Critique away please!

 

very cleann

 

thats clean man....my ride just got finished. Got some pics in my teaser thread, check it out.

 

nice shots... first one is my fav.... very clean.. i need to clean my interior something bad

 

As promised....

Let me say bro.. I'm glad you decided to pick up a camera.. You picked a perfect medium to express yourself because it comes so naturally.. If you've only been shooting for a year.. Man I can't wait to see what you conjure up in the next few.. We're in for a treat..

First shot: Your images have that ability to just make me feel I can reach into the shot and touch something.. I don't know if it's your ability to bring out colors in post production or what, but your colors always "pop".. You also have a keen eye for complimentary colors in your pallette.. There's nothing in your setting that detracts from the image.. The car could have easily faded into the image w/ the rest of the colors, but the composition forces you to look at it because of the intersection of the shadow.

Second Shot: Excellent use of leading lines to lead me to your subject.. The converging lines of the roof slope down and to the right right into your subject.. Very strong pic.. This is I'd say my favorite pic, you managed to crop the shot without making me wish there was more.. I'm perfectly satisfied with what you've shown me and understand the artistic selection.. Great shot..

Third Shot: This is a shot that I could imagine being on a Crest or Sewell Infiniti website as a shot in a flash splash page or something.. It looks so regal. It just makes me think of seeing words floating over it.. "Regal.. Excellence.. Prestige.. Crest Infiniti.." If I were to nitpick about anything in this shot, it'd be the "greenish tinge" in the windshield on the right side, and the sidwalk line going towards the car, I'd have cloned that out..

Forth Shot: I think this one is a bit bland compared to the others.. The doors remind me too much of a schoolhouse. The car looks out of place here because of the strength of the others in the series. I think the sun got the best of you because of the overexposure on the front bumper and it caused you to white out some of the details around your side marker area.. As the shot goes more towards the rear, the exposure evens out and shows really good detail of the color of your car..

Fifth Shot: Honestly, I find myself looking more at the shadows on the ground than your car in this shot.. Not that it's a bad shot, it's just my eye is naturally attracted to the brightest area of the shot in a mostly dark shot (as I think a lot of people are, because contrast grabs your attention). I kind of see where you were going with this, but the quality of the shot is more of a testament to your post production skills rather than the strength of this shot.

Sixth Shot: Clean and nice.. Nice bold colors, nice textures, interesting shapes.. Yet again, it seems as though you can reach into this shot and press a button or something.. I like this one a lot.. Only quarrel, should have taken your keys out of the ingition.

Seventh Shot: I think what bothers me about this one is the fact that it's not straight.. It's a great capture of your subject, but it veers off to the left, and I find myself fighting to tilt my head when I look at it.. I think it's because of how the buttons and CD insert are cropped at the top. I'd be interested to see this one higher contrast and in black and white for some reason.. I think this one would become 3D..

Man, you've done it again.. I'm very impressed and wanna go out and shoot w/ you one day to see how you and I both capture the same subject.. I think that'd be very interesting and we could come up w/ some kewl captures..

 

^ Tony, first of all, thanks a lot to take the time to critique each shot in such detail. You are dead on with the your inputs and thoughts on each pic and you have a superb understanding of why I shot a subject in a certain way.

First Shot: Yes, the magic lies in the post production, but when Im taking the pic, I do take the post production result into consideration. I love the way the shadow is angeled on the car. Exactly what I wanted.

Second Shot: I couldn't have explained it better.

Third Shot: Again, I totally agree with you. That windshield green did bother me a bit, but I dont believe in cropping, cloning, hiding etc in my post production (unless the pic is going into a Crest pamphlet, haha). I think, as an photographer, that would take away a bit from the real shot. My post production consists only of playing with the colors. And I like the white pillars on the left and black pillars on the right.

Forth Shot: Personally, I liked this pic a lot as it defines what I was going for in the photoshoot. The sun was shining very brightly on the car, with a dark backdrop, popping the subject out to the viewer. This was the goal of this photoshoot (venue and time of the day were picked very strategically). Same can be said about the Third Shot. Yes, it did cause over exposure on the front bumper, but it doesn't take away much from the pic. And I like the little touch of the white door and red bricks on the right.

Fifth Shot: Haha, yes, Im not a big fan of this shot myself and yes, it did need a lot of post production work. The original was quite bad, given I was shooting into the sun.

Sixth Shot: Agreed. In this shot I wasnt looking for the artistic touch. I was just trying to show the height and stance of the shift ****.

Seventh Shot: Actually, this shot I did the tilt on purpose to capture the texture, shape, bends, and the size of the shift ****. I think, I should have focused in closer to my subject though.

 

I just think the funeral home location is awesome... hahaha

 

Nice shots car is looking very nice.

 

Huuhahahha... it wasnt a funeral home.

 

i swore that building across the street from Cape Buffalo was a funeral home

 

Hmm, it might have been in the past, right now, its an empty deserted structure, no signs on or around it to tell what it is.

I did hear some doors creek behind me while I was close to it... eeeekkkss... if I knew it was a ex-funureal home, I wouldnt have gone close to it. yikes!

 

What kind of shift **** is that?

 

^ TWM Big Type R

 

My main critique is to pick a different time of the day. If you shoot at sunrise or sunset you get much better results.

Here is an example of my car at sunset..
http://dwstevens.smugmug.com/photos/...90_BguBS-L.jpg

 

Dave, I totally agree w/ what you're saying as far as a normal practice for normal shooting.. I think he was actually trying to do a more creative shoot w/ dramatic shadows and highs.. He was good to have such a dynamic histogram w/out blowing out the whites.

Excellent shot by the way.. Love how the detail of the side of the car emerges from the silhouettes..

I think if you're experienced and can estimate the results prior to shooting, then you can accommodate for almost anything.. Most people want to shoot when the sun is low to reduce glare and reflections.. I think in this shoot he was actually going for higher contrast, so shadows were at their best when the sun was at it's peak..