Art & Inspiration Car Photography

Hey D,

Nice clear photos for the Android phone. The quality of cell phone technology these days is amazing. The proof is in color enlargements. If the photo is good, obviously the print will be crystal clear. It is good that you are experimenting with different ways to photograph stuff. That is the only way to learn to get great shots. But, even with the latest in hi res photos produced, it is a far cry from the pro photos of a full size DSLR digital camera.

Yes, I know the size difference and ability to have it handy at all times. (I carried two 35mm Pentax cameras all over Europe for 40 days, one with color and the other b/w) After years of full size camera photography, it led to the simplicity of small quality digital cameras that could fit in your jacket or pants pocket. If I forgot my small digital camera at home, then the Android phone has a decent camera for some types of shots.

The small digital cameras advanced to the point that they produced quality photos for reproduction. But in time, even those small size cameras were fast fading with the social ideas of instant access. Now, why is it that everyone has to pop out their phones to take movies, photos of something going on in front of them? That is a bone of contention in our society that has caught on for the worst part of the privacy issue in our lives. It is not that important to film something every second of the day and post it instantly. Who cares...

But, since we live in a fast changing society with the latest fashion becoming important to most people, one just accepts it as a fad. Photographs were an art form and it allowed people access to their own histories. Today, it has changed. Cell phone cameras have their place in our current society as the same way remote channel changers are a part of our fast lives. To compare good cell phone photographs to a larger faster digital camera is like night and day. Cell phone photos are good and allow people to get involved in photography. That is good.
If it works for you, hang in there...

Jnaki

You cannot beat the quality, motion quickness, fast processing, more megapixels and larger zoom factors in the large/small digital cameras. In the Panasonic’s stats, a quality Leica lens. (a Leica camera, re-branded as a Panasonic.)

 

Ok maybe slightly off topic but what about photo hosting sites to post pics on forums? I have been looking for something that doesn't kill the quality of the photo when it gets uploaded to a forum. I have been using Imgur lately. Not sure if I want to make the jump and pay for smug mug etc.

 

Your post is right on topic. Maybe it is just me but I never use a photo-hosting site to post pictures. It is too easy to post directly to HAMB. You can’t predict or control what a hosting site might do in the future. Today’s high-resolution storage might fall victim to an accountant’s decision to reduce everyone’s resolution to 10% to save storage space. Or they might do as Photobucket did decide to decide to charge a ridiculous amount for storage (at least for the casual user). I would never use a hosting site to store my photos for the same reasons. The only time I have used a hosting site was to display a couple of thousand photos of my daughter’s soccer team so other parents could log on and see them. The use was only temporary and I had my originals on my desktop. The quality of the photos on the hosting site was so low that I told the other parents to email me for specific high resolution files and I would send the high resolution files to them. A hosting site might be good for a thousand pictures of LARS that won’t be of interest in a couple of months. The following is how I handle my photos on my MAC. If any of the PC guys have a similar write up it would be good if they posted it.


PHOTO STORAGE AND EDITING

The MAC computer comes with a program called Photos as part of its baseline software. It has the icon shown in the picture at the bottom of this post (this icon should appear at the bottom of the screen on the MAC).

To add photos into the Photos Library from an iPhone enter the password into the iPhone to open it. Connect the iPhone into any USB port on the computer (using the same cord that is used to charge the phone) and Photos will open to a Library, which is what they call the storage location. A screen will show what photos have already been loaded (if any) and ask what to do with the new photos. For a camera card it may be necessary to buy a card reader from the photo store. It connects the camera card to the MAC using a USB cord. Connect the card reader to the computer, insert a camera card in the card reader and Photos will open and ask what to load into the computer. There may be an icon consisting of a triangle and a line below it following the name of the device (like EOS_DIGITAL) that has been connected. Any time this icon appears it is necessary to click on the icon before removing the device to be sure it is not in the process of transferring data before removing the device. The icon will disappear when it is clicked. If it is necessary to load photos from a desktop or a thumb drive that the computer doesn’t recognize, open Photos by clicking Photos icon, within Photos go to the menu bar at the top of the page and click “File” and then from the drop down menu click “Import”. It will tell what to do from there. A slightly off topic comment is that it is possible to make a copy of the computer screen by pressing “command, shift, 3”, there will be a sound like a camera clicking and an image of the screen will be added to the desktop. This image can be handled as any other photo on the desktop. The default for the Photos program is to store all photos in one location called a Library. Within the Library all of the photos are sorted by the date they were taken. Some photos show the wrong date (and therefore will be sorted incorrectly) because the camera used to take them didn’t have the date set properly or they are a scan of an old photo in which case the date of the scan will appear. It is possible to change the date on the photo by going to the bar at the top of the page, selecting “Image” and then from the drop down menu “Adjust Date, Time, Location”. If it is desired to sort the photos in the Library use the “Album” feature. Go to “Help” at the top of the page and enter “album”. Photos can be dragged from the main Library and dropped into separate albums. Within an album the photos can be dragged around to put them in the desired order. The photos will remain the Library if added to or deleted from the albums. The same photo can be added to several albums. Editing photos within an album will edit the photo in the main Library. A separate album for frequently used photos saves time. It is also possible to set up additional Libraries. Before clicking the Photos icon, plugging in the iPhone or inserting a camera card to enter Photos press the option key and hold it down. A screen will come up prompting to create a new Library or change to another Library that already exists. Note that each Library is totally independent. To add the same photo to two Libraries it is necessary to add the photo to each Library separately. Changing or deleting a photo from one Library will not change or delete it in the other Library. It is cumbersome to move a photo from one Library to another. Don’t set up too many. I have one for “Family Photos” and one for “Cars and Parts” photos. I also have one called “trash” where I can go in and play without worrying about affecting important photos.

