very unique... very good photo and concept

very unique... very good photo and concept

Quite interesting photo.

Quite interesting photo.

In general, this is very good indeed. Composition and viewpoint great with a lot of impact. The problem is the car, which I guess was heavily over exposed and you have burnt it in a lot, meaning the nearest headlight has lost contrast and looks muddy. Yes, a flash would have helped, but not on the camera. You would have needed an external flash on an extension lead pointing directly at the car and giving a bit of balancing illumination, not full blast. Paul

In general, this is very good indeed. Composition and viewpoint great with a lot of impact. The problem is the car, which I guess was heavily over exposed and you have burnt it in a lot, meaning the nearest headlight has lost contrast and looks muddy.

Yes, a flash would have helped, but not on the camera. You would have needed an external flash on an extension lead pointing directly at the car and giving a bit of balancing illumination, not full blast.

Paul

You don't need a flash. You can try setting the camera for a long exposure and use a torch to illuminate the parts of the car you want to. If you have trouble with colour casts, you can either use a filter over the torch, or take two pics at different white balances and combine them later. As for the wires, well that's personal taste. I would prefer a clean background myself. Nick

You don't need a flash. You can try setting the camera for a long exposure and use a torch to illuminate the parts of the car you want to. If you have trouble with colour casts, you can either use a filter over the torch, or take two pics at different white balances and combine them later.

As for the wires, well that's personal taste. I would prefer a clean background myself.

Nick

cheers guys, comments much appreciated. Puddle has gone now and will have to wait for next one to turn up!

cheers guys, comments much appreciated. Puddle has gone now and will have to wait for next one to turn up!

I'm afraid this doesn't really work for me. The low viewpoint and reflection are excellent but there are big exposure problems that have rendered almost the whole image into silhouette, which doesn't seem to be what you intended. For my taste, the background is a bit fussy but you've already mentioned that. :) The headlights are just too powerful, so they're completely blown out (reflections in water are about a stop darker than the object and the reflected headlights are still nearly all blown out), whereas the rest of the car is very under-exposed. Dipped beams might actually make that even worse, since they angle the lights downwards and to the car's left, which is closer to your shooting position. Side lights are probably the best option, along with shooting a little earlier in the evening so there's a bit more ambient light. If you have a tripod, a useful technique would be to merge two exposures, one for the car's body and one for the headlights and silhouetted background. You could either use HDR or just blend the exposures manually as layers in your image editor. I know little about flash so I can't offer much advice there. I imagine it could help but it would need to be off-camera or you'll get a huge reflection from the number plate that will drown out everything else.

I'm afraid this doesn't really work for me. The low viewpoint and reflection are excellent but there are big exposure problems that have rendered almost the whole image into silhouette, which doesn't seem to be what you intended. For my taste, the background is a bit fussy but you've already mentioned that.

The headlights are just too powerful, so they're completely blown out (reflections in water are about a stop darker than the object and the reflected headlights are still nearly all blown out), whereas the rest of the car is very under-exposed. Dipped beams might actually make that even worse, since they angle the lights downwards and to the car's left, which is closer to your shooting position. Side lights are probably the best option, along with shooting a little earlier in the evening so there's a bit more ambient light.

If you have a tripod, a useful technique would be to merge two exposures, one for the car's body and one for the headlights and silhouetted background. You could either use HDR or just blend the exposures manually as layers in your image editor.

I know little about flash so I can't offer much advice there. I imagine it could help but it would need to be off-camera or you'll get a huge reflection from the number plate that will drown out everything else.

Thanks for the very thorough critique. Just when you think you are doing well....kaboom! I do like the composition and it is a question of taste (as evidenced by first two posts) However, I recognise the lack of technical ability to carry it off. I think I have an eye (one day I will have two!) for a picture, but spoil it by naff ability. Onwards and upwards as they say. Thanks for taking the time to critique, it is very much appreciated

Thanks for the very thorough critique. Just when you think you are doing well....kaboom! I do like the composition and it is a question of taste (as evidenced by first two posts) However, I recognise the lack of technical ability to carry it off. I think I have an eye (one day I will have two!) for a picture, but spoil it by naff ability. Onwards and upwards as they say. Thanks for taking the time to critique, it is very much appreciated

Nah, that's not a 'kaboom!' — it's a 'Hey, look! There's even more cool stuff over here!' :) You do have a good eye and that's the creative spark that can't be taught; the technical skills will come with time and practice.

Nah, that's not a 'kaboom!' — it's a 'Hey, look! There's even more cool stuff over here!' You do have a good eye and that's the creative spark that can't be taught; the technical skills will come with time and practice.