SMc Posted October 10, 2003 Report Share Posted October 10, 2003 Hello people! I'm fairly new here, having just been an A3TS owner for just 15 days!! As I'm going to be around here from now on, would like to introduce you all to something that may be of interest. I have recently started a photography business specifically aimed at cars. The idea is to provide proud owners with professional, 'magazine style' photos of their own car. Please have a look at my website www.smcphotography.co.uk for more details and some samples etc. I would appreciate some feedback with regards to the service offered and the whole concept in general. Look forward to comments. Cheers, Stephen smcphotography.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotty Posted October 11, 2003 Report Share Posted October 11, 2003 I noticed that many of your shots are at a strange angle. I'd recommend a tripod with a built in spirit level and that should help you avoid such problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMc Posted October 11, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 11, 2003 Damn camera is too heavy for my tripod and keeps slipping down to the side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 11, 2003 Report Share Posted October 11, 2003 Hi SMc, welcome! I like colors in the frontal Calibra shot, nice one. A tip: (you asked 4 it ) Make the photo's like in the gallery here, so you can browse through them (forward and back). That's more user friendly than the pop-up you have to close every time... Since I'm into photography as well; what equipment do you use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMc Posted October 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2003 Hi Sven.... One of my mates is doing the website for me. It's in the very early stages and the gallery page will be changed beyond recognition this week. I'll have a chat to him about your comments...thanks. My main kit is....Canon EOS3 SLR, 28-135mm IS USM, 75-300 USM zoom. Backed up by my old faithful Canon EOS500N SLR. So, you like the colours on the Calibra....could that be the 'Swedish' blue wheels? Cheers, Stephen www.smcphotography.co.uk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 12, 2003 Report Share Posted October 12, 2003 Ah, another Canon man! Nice equipment you've got there Stephen, and the EOS 3 is a great camera! Recently went digital and bought a bro for my old but faithful EOS 620, an EOS 10D body. Love it! Lenses are EF 24 - 70 1:28 <font color="red">L</font> USM and EF 70 - 200 1:28 <font color="red">L</font> IS USM, plus some older back up lenses. Main accessories: Speedlite 550 EX, Gitzo G1228 Mk2 carbon fibre tripod with G1276M head. What I like about the Calibra pic is the almost monochrome 'sepia tone' look all over, with only the blue sticking out rather powerful. Gives it an 'unreal' touch. Cool! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SMc Posted October 12, 2003 Author Report Share Posted October 12, 2003 Sven..... So, you're Canon too!! Excellent!! and some fine kit you have there I only recently bought the EOS3 and debated whether it was time to go digital. It was the 10D I fancied too!! Decided to stay 'traditional' for now as I felt at this early stage in my photography and digital would encourage me to be 'lazy'...if that makes sense? Plus, It looks like I'll be doing some magazine work soon and it's still slide they shoot. The owner of the Calibra is having his proper, silver wheels repaired. The blue ones are spares that he had sprayed just to make them a little different. Not suprised you mentioned it though as the first thing I thought when I saw the wheels is that while they may not be better for the car than the silver ones, I knew they would add a nice bit of colour to the photos. What type of photography are you interested in Sven? I did my first wedding yesterday....it was a long, long day! Don't think it's for me...think I'll stick to the cars!! Cheers Stephen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 12, 2003 Report Share Posted October 12, 2003 Hmm, the finer things in life... Being girls, artistic nude and stuff. I'm trying to find a style that is not too artsy and not to playboy, but more natural, doing justice to the subject, not my ego. I like Jock Sturges a lot, his style is just great I think. Very natural. And check out www.domai.com for some examples, and the site of my Russian Friend Galitsin. Petter Hegre also does some nice work, though I don't necessarily like everything he does (this goes for Grig as well btw). *** Mayor work warning! *** I want to do some car photography as well, again, but the weather is a bit uncooperative at the time... (not having a big drive-in studio unfortunately). I had heaps of nice cars, and too often sold them again without taking pictures. I regret that now. I love nature as well, so I also do some of that. Recently went to La Palma, and still have too sort out heaps of pics... (whaddayamean lazy…?) It's a gorgeous island, and great for photography by the way. If you dig nature and impressive scenery that is, and if you can do without Mc D. and discos for a while... I never did weddings since I hate them anyway (hence the GF), and I can imagine you find them a bit boring. Might be good practice though... That's partly why I like the digital cam, you can shoot away w/o being bothered by the costs, and learn from your mistakes. I tend to bring my laptop when I go away for a longer time, since the two 512mb CF cards are full in a day. Besides, you can have a look right away, for which the small display on the cam is a bit small (okay for a quick check though). By the way, I saw Canon has just released a new 'consumer' digital SLR, which is half the price of the 10D. I haven't read any reviews yet though. Cool that you get some magazine work, anything I might know? (I'm in NL) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimphoto Posted October 12, 2003 Report Share Posted October 12, 2003 Hi Stephen, I just checked out your pictures. Really nice work. I noticed as some others did that you shoot at a tilted angle this has some pros and cons to the technique. Pros: Gives the subject a unique look and the viewer a unique way of looking at a possibly mundane subject.