LtAllen22

(First off, I apologize if this is the wrong place for this post. I'm still getting used to navigating this site coming from the 350z tech site)

Hey everyone,

Just bought my first 350z two weeks ago, and I have been enjoying every bit of it so far! The only thing is, I'm having one issue... I can not, for the life of me, take a solid good looking photo of the car due to the paint. The car was painted with a Dark Chrome Illusion; a mixture of colors that appear as Black, Dark Purple, Dark Green, Blue, Gold etc... I will post a few pictures of the car below. Does anyone have any advice on how to capture a few of these colors in my photo's ? Also does anyone have any advice on how to/ where to/ when to take a great photo of your z? Different angles of sunlight produce different colors on the car, keep that in mind. Thanks for taking the time to read all this, and any advice will be of help (whether it be about taking the pictures, or just your advice about my new car) Also, if anyone knows where to get a good cheap set of stock tail lights, or wants mine for yours, let me know please because I want a flush look to the car and then to have a smoke tint on top of the tail light. Anyways...

Thanks Alot!

-Phil


As you can see I'm not getting very good quality shots, nor am I able to really capture the color of the car..

KornerCarver

iTrader: (2)

What kind of camera are you using?

LtAllen22

The pictures posted above were only taken by means of an HD phone camera. I have a nice camera to use, but I just want advice first on what angles or lighting etc to use in order to capture the different colors because it is such a "different" paint style

winchman

Looks like Welch's grape juice to me. Making me thirsty just looking at the picture.

LtAllen22

that made me laugh!

So anyone got any advice for this unusual paint job?

Philly_G35

Did you read this?

https://my350z.com/forum/photography...01-thread.html

LtAllen22

So basically early morning or right before it gets "dark" out and just use a nice camera..

Do any of you know anyone who can do really good photoshop if I were to provide them with pictures?

Syner

What look were you hoping to achieve with Photoshop? You'll still need to light the car properly and provide RAW images.

zswickliffe

iTrader: (2)

Good (emphasis on the word good) photography can't be taught. You have to fail thousands of times before you learn how to take a good picture. There are an infinite number of variables that can change with each one you change. My best advice is to join a forum (my forum of choice is http://www.t2iforum.com/) and read everyone else's posts and look at their pictures to learn more about what you want to do.

A few tips based on the photos you provided (I'm no expert);

Don't cut the car off unless you have something more interesting that you're cutting it off for (beautiful sunset, scenery, etc.). Here's an example taken with a really crappy cell phone



Try to get the tires closer to the bottom of the photo than the roof is to the top. This might just be personal, but I don't want to look at 12 feet of pavement and 1 foot of beautiful sky/trees/scenery



Make sure the lighting is working in your favor, not against you. Most of the time, you want the lighting behind you in order to have a well lit subject, however, as you can see in my first example - the desired effect isn't always a "perfect" photo. There generally is no such thing as right or wrong with photography. It's just whether or not you managed to capture your subject in the manor you intended.







I took all of these photos in about 10 minutes and spent almost no time editing them as they were just after I purchased the car and I was more interested in driving it than looking at it. However, they are decent photos and I believe they would have done justice to your car's paint.

Some other basic vocabulary you should look up;

aperture
exposure
white balance
ISO
depth of field
rule of thirds

LtAllen22

Those are some great photos of your z! The color just seems so vivid on the car, scenery, etc.. I'll post a quick video I just took of the car today to show the potential of the car's colors etc. Also I will try to take a few quick pictures and post the raw unedited version so you can give me a comparison possibly of what an edited vs. unedited version would look like? I would really appreciate it!

Thanks

LtAllen22

Here is a video I shot today of the car using my GoPro, watch it in the 720p so you can really see the different colors come out in the different angles of light. I'd really like to capture those colors in a picture. Sorry for my friend being in the video...


http://youtu.be/pxn4eafIwN8

LtAllen22

Here is a few pictures I took today. Any editing help please?







This picture is making the car looking very gold, tan, brown, but yet I have a hard time capturing the green/ blue scheme..?

zswickliffe

iTrader: (2)

I will pay around with editing them when I get off work. Are you shooting in RAW or .JPG?

LtAllen22

To be honest I'm not quite sure... I just called a professional photographer friend of mine to try to have him set up a time and place to take some better pictures soon; so hopefully that will help.

Syner

You have to work a bit more with the available light. Your car is too dark in the first photo, and too light in the third photo.

You should also be more aware of reflections also, the green grass is really influencing the apparent colour of your car.

I really like the angle of your second photo though.

LtAllen22

Ok that is some really great advice! I will definitely try to stay away from the grass then and try for more of maybe an open parking lot / parking garage picture scene. Also the lighting issue is just hard for me since I am not a photographer You said you liked the angle of the car in the second photo, but I feel like that picture always comes out the same for me, all purple looking for a green looking corner of the bumper.. Are there any angles you could recommend, especially based on the video of it so you can see where the different colors appear etc? Thanks!

zswickliffe

iTrader: (2)

That second photo would be a lot better if it wasn't backlit. You want the light behind YOU, not your subject (car). That would have make the different colors pop.

LtAllen22

What are some good locations to take photos of the car? I see people who have all these awesome backdrops like city lights and ocean water etc..