Is it my camera or me?

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xhaust50

New member
I gave this car a simple wash, clay, WMF and 1000P. It was already in excellent condition, and it came out looking great. It doesn't look great in my pics though. There seem like there are a lot of spots in the shaded areas, and it doesn't capture the wet look at all. Is it the way I took the pics (by hand) or my camera (Canon 550 powershot)?



Before:

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After:

cars219.jpg


cars221.jpg


cars224.jpg


cars233.jpg


cars227.jpg


cars226.jpg


cars238.jpg
 
[quote name='xhaust50']I gave this car a simple wash, clay, WMF and 1000P. It was already in excellent condition, and it came out looking great. It doesn't look great in my pics though. There seem like there are a lot of spots in the shaded areas, and it doesn't capture the wet



You need to take the pics when the sun is at an angle.....late afternoon or early morning....and you need to ALWAYS use the flash.
 
White is a hard color to photograph. You're best bet is a really sunny day, with the car not in full sun (find a shady spot). Full sun on a white car is going to tend to wash the car out (overexpose) and you'll lose all the detail in the paint. I also don't know if I agree with the flash part. I've always gotten excellent pictures of cars without using a flash...including white cars.....that said, I might try it next time to see what difference it makes with the SB-600.
 
Hey, it looks mighty fine to me. White cars do not photograph well if you are looking for some kind of bling bling reflective shine. But the car is spotless, and the attention to detail of its cleanliness is evident as is the shine of the entire car (glass, tail lights, etc.). I would love to get those results with my wife's daily driver.
 
In low light, cameras will amplify available light to make the picture brighter. The downside is that can produce random pixels, "noise." It doesn't look bad at all (shot 5). I loved my SD550.
 
Camera stand will definitely help, so you can use lower iso/longer shutter speeds.

chdk mod is awesome software addon too, adds loads of features. Just do a search for it. :)
 
Yeah, the picture comped by raising the ISO and the "noise" the filter see's... White can be tough to photograph...



This is with an old PowerShot A630



lr020.jpg
 
Looks like the pictures were taken with a high ISO or the camera was set on auto ISO and chose a high setting. It looks as if there is too much "noise" in the pictures. ISO should probably be set at 100 with small cameras because of the very small sensors.

On a DSLR you can get away with a higher setting.
 
White is a tough color to photograph and the bright outdoors doesnt make it any easier. As stated above, early in the morning or late in the day is the best time to photograph outside. Try a 18% gray card or meter off the sky and then photograph the car. There is a great book out there called Udnerstanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson (Amazon.com: Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition): Bryan Peterson: Books) that explains how to meter to correctly capture light or dark objects against varying backgrounds.
 
Alright, it's definitely me. I bought this camera because it had some good reviews on here and it appeared to be the best in my price range. However, I only use it on auto as I really have no idea how to work anything else. I'm going to start another thread for these camera owners to see if they can share some pointers. I appreciate all the help.
 
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