(Not that cars are mundane at all as I grew up around them) Cons: If you take every shot using this type of technique the technique looses it's punch and becomes boring. Try to create a mix of shots from all different angles. I'm sure that you have already thought of this as I really don't mean to sound too criticle. Try mxing in some black and white pics and some sepia tone shots this makes for a dramtic effect. You can easily do this using Photoshop. Even some labs will do this for you if they are capable of scanning your negs first. Last but not least make sure you charge enough for your time as that is valuable. I like the shot where the driver's head is poking out, the one where the driver has sunglasses on. You made the subject interesting to look at nice job. The portraits are nice as well, nice lighting. I've been shooting weddings for about 15 years nows in the states and you have to have the right personality to do them. Not everyone can deal with the situation as you know not all weddings go as planned and you have to be able to think on your feet. I shoot in a medium square format and with film. I have a digital camera that I use for my own small quick stuff but for the weddings I stick to old fashion film. I know I'm a dinosaur.I haven't shot 35mm in a while but will be pulling the old minolta out for my next vacation as I still want to shoot film but not lug my huge medium format camera around. My websit is www.candidcasualsphotography.com it has to be updated with some new pics.I'm working on that now for next season.The nice thing about shooting cars is that you can always reshoot if needed while a wedding is a whole different animal. Goodluck with the car shooting business it's a great idea and I'm sure you can make a boatload of money if you market yourself well. Talk to ya soon and take care. Kim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 [ QUOTE ] Please have a look at my website www.smcphotography.co.uk for more details and some samples etc. I would appreciate some feedback with regards to the service offered and the whole concept in general. Look forward to comments. Cheers, Stephen smcphotography.co.uk [/ QUOTE ] Hi Stephen, I had a look at your site and the photos are nice, but to be honest there was nothing there that looked like something I couldn't have snapped on my own. I think if you want to provide a professional service you need to be able to get results that no one else can. One example here, this is a fantastic shot. Apparently the photo was taken in pitch black in the woods, but with the camera on a tripod and a 1 minute exposure time. Then a flash gun was set off at different points around the car during the minute and finaly one set off inside the car. The result is a truely fantastic photo, something I could never acheive myself, and something very special that people would be prepared to pay for perhaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gaunty Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 That is an exceptionally good photo Ari thanks for sharing how it was made with us, very interesting, and delivered in a way that won't make Stephen think your putting his work down, constructive critisism is always hard to deliver. Stephen, keep up the good work, you're obviously very talented with the camera and I hope to see some nice Audis on your site soon. Regards Gaunty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 That is indeed a terrific photo! I count four flashlights, meaning like 4 x SpeedLite 550EX = €2000,- plus a few tripods for camera and flash, which will get you close to €3000,- if not over... (OUCH!) In all it's easier if you have a lot of money to spend on lights and gadgets, but it's the original idea that counts. Find a unique style of your own, and you can get amazing results even with a simple manual camera. Nevertheless I get VERY envious when I walk into the studio of an acquaintance, with all the lights and backgrounds all over the place in a neat order, and lots of room as well... Lucky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 Here's another favourite Audi photo... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 WOW... Stop doing that Ari, or we'll chuck the cameras in the end... (No just kidding, pleeze keep 'em coming while I process my order for the extra Speedlites..) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 [ QUOTE ] In all it's easier if you have a lot of money to spend on lights and gadgets, but it's the original idea that counts. Find a unique style of your own, and you can get amazing results even with a simple manual camera. [/ QUOTE ] True enough, how about this fella! I took this, would you believe with a Canon Ixus V digital camera, not even a tripod, I just held it against a convenient lamppost to hold it steady knowing the auto exposure would hold the shutter open for a long time and waited for a car to go past to get the motion of the lights. I was really pleased with this I must admit, it was just one of those "I'll try it but don't expect it to work" photos, definitely the advantage of digital photography cos you can experiment like this for free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 Like this one too, sort of catures the essence of the cabrio but without too much detail, just the highlight of the aluminium trim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foggy Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 [ QUOTE ] Here's another favourite Audi photo... [/ QUOTE ] I can't believe how bored this guy looks whilst going sideways at that speed in an RS4 !! Ho hum, just another day in the office for him I guess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 Yeah, that's a cool pic, really! Amazing it's turned out so well using a lamp post. Imagine what you could do with a (simple) tripod and a remote or timer. That would really get your car sharp, and the passing cars nicely blurry. Where's that by the way, Spain? The digital Ixus' are quite good actually, I'd like to have one for carry around, as the SLR with the big heavy lenses is not very convenient to drag around... Hmm, I'm getting in the mood again to do some photos... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 [ QUOTE ] I can't believe how bored this guy looks whilst going sideways at that speed in an RS4 !! Ho hum, just another day in the office for him I guess [/ QUOTE ] That's his 'cool' look man! Don't you see that? Just see the other one now Ari, thats cool too! Steady hands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 [ QUOTE ] Where's that by the way, Spain? [/ QUOTE ] Close. Torquay!!! (Little seaside town in the southwest of England) Taken in April this year, a month after I took delivery of the car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 Hmm, looks exotic! But then I hear It's supposed to be very nice there in summer, and even that there are some Palm trees out there, or were they having me on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ari Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 No, it's all true!! http://www.english-riviera.co.uk/ It's fantastic down there in the summer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 Hmm, maybe good for a visit next year then... Here's some sort of tryout with the new cam on a rented Megane @ /La Palma... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sven Posted October 13, 2003 Report Share Posted October 13, 2003 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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