ahh Fridays! Thanks for the update looks like a good meet tht white evo on rpf1 looks great. Great photos!

 

I hate to ask but is it possible for you all to include your cameras settings in the pics you post so that we have an idea of where to start when trying to reproduce the results you got?
For example, for me the biggest issue right now is photographing in low light. So those settings would be pretty beneficial.

 

It'd be even better if he'd just leave the EXIF data attached. Then you can install the EXIF Viewer extension in Firefox (I'm sure other browsers have similar tools) and view the EXIF data. Install that extension, and right click on photos you see online. Click "View EXIF Data" and see if the photos got the data attached. Most do. Also, on flickr, you can view EXIF by going to the photos page and clicking "Actions" then clicking "View Exif Info..."

As far as getting good shots in low light, it comes down to how much light is available and how much your camera can capture. What's your gear list look like?

The only low light shots you quoted was the white Evo and the Mazda at the end. I can tell you just by looking at the Mazda image that it was taken on a tripod with a long exposure. I'd guess probably a 2-5 second exposure with an aperture between f9-f11. The Evo looks hand held with an aperture around f4 and a shutter speed of 1/40ish.

If you want to get good low light shots, you either need to add light or take advantage of what's there. Adding light means strobes or hot lamps. Using what's there means camera support, longer exposures, and faster lenses. Reflectors can be a God-send as well.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2984354...7629224232968/

There's a link to everything I've published from this year's Sonic meets. If you click on a pic and then the camera used on the right column, you'll get my camera-side settings. I shoot RAW, get exposure close, and then fine tune everything in Photoshop afterward.

 

Weird that the EXIF Viewer extension wouldn't pick up the data when I right-clicked on the pics in your post. Thanks for the tip.

Have you tried Lightroom? It's so much better for processing RAWs imo.

 

I have, but I didn't like the interface compared to PS Camera RAW.

 

All are Matte Wrapped by GuardLine.

 

 

Non Car Related but here are some shots from my trip to the bahamas

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311156144/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311156144/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/sillig25/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311157214/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311157214/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/sillig25/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311155140/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311155140/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/sillig25/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311327930/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311327930/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/sillig25/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311334474/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311334474/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/sillig25/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311158218/http://www.flickr.com/photos/sillig25/7311158218/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/sillig25/, on Flickr

 

A few from an open drift event in Monroe, WA.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333088998/http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333088998/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/78359743@N02/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333127636/http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333127636/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/78359743@N02/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333134774/http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333134774/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/78359743@N02/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333137882/http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333137882/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/78359743@N02/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333140210/http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333140210/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/78359743@N02/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333166536/http://www.flickr.com/photos/78359743@N02/7333166536/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/78359743@N02/, on Flickr

 

^^^ Looking good, I missed it.. had to work. Ill be there on the 17th though.

 

Ok, so I want to throw out a couple of questions for you photo gurus. The first has to do with shooting something with the sky in the background. What I've noticed is that when shooting something with the sky in the background it tends to wash out the sky. So instead of a nice blue, I get white.. Anyone have any tricks (other than post processing)?
Next has to do with sharpness. I know 99% of it is the lens, but are there some tricks to getting a sharper picture with ISO or shutter speed? I use a tripod and remote trigger in lower light and that helps. Just wondering about hand held shots and such.

Thanks guys!! Great thread!!

 

If it's white, that usually means it's overexposed. Generally shooting with a sky background is difficult because it is so much brighter - if you meter the sky, your foreground object will be too dark, or if you meter the object, your sky is overexposed. The two ways I know to compensate is to either use a flash or as you said, post-process. This is generally how HDR images work - 2 images are taken and merged. The first is a nicely exposed sky and the second a nicely exposed object.
For maximum sharpness, you are right about lens quality - but to improve the sharpness your lens can provide to your images, tripods are fantastic and required if you are shooting slower than shutter speed 1/50 (as least for me). ISO only "helps" from the standpoint that the higher the ISO, the noisier the image will be (due to higher gain), but the faster your shutter speed can be (also due to the higher gain). If you are shooting low light at say 1/50 shutter speed (without a tripod), but your images are still blurry, you can increase the ISO, which allows you to speed up the shutter and therefore capture less motion blur.

Hopefully that helps!

 

Very helpful!! Thanks for the quick response !!