Once the pictures are in Photos it is possible to do minor (compared to Photoshop) editing. Double click on the image to make the picture full size. Click on “Edit” in the tool bar at the top. Options will appear to “Enhance”, Rotate” “Crop (including minor rotation)”, “Filter”, “Adjust”, or “Retouch”. There is also an option to add “extensions” to Photos from aftermarket developers. I have found these editing options to cover most of want I want to do.

If it is desired to reduce the size of photos export them at a lower resolution. Go to the command line and click “File” and then “Export”. The prompts will explain how to export the photos at full size or less than full size to someplace like the desktop.

This post was intended to be a survival guide. Once comfortable, there are a lot of other features in Photos to explore.

One final thought. I run a program called “Time Machine” from Apple that backs up the computer every 3 hours. This is nice since it is also possible to recover from viruses or Ransomware using this backup go back in time to before the problem occurred. I am also considering on line backup as a third copy of everything (what, me paranoid?).


Charlie Stephens

 

Hello,
Here is an article on the digital cameras vs digital phone cameras fiasco. it is explained best by trusted website, Toms Guide.

Taking photos with cameras does just a little bit more and gives you better quality results, most of the time. Taking photos of stationary hot rods, the primary is what you mentioned, focus and a steady hand. The cell phones are awkward to hold still and shoot. They are cell phones as their number one job, not a photographer's camera.

Jnaki
Not to say that cell phone cameras can't give good photos. But, they have their limitations. sometimes, it is rather difficult to take moving pictures of hot rods with a cell phone vs using a small digital camera.

 

Thanks Charlie, you must have a good amount of time on your hands today to post them play by play instructions. Do you have any advice for car to car panning shots? Damn I struggle with them. Not to say that I practice or have opportunity to even try very often but when I do they suck. I'm shooting with a old Canon rebel XT.

 

What a great thread! Thanks so much for sharing this stuff in easily understood terms.

 

I haven’t had the opportunity to try these but here are my suggestions for car-to-car shooting. First be sure someone else is driving. Roll down the window, window glass will distort the image. Don’t rest the camera directly on the car or vibrations will be transferred to the camera and blur the photo. Set the dial for “shutter priority” (see # 3 at http://kevinandamanda.com/photograp...ide-to-using-your-canon-digital-rebel-xt.html). Adjust the shutter speed to 1/30 (change it if you don’t like the first result). Take a “burst” of photos, this is where you hold the shutter button down and get several shots (see https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?page=content&id=ART102978&cat=DSLR&actp=LIST). Since the scene will be changing so rapidly you might want to manually focus the camera (http://www.dummies.com/photography/...manual-focus-on-your-canon-eos-rebel-t31100d/). You should get a blurred background and wheels, which I assume is what you want. If you are trying to get a crisp, motionless, photo set the shutter speed as high as possible.

If you get the opportunity take a shot out the front of the car you are riding in. The blur should be on both sides of the car in front of you. The effect should be like a starship jumping to light speed in a star wars movie (ok, maybe not quite that spectacular).

Be sure to post your results.


Charlie Stephens

 

Hey Charlie,
Nice write up on the blur imaging of the background. I was given that same advice about shooting out of a car way back in those photography days. But, those same editors wanted a drive by photo from the ground which gave a different prospective of the hot rod. They wanted me to move my camera, as I was taking the photograph, when the hot rod was coming into the background area. As one moves the camera with the hot rod, the still image shows the car in focus and the background blurred.

