Burned car

[drummingpariah]

I'm brand new to photography, but have been carrying my camera around with me recently and taking shots of whatever looks cool. I'm absolutely a neophyte photographer, and am looking for any critiques, suggestions, or recommended reading that comes to mind. I think this shot is the best summary of what I've learned in my week of camera ownership. Open to anything and everything, especially technical suggestions.



Shot manual:
Camera: Nikon D40X
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 30 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: No Flash

Oh, and just FYI: I'm about as colorblind as possible without having brain damage. I tend not to do much color adjustment, but I did increase the saturation on this. Looking forward to feedback, thanks in advance!

[Lankey]

Hi,
Well this is my first critique here, so i wouldn't take what i say very seriously as your idea of what works is probably better but anyway...

I really like the shot, there is something about the recked engine that draws me in, i think it is all the exposed wiring and perhaps the very yellowy rust.

Some things that could perhaps be improved (again take it with the grain of salt)..
I find the brightness of the sky behind abit distracting
Also you could of moved it to the side alittle so it is alittle less smack bang in the centre, though it certainly does not make the image worse in this case.

Another idea for might have been to get down alittle lower and move abit to the right so that the front bumper starts alittle more torwards the top left to lead the eye in more. That would of also leave you with less flare in the background.

But all in all, i think it is an interesting photograph and you have done very well!

[drummingpariah]

Thanks for the feedback, I was getting worried that nobody had anything to say.

This was shot a bit late, and in the shade so the lighting was difficult to work with. So, I completely agree that the blinding white of the direct sun behind the car is distracting but I wasn't sure how to remove it without spending hours in photoshop. That's my biggest complaint on this.

I would have liked to have gotten more of the building in this shot, which would put the car off to the right, and that probably would have cropped out the sun flare as well.

I got a few from a lower angle, but the engine had been partially melted and drooped down into the engine bay. When I got lower, the engine disappeared into the engine bay. I really wanted to have the engine pulley visible through the front of the car, and couldn't get a good angle any lower than I was.

I think we're on the same page for a lot of these critiques. I'm going to spend the week working on composition, getting the right angle, and framing my photos a bit more effectively. You just rekindled my excitement, thanks!

[Sterling]

I think I might tone down the saturation of the brick wall. The car is the star, not the bricks.

[mike1187]

I think I would like to see a bit more of the right side of the car. Not much, but just enough to show that the entire car is trashed.

[navcom]

I'm hoping this wasn't the picture you sent to the insurance company!!

(couldn't resist!...back to seriousness)...I agree with the comment that you need to see more of the car. A head-on shot kind of leaves the car looking 2-D. Maybe get lower to the ground at a 45 degree angle to the front-right corner of the car (looking straight at the turned tire)?

[APAPHOTO]

Go black and white with a nice vignette

[drummingpariah]

You guys/gals are the best! This is exactly what I needed. I took a little time to go through all the pictures I had taken then and tried to figure out if I had snapped off a better one. I'm happy to say that I can see a LOT of very obvious, amateur mistakes in these (but that's fine, I'm still very amateur, but hopefully identifying some things I did/do wrong will help me to improve). Anyway, here's another that I ended up with that I think shows some promise, but I was unhappy with how I didn't get down low to get a good, dramatic shot. It looks really bland.

I'm pretty sure I'm only supposed to put up one critique shot here, but this at least shows off the actual car itself a bit better. Don't feel obligated to critique this one.

Originally Posted by Sterling

I think I might tone down the saturation of the brick wall. The car is the star, not the bricks.

That makes sense to me. I'm colorblind, so saturation can sometimes come out really weird and I don't even notice it. Most of the time, I don't modify it from the original capture unless I convert to black&white, and this wall is exactly how the camera saw it.

Originally Posted by mike1187

I think I would like to see a bit more of the right side of the car. Not much, but just enough to show that the entire car is trashed.

Totally agree, see the image above

Originally Posted by navcom

I'm hoping this wasn't the picture you sent to the insurance company!!

(couldn't resist!...back to seriousness)...I agree with the comment that you need to see more of the car. A head-on shot kind of leaves the car looking 2-D. Maybe get lower to the ground at a 45 degree angle to the front-right corner of the car (looking straight at the turned tire)?

I have no idea whose car it was, how it actually ended up there, or what kind of theft/shenanigans may have happened shortly before it ended up there ... but I love the idea of lining up to the broken wheel instead of the horizon line. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any that I took along those lines. You have a better eye for shots than I do/did. I came pretty close, but ended up taking a really boring, ho-hum picture of that very wheel:

Originally Posted by APAPHOTO

Go black and white with a nice vignette

But that's my go-to! I'm trying to break away from that, because it seems like it ALWAYS works.

[Krusty79]

Unfortunately, seeing the car parked at the curb takes away some of the impact. If you were able to shoot this in front of an old garage or junkyard, that would give you a more powerful image. I know that's out of your control, though.

You might want to get familiar with the histogram function of your camera to help tell when shots have underexposed/overexposed areas.

[drummingpariah]

Originally Posted by Krusty79

Unfortunately, seeing the car parked at the curb takes away some of the impact. If you were able to shoot this in front of an old garage or junkyard, that would give you a more powerful image. I know that's out of your control, though.

You might want to get familiar with the histogram function of your camera to help tell when shots have underexposed/overexposed areas.

I eventually grew familiar with it, but at the time I didn't really know what I was doing in general. I just saw something cool and pointed a camera in its general direction while pushing down on that button on top of it.

To me, seeing the car on the curb is exactly what gives it impact. A car like this could be found in any garage or junkyard anywhere, where finding one on a curb, with fire extinguisher fluid still wet on the ground, really sets a scene.