I had, with the owner of the bikes walking around giving me some good angles as he saw them.
And I think it worked out ok, I am happy with them. And I hope the owner is happy with them too. I told him not to expect anything crazy.
Here are the first 2 that I've processed. I will continue and update as I get more done. Click them to see them bigger.
Full size and rest of the set (when up) will be here:
Tell me what you think, I want the truth, don't hold back. How else am I gonna learn?
first one looks good, actually! if that cord were gone, it'd be perfect.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of the shots with the strobe/light in it sometimes and it worked on this shot.
The second shot is quite nice as well! You could probably use the dodge tool to bring out parts of the rear of the bike and the burn tool to darken up the background - give it a shot!
Thanks J! I didn't even think of stuff like the cords being in the way, I'll look out for that next time. There were actually a few pics where it seemed that the clutter on the ground worked well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tips on the dodge/burn tool. Just looked up what exactly they do, and I'll try to see if I can figure them out for the next few that I process.