This was OK, but getting the hot rod in crystal clear focus was the number one goal, so it did take several shots adjusting the speed to hopefully get it right. Film developing took a day or two to see the results. It is not like digital cameras of today. If this technique was done correctly, with luck, the driver/hot rod was clear, while showing motion from right to left.

Jnaki
One time in Santa Barbara, we needed some action shots of a couple of hot rods. My wife drove our El Camino and since I was using a 2.25 x 2.25 twin lens reflex camera, it created a problem. The camera was set up with a trigger handle and eye prism, so shooting was not a problem. It was the bulk of the camera moving to get a clear shot.

I was hoping to get a crystal clear 2.25 x 2.25 film action shot on this outing. Then I realized that if I were in the back of the El Camino and my wife was still driving, I could bark /signal the hot rod driver to speed up or slow down. First the prism was used at eye level and we cranked off several shots with the highway trees slightly blurred in the background. So, that was an improvement. Then I took off the prism and looked down at the pop-up screen to get other shots for back up.

I was secure in the bed of the El Camino, so there was no way to fall out while moving. But, just to be sure of success in action photography, I used my 35mm SLR Pentax camera to quickly take some back up shots. I was told later, that this technique was going to be the "action shot" mode for the photo section of future hot rod shots. Action with action moving in the same plane, with the background blurred...all in one motion.

 

Hello,

It has been a while and all of the posts by @Charlie Stephens have been right on the money for aspiring photographers, not just Iphone cameras that pop up with every action seen anywhere. The off site photo storage locations offered from various companies do give an option for storage.

But often times, including the large companies like Apple or Google automatically keep your photos. They are good, but, it is difficult to get your all of your photos back or see a complete list of the photos stored. The others, well for us, questionable at best. YRMV

So, organization is the key to storing photos in your own hard drive or when your built in hard drive is overloaded, using a external hard drive of monstrous proportions, saves the day. You have instant access and your filing methods are the only hold up to contend with, when accessing each photo from any day, month, year or specific saved folder.

Jnaki

After finding this thread again, realized that I forgot to post the actual "action" photo of the said 1934 Ford Phaeton shot from the back of a moving El Camino. My wife was driving and I was in the back bed area, hooked up to the tie down brackets. Several different cameras strapped over my neck, allowed different photos and angles. Coordinating the speed of both cars was the key to "in focus" photos with the blurry action background showing up.

 

For photos here on the HAMB, I'd be happy if people just hold the camera straight and still.

 

peak a boo...
Hello,
Sometimes it happens as predicted and other times, it is a surprise. The techniques in photography are almost endless. Taking extra shots during the B&W film days was fine as the long, home-made strips of film was pretty low cost, only if you did the developing and printing. But, the color slides from Kodak were usually not processed at home. Therefore, the cost to develop was above and beyond most photographers. (or it was a standard business expense)

The price to get the film, get them developed and then printed was pro-rated. The costs for the finished photo mounted on backing board and/or on a custom made wooden frame was also an extra, if necessary. As the old saying goes..."It was the cost of doing business..."

Sometimes, if the photo story got selected for a nice magazine spread, I sent the hot rod owner a custom mounted color photo on a backing board inside of a deep rustic redwood/cedar frame. It always led to new builds or new customers, later on, from the original hot rod build. Friends tell friends and show the pride in a great photo display.

Jnaki

But, these days of digital photography, everyone acts like a photo is the one thing they have to have of any subject good or bad. Out comes the phone cameras to record any event. Since the digital photos can be shot in one-three-up to 15 shots per button pushing, errors can be made and/or there are a lot of similar photos to edit/delete. There is even a "motion still photo" that pops up now and then.

A lot of times, filming takes timing, definitely composition, in focus, and action if there is any. So, what does a photo of an old car take going 45-50 mph the opposite direction? Even with a large white van in the next lane?

Timing is critical as the van blocks the approach and focus. But the digital cameras can capture the movement and stop it at the right moment, despite going 50 MPH in the opposite direction. With the traffic going both ways and preparations on turning right on a cross street ahead, the camera was pointed level with the road.

The timing of the speed of the oncoming Chevy Hardtop sedan, clicked just at I noticed something, using peripheral vision, near the back of the big white van in the next lane, was the only thing I could do to capture the moment.

My wife thought I was crazy, but, I never took my eyes off of the road ahead or the traffic in all lanes. No movie this time, as the situation called for a one shot action. One day, we will see that cool Chevy Hardtop Sedan somewhere along the South OC coastline… it was a great looking car.

This time, it was a chance photo, but it was a "one and done" outcome...YRMV