Carter N's Photography Advice Thread.

[410CrewDubber]

Just picked up my first dslr camera tonight! Canon Rebel T2i. imma noob at the photography thing and have been learning a lot from this thread. Now i can actually try some of the things i learned out

[fli]

Do you maybe have some details on working with a 3 light set up using speedlight camera flashes without umbrella's

[Carter N]

Do you maybe have some details on working with a 3 light set up using speedlight camera flashes without umbrella's

what details are you looking for? lighting placement, hardware required to make it work, etc?

[indy510]

what details are you looking for? lighting placement, hardware required to make it work, etc?

I have a Sony A330 DSLR and I really want either external flashes or speedlites ... the cheaper the better for me

I just don't even know where to start,,, or how many lights I need, tripods, umbrellas,, what's the cheapest set up I can have fun with?



I'd imagine I could do plenty with just one off camera flash,,, , but I would like to have the ability to do 2 or 3 flashes/speedlites


I'm getting tired of light painting with a LED cordless shop light .. . . what would be a better portable light?

I want something like Dylan Leff's spotlight in a soft box.. .. . I don't want another cheap light.. . this is my best un-edited light painting so far:

[Carter N]

I'm not very familiar with Sony cameras but I imagine Sony makes it's own series of speedlites. I would recommend you start with one and get familiar with it. However in order to start really jumping into to off camera lighting you are going to need to read up on all the needed equipment.

Check out strobist.com they have an awesome beginners guide to off camera lighting.

[noodleboy]

are you in virinia?? Ive seen that beamer and the tunnel is the one on skyline drive near thorton gap. Also seen that datsun with the equips before too. When I arrive at home will load up a few of mine for your evaluation.

[noodleboy]

whats your thought on these. I dont do any editing due to not being able to afford any software at this time.

[Carter N]

are you in virinia?? Ive seen that beamer and the tunnel is the one on skyline drive near thorton gap. Also seen that datsun with the equips before too. When I arrive at home will load up a few of mine for your evaluation.

Yup I am in the 703.

whats your thought on these. I dont do any editing due to not being able to afford any software at this time.

Pretty nice I like #4 the most, are you using the on camera styles to achieve the sepia and b&w?

[noodleboy]

Yeah it was done on the camera.

[Carter N]

Yeah it was done on the camera.

Nice utilization of the built in tools. Lots of people neglect them and then over process in post for the same effects! Definitely keep up with the no processing practice. Too many people rely on photoshop and other editing programs to correct fundamental mistakes, my self included

[fli]

Hey
Coming back to that speedlight Q's I would like to know what height should I place them at and what distances and then what on camera settings are the best to use with the speedlights I currently have 3 of them with wireless transevers.

[Carter N]

I like to place my speedlights right outside the frame, usually about 6-8 ft away from the car. I usually put them a height right above the top of the car unless I am lighting a specific detail such as the wheels or grill. If you are using your flashes on Manual power (which I recommend) you should use Manual settings for your camera as well. You can change the shutter speed and aperture to adjust how the lighting looks.

[Calan]

I made my own thread asking for advice before I spotted this one, and it seems like this is an excellent place to get some tips (just finished reading through all the posts and already have learned tons!)

Here are two pictures I took recently (before reading through this thread):





These were shot with my 50mm f/1.8 prime on my XSi - I like the prime for the sharpness I can get out of it compared to the kit lens, but it makes it a little bit harder to experiment with different positions/angles. As you can see, I'm having trouble with a few things:

Lighting - Those pictures were taken in the late evening, but as you can see there are still some wild reflections from the sky, as well as some under-exposed areas. Is there a time of day, or weather, that's optimal for car photography? I'm interested in trying some light painting, but I can't think of any dark-ish spots anywhere nearby, and I only have my camera's built-in flash. Also, I do have a circular polarizer for my kit lens - would I be better off playing around with that for car photography than with my 50mm prime (without a polarizer)?

Composition - You can see that the framing of the 2nd picture is a little awkward, but I can't see "Oh, I should've been standing over there instead". I realize practice will help immensely here, but aside from looking at car blogs and trying to mimic shots (which I don't really want to do) I find myself at a loss for how to compose the photos, especially when I'm actually out with a car. Random trial and error until I find 1 out of 500 that I like?

Locations - There's only so much that can be done on the street outside my house, but I don't feel comfortable telling a friend with a cool car to come to a location that "might be neat" - I'm worried about wasting friends' time and coming out with 0 good shots to show them. How do you find good locations? Just drive around until you spot somewhere interesting? When you were just starting, did you just take pictures of your own car to practice/try out locations?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give!

[DubLuv]

picked up a canon t2i w/ standard 18-50 lens over a month ago and im wondering what lens would be the best to move on to(mostly used for automotive photography)

[Kielan]

The 18-55 is great lens to start with.