Why do these pictures suck?

[2ndGenGuy]

Anybody have any ideas how I could get these to come out a little better? The ones without the flash are too dark, and the ones with the flash are washed out, and you can see the damn rain as it's falling... Anybody have any tips or anything?

[MessyHonda]

time for a better cam?

[Civic Accord Honda]

your car is hot i saw 4 stock ones today 2 of them are complet

[2ndGenGuy]

Hmm, I suppose it is time for a new camera. BUT I think the problem here being some settings. This is a pretty crazy lighting condition... The INTENSE bright blue sign, the overhead lighting from behind the subject, and the night time all make it kinda hard for an auto-cam to deal with.

Should I try setting the exposure longer? Could that be the issue?

[MessyHonda]

what i did is i took a pic on every seting the cam had..and wut ever came out the best i would use...mine is not a fancy cam but it has like 5-8 setings

[1ajs]

use a tripod and set the shuter speed and apiture....
also... don't take photos of your 2gee gem beside a intell sign ever again

GET A DSLR :P

[MessyHonda]

lol yeah its all about AMD....and yeah tripod for the win

[snoopyloopy]

get a tripod and and yeah, dslr is the way to go for sure, especially if you want to take advanced pictures like this one is. btw, your car is hot. those fat fives look just as good on the 2g as they do on a 3.

[MECM]

I photoshopped some for you maybe this helps a little.





A lot of them are crappy(my photoshops). Try taking some pictures on a clear night with no rain for refraction purposes.

p.s. Nice wheels.

[frantik]

you need to make sure there's light shining on the car from the same direction you're standing.. all the light was coming at you so none was reflecting off of the car

if you can get a tripod and slow down the shutter speed that will help out a lot too

[RamThis]

Tripod and long exposure setting, about 1.5-2 second aperature time would make it look cool. You might have to tone down the Intel sign a bit in PS as it would glow like a mofo. Also the rain coming down would possibly blur a bit (probably not a good idea taking pics with a digicam in the rain anyway lol)

But for long exposure pics, super super steadyness of the camera is paramount, hence the tripod. ANY movement of the camera means the image will be blurred badly.

[Hash_man_Se_i]

^^ Ya exactly... the slow shutter speed, and a tripod are key for good night time pics.

[Vindicted_Reprise]

that intel sign makes for a sweet photographic accessory. your car looks good man.

damn i can't wait to get a camera

[frantik]

i like how your turn signals light up when you have the lights on.. i don't know why ours dont

[speedpenguin]

i like how your turn signals light up when you have the lights on.. i don't know why ours dont

I'm pretty sure that's a reflection from the flash.

[HostileJava]

Unfortunately some camera's just don't take pictures well in low light settings. You can compensate some what for it, but that usually means other elements of the photo will be off, especially with digital camera's. You'll usually end up with bright grainy image, a dark image, or decent image where the bright portions are way to bright.

[Legend_master]

use a tripod and set the shuter speed and apiture....
also... don't take photos of your 2gee gem beside a intell sign ever again

GET A DSLR :P

Tripod and long exposure is the key to nighttime photos.

Here is a shot with high exposure



and without

[speedpenguin]

How long do your normally set your exposure for when taking night shots like that?

[smufguy]

manual exposure and aperture setting is a little tricky, but if you can get a camera with night mode, it will automatically take the right kinda picture you are looking for. I have a el-cheapo Kodak Easyshare and have taken couple of night pictures with the night setting and it came out excellent. the trick is to keep the camera steady during extended exposure setting so the image does not get blurry.

[Cheeseburger]

3 pod my friend but the car looks clean like always

[Hash_man_Se_i]

How long do your normally set your exposure for when taking night shots like that?

Pretty long... I think I took this with a 1/2 second ... but could have looked better with a longer exposure.

[speedpenguin]

Damn! That's a beautiful car! Where did you spot that?

[2ndGenGuy]

Wow cool. Thanks for all the suggestions guys. The reason I took a picture in front of the Intel sign, is because I work there. I knew that the lighting was going to be a problem being lit from behind, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyways. I really love how intense blue that sign is, and I thought the reflection of it on the wet ground would look sweet. Too bad the rain quit, and it's starting to dry up now.

What does the aperture mean? I understand a long exposure, but the whole aperture thing confuses me...

Those photoshop enhancements look pretty good. I'm surprised how much some of the background elements come out. Maybe I'll take my tripod out there tonight and see what I can do...



Oh BTW, Core2Duo spanks the Athlon. It runs cooler, faster, and it's cheaper. Yes I said it... I would have still said AMDs procs are better had this been a few months ago, before Core2Duo...

I used to wear AMD shirts to work all the time just for fun. Until some big head guy in a suit came by and said that I'd better not get caught doing it again because it's a fire-able offense. Fascists. Actually, I really don't care about the whole Intel vs AMD thing anymore. Just gimme something that is cool and quiet please.

And yes, the turn signals do light up when the car's lights are on. And when you turn the signal on, the side marker blinks opposite of the signal. It looks pretty sweet.

[Civic Accord Honda]

intel rules amd = my ass

[stat1K]

Tripod and long exposure setting, about 1.5-2 second aperature time would make it look cool.

the aperture is how open the lens is... not how long the shutter is open. the way the situation is will never let you get exactly what you want. if you expose for the car the sign will be washed out... if you expose for the signs lighting (what your auto setting is doing) the car will be dark. lighting it probably the most important thing in photography thats why you see the best car shots are taken about 30 minutes before sunset. just abandon the whole concept unless you have a digital slr or a film slr the situation is never going to turn out the way you want.